Traveling through a Network | Traceroute & Ping

 The ping command is used to send packets to a server and receive responses, the time between sent and received packets is called the round-trip time. This is a fairly simple way of telling how long it takes to exchange data with the server, effectively measuring the network latency.

 The traceroute command is more informative; it shows the sequence of routers through which the packets travel and the addresses of these routers. This lets us know not only the time it takes for the packets to reach the destination but also where the packet is delayed.

When comparing the outcomes of the ping and traceroute commands from different websites, e.g., Google.com (U.S.), Gov.uk (U.K.), and China Daily (China), I was able to see the path that the packets took and the time it took to receive a reply. Google had a response time of 31 ms and the path was fairly short, meaning there were fewer network hops, and it was relatively close to my location.  Among the three, Gov.uk has the minimum response time of 19 ms, this is because the site is geographically close, and this results in a better path. When I tried to ping China Daily the response time was 83 ms, this was predictable as the site is located far from me and thus the routing is more complex. Traceroute also showed that there were more hops when connecting to the Chinese website than other sites since the packets travel through more routers and networks to reach the destination.

 These differences in the response times show the relationship between the round-trip time and the geographical distance between the two points. It is easier to explain this with an example; the further a server is from your device the data has to travel back and forth, which increases the latency and reduces the response time.  The location of the servers is a key factor in reducing the delays and increasing the speed of the connection.

 Ping and traceroute are very useful in diagnosing and solving problems with an Internet connection. When a connection is slow or unstable, these tools can be used to help identify the source of the problem whether it is within the local network, the ISP or at the destination server. It is therefore possible to use the results of the analysis to establish whether the problem is caused by congestion or incorrect configuration of the route.

A ping request or a traceroute command may time out or fail with an error for several reasons. The primary causes include Network congestion or router failure: If the router is down or has too much traffic, it may not send a reply to the request which will lead to a time out. Another cause could be firewalls or security filters that block the ICMP packets used by the ping and traceroute. These security policies are enforced in order to avoid threats to the network and may hinder the execution of the commands.



















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