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TechKnowSurge Catalog Videos DEMO: Ping and TraceRoute
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DEMO: Ping and TraceRoute

Ping and traceroute are two command-line utilities used to test network connectivity and diagnose routing issues. Ping measures round-trip response time between two devices, while traceroute reveals each hop a packet takes across the network to reach its destination.

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About this video

Ping and traceroute are two foundational command-line utilities built into most operating systems and used daily by network and IT professionals to diagnose connectivity problems. Both tools work by sending packets to a target IP address and analyzing the responses, but they serve distinct diagnostic purposes and provide different levels of detail about network behavior. Ping is the simpler of the two. It transmits a small number of packets to a specified address — commonly a reliable public server such as 8.8.8.8, Google's DNS — and reports whether each packet received a reply, how large the packets were, and what the round-trip time was for each response. A successful ping with no packet loss confirms basic end-to-end connectivity and gives a baseline sense of latency between the source machine and the target. Traceroute goes further by mapping the full path a packet takes from the source to the destination. Rather than reporting only the final reply, it captures a response from each intermediate router along the route, displaying the IP address or hostname of every hop and the time it took to reach it. Running a traceroute to 8.8.8.8, for example, might reveal a dozen or more routers between the local machine and Google's DNS server, each one representing a separate network segment. This granular view makes traceroute especially valuable when diagnosing latency spikes, packet loss, or routing anomalies, as it can pinpoint exactly where in the network path a problem is occurring.

What you'll learn

What's covered

Ping & Traceroute Utilities

Aligned to

CompTIA Network+
5.5 Given a scenario, use the appropriate tool or protocol to solve networking issues.
CompTIA A+ Core 1
2.8 Given a scenario, use networking tools.
5.7 Given a scenario, troubleshoot problems with wired and wireless networks.
Cisco CCST Networking
5.3 Run basic diagnostic commands and interpret the results.
CompTIA Server+
4.5 Given a scenario, troubleshoot network connectivity issues.
Cisco CCNA
1.10 Verify IP parameters for Client OS

Key terms

Internet Control Message Protocol
ICMP
A network layer protocol used to send error messages and operational information about network conditions.
Packet
A unit of data formatted for transmission over a network, containing a header, payload, and sometimes a trailer.
Latency
The time delay between sending a request and receiving a response over a network.
Time to Live
TTL
A value in a packet that limits its lifespan on a network, preventing it from circulating indefinitely.
Router
A network device that forwards data packets between networks based on IP addresses.
IP Address
A numerical label assigned to each device connected to a network that uses the Internet Protocol.
Hop
A single step in the path a packet takes through the network, specifically the transit from one router to the next closest router toward the destination. The number of hops a packet must travel is used as a routing metric by distance-vector protocols like RIP.
Round-Trip Time
RTT
The total time it takes for a packet to travel from the source to the destination and back.

Transcript

There's a couple utilities that we can use to help troubleshoot problems. One of them is ping and the other one is trace route. With one of them, trace route, we'll actually see the path that a packet is taking to get it to its end device. Because that's what's happening: we're actually sending out a packet that's going to some sort of end device, it's replying back and it's being routed there and back, so that way we can see what the response time is going to be.

Ping

Here I am on my Windows machine. I'm going to open up the Windows menu and type in cmd to bring up a command prompt. So here's my command prompt right here, and what I'm going to type in is ping. This is the name of the program. And I'm going to ping 8.8.8.8. So this is a common address that I like to ping to see if I just have some basic connectivity.

So I'll hit enter on this and we can start seeing that we see reply. It tells me some information about this reply. So essentially what this did is it sent out four different packets, and the packets were 32 bytes big, and so we sent this out to the other device, this 8.8.8.8 device, and then it replied back. And we can see the total round trip here, the time it took for this to send out. And we didn't have anything lost, that's good, and we sent four packets and received four packets. So there is ping.

Tracert

Now, a very similar command that I could use, and actually see what the different hops along the way are, is I can type tracert and 88.8 8 and hit enter with this. And now what's happening is it's using that same type of packet to send out to 8.8.8.8. And then I'm receiving a message back from it that's telling me what each hop along the way is. So these are different routers along the way that are coming back. And I'll see how many routers are between my location and 8.8.8.8. And I can see there is 12 different routers between me and 8.8.8, or probably actually 11 routers. And then this final dns.google.com, which is actually a Google server, this 8.8.8.8.

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