Info - Tracert
Description:

Executed from the DOS command prompt.

This diagnostic utility determines the route taken to a destination by sending Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo packets (like ping) with varying Time-To-Live (TTL) values to the destination. Each router along the path is required to decrement the TTL on a packet by at least 1 before forwarding it, so the TTL is effectively a hop count. When the TTL on a packet reaches 0, the router is supposed to send back an I C M P Time Exceeded message to the source system.

Tracert determines the route by sending the first echo packet with a TTL of 1 and incrementing the TTL by 1 on each subsequent transmission until the target responds or the maximum TTL is reached.

The route is determined by examining the ICMP Time Exceeded messages sent back by intermediate routers. Notice that some routers silently drop packets with expired time-to-live (TTLs) and will be invisible to tracert.

Parameters:

tracert [-d] [-h maximum_hops] [-j computer-list] [-w timeout] target_name
     
  -d Specifies not to resolve addresses to computer names.
  -h maximum_hops Specifies maximum number of hops to search for target.
  -j computer-list Specifies loose source route along computer-list.
  -w timeout Waits the number of milliseconds specified by timeout for each reply.
  target_name Name of the target computer.

Example:

C:\>tracert www.altavista.com

  Tracing route to altavista.com [204.152.190.69]
  over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1 <10 ms <10 ms <10 ms gateway1.alcom.co.uk [212.47.64.253]
  2 <10 ms <10 ms 16 ms midgard-constellation.vertex.ipf.net.uk [62.164.128.13]
  3 <10 ms <10 ms 16 ms c4700.ipf.net.uk [62.164.129.2]
  4 * 78 ms 93 ms linx.london.above.net [195.66.224.76]
  5 78 ms 94 ms 94 ms iad-lhr-stm-4.iad.above.net [216.200.254.77]
  6 156 ms 188 ms 187 ms sjc-iad-oc12-2.sjc.above.net [216.200.0.22]
  7 343 ms * 312 ms pao-sjc-oc12-2.pao.above.net [207.126.96.65]
  8 187 ms 203 ms * mibh-above-oc3.pao.mibh.net [216.200.0.10]
  9 203 ms * 187 ms www.altavista.com [204.152.190.69]

  Trace complete