Provided by: traceroute_2.1.0-2_amd64 
NAME
traceroute - print the route packets trace to network host
SYNOPSIS
traceroute [-46dFITUnreAV] [-f first_ttl] [-g gate,...]
[-i device] [-m max_ttl] [-p port] [-s src_addr]
[-q nqueries] [-N squeries] [-t tos]
[-l flow_label] [-w waittimes] [-z sendwait] [-UL] [-D]
[-P proto] [--sport=port] [-M method] [-O mod_options]
[--mtu] [--back]
host [packet_len]
traceroute6 [options]
tcptraceroute [options]
lft [options]
DESCRIPTION
traceroute tracks the route packets taken from an IP network on their way to a given host. It utilizes
the IP protocol's time to live (TTL) field and attempts to elicit an ICMP TIME_EXCEEDED response from
each gateway along the path to the host.
traceroute6 is equivalent to traceroute -6
tcptraceroute is equivalent to traceroute -T
lft , the Layer Four Traceroute, performs a TCP traceroute, like traceroute -T , but attempts to provide
compatibility with the original such implementation, also called "lft".
The only required parameter is the name or IP address of the destination host . The optional
packet_len`gth is the total size of the probing packet (default 60 bytes for IPv4 and 80 for IPv6). The
specified size can be ignored in some situations or increased up to a minimal value.
This program attempts to trace the route an IP packet would follow to some internet host by launching
probe packets with a small ttl (time to live) then listening for an ICMP "time exceeded" reply from a
gateway. We start our probes with a ttl of one and increase by one until we get an ICMP "port
unreachable" (or TCP reset), which means we got to the "host", or hit a max (which defaults to 30 hops).
Three probes (by default) are sent at each ttl setting and a line is printed showing the ttl, address of
the gateway and round trip time of each probe. The address can be followed by additional information when
requested. If the probe answers come from different gateways, the address of each responding system will
be printed. If there is no response within a certain timeout, an "*" (asterisk) is printed for that
probe.
After the trip time, some additional annotation can be printed: !H, !N, or !P (host, network or protocol
unreachable), !S (source route failed), !F (fragmentation needed), !X (communication administratively
prohibited), !V (host precedence violation), !C (precedence cutoff in effect), or !<num> (ICMP
unreachable code <num>). If almost all the probes result in some kind of unreachable, traceroute will
give up and exit.
We don't want the destination host to process the UDP probe packets, so the destination port is set to an
unlikely value (you can change it with the -p flag). There is no such a problem for ICMP or TCP
tracerouting (for TCP we use half-open technique, which prevents our probes to be seen by applications on
the destination host).
In the modern network environment the traditional traceroute methods can not be always applicable,
because of widespread use of firewalls. Such firewalls filter the "unlikely" UDP ports, or even ICMP
echoes. To solve this, some additional tracerouting methods are implemented (including tcp), see LIST OF
AVAILABLE METHODS below. Such methods try to use particular protocol and source/destination port, in
order to bypass firewalls (to be seen by firewalls just as a start of allowed type of a network session).
OPTIONS
--help Print help info and exit.
-4, -6 Explicitly force IPv4 or IPv6 tracerouting. By default, the program will try to resolve the name
given, and choose the appropriate protocol automatically. If resolving a host name returns both
IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, traceroute will use IPv4.
-I, --icmp
Use ICMP ECHO for probes
-T, --tcp
Use TCP SYN for probes
-d, --debug
Enable socket level debugging (when the Linux kernel supports it)
-F, --dont-fragment
Do not fragment probe packets. (For IPv4 it also sets DF bit, which tells intermediate routers not
to fragment remotely as well).
Varying the size of the probing packet by the packet_len command line parameter, you can manually
obtain information about the MTU of individual network hops. The --mtu option (see below) tries to
do this automatically.
Note, that non-fragmented features (like -F or --mtu) work properly since the Linux kernel 2.6.22
only. Before that version, IPv6 was always fragmented, IPv4 could use the once the discovered
final mtu only (from the route cache), which can be less than the actual mtu of a device.
-f first_ttl, --first=first_ttl
Specifies with what TTL to start. Defaults to 1.
-g gateway, --gateway=gateway
Tells traceroute to add an IP source routing option to the outgoing packet that tells the network
to route the packet through the specified gateway (most routers have disabled source routing for
security reasons). In general, several gateway's is allowed (comma separated). For IPv6, the form
of num,addr,addr... is allowed, where num is a route header type (default is type 2). Note the
type 0 route header is now deprecated (rfc5095).
-i interface, --interface=interface
Specifies the interface through which traceroute should send packets. By default, the interface is
selected according to the routing table.
-m max_ttl, --max-hops=max_ttl
Specifies the maximum number of hops (max time-to-live value) traceroute will probe. The default
is 30.
-N squeries, --sim-queries=squeries
Specifies the number of probe packets sent out simultaneously. Sending several probes
concurrently can speed up traceroute considerably. The default value is 16.
