Use Traceroute Tool to Diagnose Network Issues

This topic describes how to use Traceroute tool to trace routes to a specific hostname or IP address, and introduces test results.

Background information

Traceroute is a network tool that tracks the gateways that packets pass through from Yeastar P-Series PBX System to a destination server and helps you check network connectivity and locate network faults.

Procedure

  1. Log in to PBX web portal, go to Maintenance > Troubleshooting > Traceroute.
  2. In the Target Host field, enter the target domain or IP address.
  3. Click Start.

    The PBX starts to trace routes to the target domain or IP address.

  4. Click Stop, or the traceroute will terminate automatically when completed.

Read the output

Example1: A good traceroute
start...
traceroute to www.baidu.com (36.152.44.95), 30 hops max, 46 byte packets
 1  *  *  *
 2  *  *  *
 3  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  1.853 ms  11.642 ms  19.951 ms
 4  110.80.36.161 (110.80.36.161)  3.008 ms  2.966 ms  3.943 ms
 5  61.154.238.133 (61.154.238.133)  7.369 ms  27.982 ms  7.808 ms
 6  117.30.27.177 (117.30.27.177)  6.125 ms  117.30.24.213 (117.30.24.213)  4.664 ms  4.376 ms
 7  202.97.36.117 (202.97.36.117)  26.446 ms  202.97.64.178 (202.97.64.178)  22.534 ms  202.97.79.33 (202.97.79.33)  20.897 ms
 8  202.97.63.18 (202.97.63.18)  33.276 ms  202.97.76.238 (202.97.76.238)  36.685 ms  202.97.18.46 (202.97.18.46)  33.961 ms
 9  *  *  *
10  *  *  *
11  *  *  *
12  *  *  *
13  *  *  *
14  221.183.14.14 (221.183.14.14)  40.599 ms  221.183.18.2 (221.183.18.2)  54.233 ms
15  21.22.207.183.static.js.chinamobile.com (183.207.22.21)  43.056 ms  53.602 ms  50.481 ms
16  122.23.207.183.static.js.chinamobile.com (183.207.23.122)  47.251 ms  126.23.207.183.static.js.chinamobile.com (183.207.23.126)  47.401 ms  110.23.207.183.static.js.chinamobile.com (183.207.23.110)  54.380 ms
17  *  *  *
18  *  *  *
19  *  *  *
20  *  *  *
21  *  *  *
22  *  *  *
23  202.97.23.149 (202.97.23.149)  14.133 ms  *  202.97.23.157 (202.97.23.157)  28.851 ms
24  61.154.238.69 (61.154.238.69)  7.096 ms  117.30.24.213 (117.30.24.213)  4.682 ms  117.30.27.189 (117.30.27.189)  2.758 ms
25  113.96.4.170 (113.96.4.170)  14.663 ms  113.96.5.118 (113.96.5.118)  17.857 ms  113.96.4.190 (113.96.4.190)  20.665 ms
26  *  *  *
27  *  *  *
28  *  *  *
29  110.80.36.161 (110.80.36.161)  4.278 ms  2.696 ms  3.900 ms
30  61.154.238.133 (61.154.238.133)  11.424 ms  4.690 ms  7.770 ms
The above example displays in the format of HOP Domain Name (IP Address) RTT1 RTT2 RTT3.
  • Hop: Whenever a packet is passed between a router, this is referred to as a “hop.” For example, in the output above, we can see that it takes 14 hops to reach www.baidu.com from the current location.
  • Domain Name [IP Address]: The domain name, if available, often helps you see the location of a router. If this is unavailable, only the IP address of the router is displayed.
  • RTT1,RTT2,RTT3: This is the round-trip time that it takes for a packet to get to a hop and back to your computer (in milliseconds). This is often referred to as latency, and is the same number you see when using ping. Traceroute sends three packets to each hop and displays each time, so you have some idea of how consistent (or inconsistent) the latency is. If you see a * in some columns, you didn’t receive a response - which could indicate packet loss.
Example2: A failed hop
start...
traceroute to www.baidu.com (14.215.177.38), 30 hops max, 46 byte packets
 1  *  *  *
 2  *  *  *
 3  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  1.702 ms  4.912 ms  1.873 ms
 4  110.80.36.161 (110.80.36.161)  16.068 ms  2.642 ms  2.705 ms
 5  61.154.238.129 (61.154.238.129)  5.405 ms  61.154.238.133 (61.154.238.133)  9.038 ms  61.154.238.129 (61.154.238.129)  4.084 ms
 6  117.30.27.185 (117.30.27.185)  3.183 ms  117.30.24.213 (117.30.24.213)  5.256 ms  29.543 ms
 7  202.97.19.125 (202.97.19.125)  23.899 ms  202.97.23.153 (202.97.23.153)  15.059 ms  202.97.21.69 (202.97.21.69)  12.542 ms
 8  113.96.4.130 (113.96.4.130)  20.978 ms  113.96.4.54 (113.96.4.54)  17.600 ms  113.96.4.102 (113.96.4.102)  18.980 ms
 9  113.96.4.209 (113.96.4.209)  18.324 ms  25.160 ms  106.96.135.219.broad.fs.gd.dynamic.163data.com.cn (219.135.96.106)  29.135 ms
10  14.29.117.242 (14.29.117.242)  22.918 ms  121.14.67.150 (121.14.67.150)  15.187 ms  14.215.32.126 (14.215.32.126)  15.963 ms
11  *  *  *
12  *  *  *
13  *  *  *
14  *  *  *
15  *  *  *
16  *  *  *
17  *  *  *
18  *  *  *
19  *  *  *
20  *  *  *
21  *  *  *
22  *  *  *
23  *  *  *
24  *  *  *
25  *  *  *
26  *  *  *
27  *  *  *
28  *  *  *
29  *  *  *
30  *  *  *
In the above example, hop1 and hop2 do not respond to the request, but they forward traffic to hop3. The test fails at hop11, and continues to fail all the way to hop30 (the max hops).
Example3: A routing loop
start...
traceroute to 192.168.8.127 (192.168.8.127), 30 hops max, 46 byte packets
 1  192.168.8.127 (192.168.8.127)  1.725 ms  1.455 ms  1.343 ms
 2  192.168.8.127 (192.168.8.127)  1.702 ms  4.912 ms  1.873 ms
 3  192.168.8.128 (192.168.8.128)  1.068 ms  2.642 ms  2.705 ms
 4  192.168.8.127 (192.168.8.127)  3.183 ms  5.256 ms  9.543 ms
 5  192.168.8.128 (192.168.8.128)  2.978 ms  1.600 ms  1.980 ms
In the above example, a loop occurs between 192.168.8.127 and 192.168.8.128. Data will pass back and forth from one to the other until the session times out or the maximum hop limit is reached.