I have been asked to perform a “traceroute.” What is that and how do I perform one?

Many times when diagnosing issues, we need to find out where an issue lies. Whether it be your computer, router, ISP, our servers, or somewhere in between. An effective test that helps us determine where the problem may be is called a traceroute.

What is a traceroute?

A traceroute is a utility that records the route/path (the specific gateway computers at each hop) through the Internet between your computer and a specified destination (our servers). It also calculates and displays the amount of time each hop took.

How do I perform a traceroute?

We suggest using a free utility called WinMTR. This can be downloaded from their website, found here: http://winmtr.net. From there, you can download the utility. On their website, they also have a How-To page (found here). When your traceroute is complete, simply export to a text file and reply to the ticket with the trace back to us. We suggest letting the trace run a minimum of 60 seconds.

Please note that the traceroute will only be helpful if it is ran during the time you are having trouble.