Note that some routers and hosts can use ICMP rate throttling. In such a situation specifying too
large number can lead to loss of some responses.
-n Do not try to map IP addresses to host names when displaying them.
-p port, --port=port
For UDP tracing, specifies the destination port base traceroute will use (the destination port
number will be incremented by each probe).
For ICMP tracing, specifies the initial ICMP sequence value (incremented by each probe too).
For TCP and others specifies just the (constant) destination port to connect. When using the
tcptraceroute wrapper, -p specifies the source port.
-t tos, --tos=tos
For IPv4, set the Type of Service (TOS) and Precedence value. Useful values are 16 (low delay) and
8 (high throughput). Note that in order to use some TOS precedence values, you have to be super
user.
For IPv6, set the Traffic Control value.
-l flow_label, --flowlabel=flow_label
Use specified flow_label for IPv6 packets.
-w max[,here,near], --wait=max[,here,near]
Determines how long to wait for a response to a probe.
There are three (in general) float values separated by a comma (or a slash). Max specifies the
maximum time (in seconds, default 5.0) to wait, in any case.
Traditional traceroute implementation always waited whole max seconds for any probe. But if we
already have some replies from the same hop, or even from some next hop, we can use the round trip
time of such a reply as a hint to determine the actual reasonable amount of time to wait.
The optional here (default 3.0) specifies a factor to multiply the round trip time of an already
received response from the same hop. The resulting value is used as a timeout for the probe,
instead of (but no more than) max. The optional near (default 10.0) specifies a similar factor
for a response from some next hop. (The time of the first found result is used in both cases).
First, we look for the same hop (of the probe which will be printed first from now). If nothing
found, then look for some next hop. If nothing found, use max. If here and/or near have zero
values, the corresponding computation is skipped.
Here and near are always set to zero if only max is specified (for compatibility with previous
versions).
-q nqueries, --queries=nqueries
Sets the number of probe packets per hop. The default is 3.
-r Bypass the normal routing tables and send directly to a host on an attached network. If the host
is not on a directly-attached network, an error is returned. This option can be used to ping a
local host through an interface that has no route through it.
-s source_addr, --source=source_addr
Chooses an alternative source address. Note that you must select the address of one of the
interfaces. By default, the address of the outgoing interface is used.
-z sendwait, --sendwait=sendwait
Minimal time interval between probes (default 0). If the value is more than 10, then it specifies
a number in milliseconds, else it is a number of seconds (float point values allowed too). Useful
when some routers use rate-limit for ICMP messages.
-e, --extensions
Show ICMP extensions (rfc4884). The general form is CLASS/TYPE: followed by a hexadecimal dump.
The MPLS (rfc4950) is shown parsed, in a form: MPLS:L=label,E=exp_use,S=stack_bottom,T=TTL (more
objects separated by / ).
-A, --as-path-lookups
Perform AS path lookups in routing registries and print results directly after the corresponding
addresses.
-V, --version
Print the version and exit.
There are additional options intended for advanced usage (such as alternate trace methods etc.):
--sport=port
Chooses the source port to use. Implies -N 1 -w 5 . Normally source ports (if applicable) are
chosen by the system.
--fwmark=mark
Set the firewall mark for outgoing packets (since the Linux kernel 2.6.25).
-M method, --module=name
Use specified method for traceroute operations. Default traditional udp method has name default,
icmp (-I) and tcp (-T) have names icmp and tcp respectively.
Method-specific options can be passed by -O . Most methods have their simple shortcuts, (-I means
-M icmp, etc).
-O option, --options=options
Specifies some method-specific option. Several options are separated by comma (or use several -O
on cmdline). Each method may have its own specific options, or many not have them at all. To
print information about available options, use -O help.
-U, --udp
Use UDP to particular destination port for tracerouting (instead of increasing the port per each
probe). Default port is 53 (dns).
-UL Use UDPLITE for tracerouting (default port is 53).
-D, --dccp
Use DCCP Requests for probes.
-P protocol, --protocol=protocol
Use raw packet of specified protocol for tracerouting. Default protocol is 253 (rfc3692).
--mtu Discover MTU along the path being traced. Implies -F -N 1. New mtu is printed once in a form of
F=NUM at the first probe of a hop which requires such mtu to be reached. (Actually, the correspond
"frag needed" icmp message normally is sent by the previous hop).
Note, that some routers might cache once the seen information on a fragmentation. Thus you can
receive the final mtu from a closer hop. Try to specify an unusual tos by -t , this can help for
one attempt (then it can be cached there as well).
See -F option for more info.
--back Print the number of backward hops when it seems different with the forward direction. This number
is guessed in assumption that remote hops send reply packets with initial ttl set to either 64, or
128 or 255 (which seems a common practice). It is printed as a negate value in a form of '-NUM' .
LIST OF AVAILABLE METHODS
In general, a particular traceroute method may have to be chosen by -M name, but most of the methods have
their simple cmdline switches (you can see them after the method name, if present).
default
The traditional, ancient method of tracerouting. Used by default.
