Provided by: tcptraceroute_1.5beta7+debian-4_amd64 bug

NAME

       tcptraceroute - A traceroute implementation using TCP packets

SYNOPSIS

       tcptraceroute [-nNFSAE] [ -i interface ] [ -f first ttl ]
       [ -l length ] [ -q number of queries ] [ -t tos ]
       [ -m max ttl ] [ -p source port ] [ -s source address ]
       [ -w wait time ] host [ destination port ] [ length ]

DESCRIPTION

       tcptraceroute is a traceroute implementation using TCP packets.

       The more traditional traceroute(8) sends out either UDP or ICMP ECHO packets with a TTL of
       one, and increments the TTL until the destination  has  been  reached.   By  printing  the
       gateways  that generate ICMP time exceeded messages along the way, it is able to determine
       the path packets are taking to reach the destination.

       The problem is that with the widespread use of firewalls on the modern Internet,  many  of
       the  packets  that  traceroute(8) sends out end up being filtered, making it impossible to
       completely trace the path to the destination.  However, in  many  cases,  these  firewalls
       will  permit  inbound TCP packets to specific ports that hosts sitting behind the firewall
       are listening for connections on.  By sending out TCP SYN packets instead of UDP  or  ICMP
       ECHO packets, tcptraceroute is able to bypass the most common firewall filters.

       It  is  worth noting that tcptraceroute never completely establishes a TCP connection with
       the destination host.  If the host is not listening  for  incoming  connections,  it  will
       respond with an RST indicating that the port is closed.  If the host instead responds with
       a SYN|ACK, the port is known to be open, and an RST is sent by the kernel tcptraceroute is
       running  on  to  tear down the connection without completing three-way handshake.  This is
       the same half-open scanning technique that nmap(1) uses when passed the -sS flag.

OPTIONS

       -n     Display numeric output, rather than doing a reverse DNS lookup for  each  hop.   By
              default,  reverse  lookups are never attempted on RFC1918 address space, regardless
              of the -n flag.

       -N     Perform a reverse DNS lookup for each hop, including RFC1918 addresses.

       -f     Set the initial TTL used in the first outgoing packet.  The default is 1.

       -m     Set the maximum TTL used in outgoing packets.  The default is 30.

       -p     Use the specified local TCP port in outgoing packets.  The default is to  obtain  a
              free  port  from  the kernel using bind(2).  Unlike with traditional traceroute(8),
              this number will not increase with each hop.

       -s     Set the source address for outgoing packets.  See also the -i flag.

       -i     Use the specified interface for outgoing packets.

       -q     Set the number of probes to be sent to each hop.  The default is 3.

       -w     Set the timeout, in seconds, to wait for a response for each probe.  The default is
              3.

       -S     Set the TCP SYN flag in outgoing packets.  This is the default, if neither -S or -A
              is specified.

       -A     Set the TCP ACK flag in outgoing packets.  By doing so, it  is  possible  to  trace
              through stateless firewalls which permit outgoing TCP connections.

       -E     Send ECN SYN packets, as described in RFC2481.

       -t     Set  the  IP  TOS (type of service) to be used in outgoing packets.  The default is
              not to set any TOS.

       -F     Set the IP "don't fragment" bit in outgoing packets.

       -l     Set the total packet length to be used in  outgoing  packets.   If  the  length  is
              greater  than  the  minimum  size  required  to assemble the necessary probe packet
              headers, this value is automatically increased.

       -d     Enable debugging, which may or may not be useful.

       --dnat
              Enable DNAT detection, and display messages when  DNAT  transitions  are  observed.
              DNAT  detection  is based on the fact that some NAT devices, such as some Linux 2.4
              kernels, do not correctly rewrite the IP address of the IP packets quoted  in  ICMP
              time-exceeded messages tcptraceroute solicits, revealing the destination IP address
              an outbound probe packet was NATed to.  NAT devices which correctly rewrite the  IP
              address  quoted  by  ICMP  messages,  such  as  some Linux 2.6 kernels, will not be
              detected.  For some target hosts, it may be necessary to use --dnat in  conjunction
              with --track-port.  See the examples.txt file for examples.

       --no-dnat
              Enable  DNAT detection for the purposes of correctly identifying ICMP time-exceeded
              messages that match up with outbound probe packets, but  do  not  display  messages
              when a DNAT transition is observed.  This is the default behavior.

       --no-dnat-strict
              Do  not  perform  any  DNAT detection whatsoever.  No attempt will be made match up
              ICMP time-exceeded messages with outbound  probe  packets,  and  when  tracerouting
              through  a  NAT  device  which  does not rewrite the IP addresses of the IP packets
              quoted in ICMP time-exceeded messages, some hops along the path may  appear  to  be
              unresponsive.   This option should not be needed in the vast majority of cases, but
              may be utilized if it is suspected that the DNAT detection code  is  misidentifying
              ICMP time-exceeded messages.

EXAMPLES

       Please see the examples.txt file included in the tcptraceroute distribution for a few real
       world examples.

       To trace the path to a web server listening for connections on port 80:

              tcptraceroute webserver

       To trace the path to a mail server listening for connections on port 25:

              tcptraceroute mailserver 25

BUGS

       No error checking is performed on the source address specified by the -s flag, and  it  is
       therefore  possible  for  tcptraceroute  to  send  out TCP SYN packets for which it has no
       chance of seeing a response to.

AUTHOR

       Michael C. Toren <mct@toren.net>

AVAILABILITY

       For updates, please see:
              http://michael.toren.net/code/tcptraceroute/

SEE ALSO

       traceroute(8), ping(8), nmap(1)

                                          2006 March 28                          TCPTRACEROUTE(1)