How to use the "traceroute" command to Trace Routing on Linux systems?

"traceroute" command allows you to trace IP routing on Linux systems. The output lists the interface IP address of each gateway reached by a dummy message fired from the local host to the specified destination.

If "traceroute" command is not available, you need to install the "traceroute" package first, using command like "sudo dnf install traceroute".

In the example below, the local host has an IP address of 128.3.112.3. The destination host has an IP address of 35.1.1.48. The output of the "traceroute" command tells us that an IP message from the local host can reach the destination over 10 subnets. In other words, a message will jump over 10 hops to reach the destination.

fyicenter$ traceroute 35.1.1.48

traceroute 35.1.1.48, 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1 128.3.112.1 19 ms 19 ms 0 ms
 2 128.32.216.1 39 ms 39 ms 19 ms
 3 128.32.136.23 39 ms 40 ms 39 ms
 4 128.32.168.22 39 ms 39 ms 39 ms
 5 128.32.197.4 40 ms 59 ms 59 ms
 6 131.119.2.5 59 ms 59 ms 59 ms
 7 129.140.70.13 99 ms 99 ms 80 ms
 8 129.140.71.6 139 ms 239 ms 319 ms
 9 129.140.81.7 220 ms 199 ms 199 ms
10 35.1.1.48 239 ms 239 ms 239 ms

⇒ Domain Name Server/System

⇐ "tracert" - Trace Routing on Winndows

⇑ IP Network

⇑⇑ Internet Connection - Frequently Asked Questions