Probe packets are udp datagrams with so-called "unlikely" destination ports. The "unlikely" port of the
first probe is 33434, then for each next probe it is incremented by one. Since the ports are expected to
be unused, the destination host normally returns "icmp unreach port" as a final response. (Nobody knows
what happens when some application listens for such ports, though).
This method is allowed for unprivileged users.
icmp -I
Most usual method for now, which uses icmp echo packets for probes.
If you can ping(8) the destination host, icmp tracerouting is applicable as well.
This method may be allowed for unprivileged users since the kernel 3.0 (IPv4, for IPv6 since 3.11), which
supports new dgram icmp (or "ping") sockets. To allow such sockets, sysadmin should provide
net/ipv4/ping_group_range sysctl range to match any group of the user.
Options:
raw Use only raw sockets (the traditional way).
This way is tried first by default (for compatibility reasons), then new dgram icmp sockets as
fallback.
dgram Use only dgram icmp sockets.
tcp -T
Well-known modern method, intended to bypass firewalls.
Uses the constant destination port (default is 80, http).
If some filters are present in the network path, then most probably any "unlikely" udp ports (as for
default method) or even icmp echoes (as for icmp) are filtered, and whole tracerouting will just stop at
such a firewall. To bypass a network filter, we have to use only allowed protocol/port combinations. If
we trace for some, say, mailserver, then more likely -T -p 25 can reach it, even when -I can not.
This method uses well-known "half-open technique", which prevents applications on the destination host
from seeing our probes at all. Normally, a tcp syn is sent. For non-listened ports we receive tcp reset,
and all is done. For active listening ports we receive tcp syn+ack, but answer by tcp reset (instead of
expected tcp ack), this way the remote tcp session is dropped even without the application ever taking
notice.
There is a couple of options for tcp method:
syn,ack,fin,rst,psh,urg,ece,cwr
Sets specified tcp flags for probe packet, in any combination.
flags=num
Sets the flags field in the tcp header exactly to num.
ecn Send syn packet with tcp flags ECE and CWR (for Explicit Congestion Notification, rfc3168).
sack,timestamps,window_scaling
Use the corresponding tcp header option in the outgoing probe packet.
sysctl Use current sysctl (/proc/sys/net/*) setting for the tcp header options above and ecn. Always set
by default, if nothing else specified.
mss=num
Use value of num for maxseg tcp header option (when syn).
info Print tcp flags of final tcp replies when the target host is reached. Allows to determine whether
an application listens the port and other useful things.
Default options is syn,sysctl.
tcpconn
An initial implementation of tcp method, simple using connect(2) call, which does full tcp session
opening. Not recommended for normal use, because a destination application is always affected (and can be
confused).
udp -U
Use udp datagram with constant destination port (default 53, dns).
Intended to bypass firewall as well.
Note, that unlike in tcp method, the correspond application on the destination host always receive our
probes (with random data), and most can easily be confused by them. Most cases it will not respond to our
packets though, so we will never see the final hop in the trace. (Fortunately, it seems that at least dns
servers replies with something angry).
This method is allowed for unprivileged users.
udplite -UL
Use udplite datagram for probes (with constant destination port, default 53).
This method is allowed for unprivileged users.
Options:
coverage=num
Set udplite send coverage to num.
dccp -D
Use DCCP Request packets for probes (rfc4340).
This method uses the same "half-open technique" as used for TCP. The default destination port is 33434.
Options:
service=num
Set DCCP service code to num (default is 1885957735).
raw -P proto
Send raw packet of protocol proto.
No protocol-specific headers are used, just IP header only.
Implies -N 1 -w 5 .
Options:
protocol=proto
Use IP protocol proto (default 253).
NOTES
To speed up work, normally several probes are sent simultaneously. On the other hand, it creates a
"storm of packages", especially in the reply direction. Routers can throttle the rate of icmp responses,
and some of replies can be lost. To avoid this, decrease the number of simultaneous probes, or even set
it to 1 (like in initial traceroute implementation), i.e. -N 1
The final (target) host can drop some of the simultaneous probes, and might even answer only the latest
ones. It can lead to extra "looks like expired" hops near the final hop. We use a smart algorithm to
auto-detect such a situation, but if it cannot help in your case, just use -N 1 too.
For even greater stability you can slow down the program's work by -z option, for example use -z 0.5 for
half-second pause between probes.
To avoid an extra waiting, we use adaptive algorithm for timeouts (see -w option for more info). It can
lead to premature expiry (especially when response times differ at times) and printing "*" instead of a
time. In such a case, switch this algorithm off, by specifying -w with the desired timeout only (for
example, -w 5).
If some hops report nothing for every method, the last chance to obtain something is to use ping -R
command (IPv4, and for nearest 8 hops only).
SEE ALSO
ping(8), ping6(8), tcpdump(8), netstat(8)