Type the IP Address of the destination you want to trace and press Return. If you have access to a Domain Name Server (DNS), you can type a DNS host name like "www.apple.com" in the name field and press Return. To lookup a name or address, type the name or address in the corresponding field and press Lookup (the small magnifying glass next to the name field).
A popup history menu keeps a list of Recent Targets. The content of the Name field is added to the history menu when a test to that name is invoked. The Name or Address field is added to the history menu when the Lookup button is pressed. If the menu becomes full (10 entries), the least recently used item will be replaced. To remove an item from the history menu, select that item while pressing the Option key.
Network routes are traced by sending a packet with successively larger time to live (TTL) values in the IP header and recording any ΓÇ£time limit exceededΓÇ¥ messages that are returned. As each router forwards a packet, it decrements the TTL value and discards the packet reporting an error if TTL reaches zero. Each hop is tried three times and the average round trip time is displayed in seconds.
Normally a trace terminates when trace route receives a "Port unreachable" response from the target host. If trace route receives a "Destination unreachable" response that is not "Port unreachable" from the target host, trace route will show an orange "X" in the Received column, show the reason the packet could not be forwarded in the Name column, and terminate the trace.
When a ΓÇ£time limit exceededΓÇ¥ message is received, trace route uses the source address of this message to lookup the corresponding Name. The trace continues while any lookup is in progress as indicated by the word ΓÇ£Looking...ΓÇ¥ in the Name column. The IP Address and Name for this hop are remembered, so a DNS lookup will not be necessary on subsequent traces unless the IP Address changes.
The "ICMP Trace" feature uses ICMP echo requests instead of normal UDP datagrams for tracing. This may work better through some firewall devices.
Additional Features:
You can double-click on any destination in the table to start a Ping test to that address. You donΓÇÖt have to wait for the trace to finish.
When you invoke one window from another, the corresponding data is automatically transferred. Select any destination in the table and invoke the "Who Is" window from the Window menu (Cmd-I) to look up "Who Is" responsible for the corresponding 2nd level network domain. Invoke the Subnet Calculator window (Cmd-B) to transfer the IP address to the Subnet Calculator.
If you have Internet Config installed, you can make IPNetMonitor a helper application for URLs of the form <traceroute://www.sustworks.com/> or <traceroute: 199.232.56.35>.
You can invoke Telnet to the corresponding destination by launching a <telnet://...> GURL via Internet Config. Use Cmd-1 from the Ping or Trace Route window. [Works great with Nifty Telnet.]
You can select the results of a Trace Route test and copy them to the clipboard as plain text (for pasting into email messages). If you include the first row of the table in your selection, the table headings will also be copied as shown here.
<traceroute: 199.232.56.35>
Hop Sent Received Seconds IP Address Name
The first line is the URL for this trace. If you use Internet Config and have selected IPNetMonitor as the corresponding helper application, you can rerun the trace by command clicking on the first line. [Great if someone sends you email including the results of a Trace Route, and you want to reproduce it.]
Keyboard Shortcuts:
Cmd-Period Abort a test or lookup in progress
Cmd-R Open another Trace Route window
Cmd-T Ping selected destination
Cmd-I Who Is 2nd level domain of selected destination
Cmd-K Test Link Rate to this address
Cmd-B Transfer selected destination to Subnet Calculator
