Although
I do not have any previous experience with website pings and traceroute
experience, I found this activity quite interesting. Our text explains packets,
and they travel as information such as email messages or webpages that go
through different computers via communications links such as fiber optic
cables. These packets will travel to a specific destination and back (Vahid
& Lysecky, 2017, Sec. 301, para 2). When comparing the three ping
operations I completed, one can clearly see a difference in trip times with
each ping. Google.com had the shortest trip time whereas the ping to a Japanese
as well as a Chinese site took significantly longer. This can be explained by
the distances between home and the destinations being pinged. For example, my
ping to Google only took an average of 19ms, whereas my ping to 360.cn took
114ms. The difference between trip time occurs because my ping had to travel a
much shorter distance as a Google server is much closer. A ping traveling to
another country like China or Japan will obviously take longer due to distance.
Geographical locations do play a role in trip times. The further away the
domain is, the longer the trip time.
Figure 1. Google.com ping example
Figure 2. Google.com traceroute
When
considering ping and traceroute commands, both tools can be helpful when troubleshooting
internet problems. If there is an issue with an internet connection, a ping or
traceroute command will show a failed result. The ping command results show how
many packets were sent and how many were received. If four packets are sent and
none come back, this may be a result of a network problem such as a bad
communication link or router as this is how packets travel back and forth. Some
other reasons for a failed ping or traceroute request could be a site blocking
incoming pings or a server being down (Beal, V. 2018). If a site wishes to
block incoming pings, the results will show a "request timed out"
response, as the loop was not able to be completed. A user would get the same
result from a downed server.
References:
Beal, V. (2018) The Difference
Between Traceroute and Ping. Retrieved from https://www.webopedia.com
Vahid, F., & Lysecky,
S. (2017). Computing technology for all. Retrieved from zybooks.zyante.com
