Overview

When the data cannot be transferred correctly, the combination of ping and traceroute can be used to isolate to a certain extent the scope of the problems.

Trouble isolation by ping and traceroute

Ping and traceroute are often used to verify that end-to-end communication is possible. For an application to communicate, of course, it must be able to forward IP packets to the host where the application is running. Ping is used to verify this.

Ping the destination IP address to verify that communication is possible. If the response is not returned, there is a problem somewhere on the path to the destination.

Figure: When Ping Fails
Figure: When Ping Fails

However, some devices are configured not to respond to ping, so a ping failure does not necessarily mean that there is a problem.

To find out where the problem is on the path, execute a traceroute. Execute a traceroute to the destination IP address and there is most likely a problem between the router that returns a traceroute response and the router that does not return a traceroute response.

Figure: Isolating trouble spots on traceroute
Figure: Isolating trouble spots on traceroute

Again, some routers are configured not to respond to traceroute for security reasons, so a failure to respond does not necessarily indicate a problem.

In this way, trouble spots can be isolated by ping and traceroute, and when any trouble occurs, it can be dealt with promptly.

Summary

Points

  • When the data cannot be transferred correctly, the combination of ping and traceroute can be used to isolate to a certain extent the scope of the problems.
  • If no ping response is returned, there is a problem somewhere along the path.
  • In that case, there is most likely some problem where the traceroute response is not returned.

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