traceroute is another tool used by the pros to diagnose network problems. It asks the question, “What is the route used to get there, and what are the road conditions like along the way?”

In other words, traceroute will give you information about the condition of the connection between your computer and your FTP server. Think of it like Google Maps or Mapquest directions for data.

For more information about traceroute:

• See our Why 'traceroute' is Useful section below.
• See the WikiPedia page for traceroute.
• See the Manual page for 'traceroute'.

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To use tracert on Microsoft Windows, you'll need to open the command line (this used to be called a DOS prompt):

1. Open a command line by hold down the Window key on your keyboard and press R (WinKey + R).
2. In the Run pop-up, enter the following and then click the OK button: CMD
3. In the command window, enter the following:
   

   tracert  your-account.exavault.com

After you've entered the command, you should see responses like those in the picture below. If you see asterisks, that means that a router or server along the way didn't respond.

Note that when you traceroute to your ExaVault server, our firewalls may not send responses back. If the last lines in the tracert list asterisks instead of a server and response times, don't worry about it. Use Ping to test connectivity to the server.

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Copying text from the Windows Command Prompt isn't like copying text from any other Windows program. To copy the test from the Windows command prompt:

1. Right click in the command prompt window and select Mark.
2. Highlight everything in the window
3. Press the Enter key on the keyboard.

You should now be able to paste the results of the tracert into an email.

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Using traceroute in Mac OS X is really easy:

1. Open a terminal (Applications > Utilities)
2. Enter the following:
   

   traceroute  your-account.exavault.com

After you've entered the command, you should see responses like those on in the picture on the right. If you see asterisks, that means that a router or server along the way didn't respond.

Note that when you traceroute to your ExaVault server, our firewalls may not send responses back. If the last lines in the traceroute list asterisks instead of a server and response times, don't worry about it. Use Ping to test connectivity to the server.

Copying and pasting from the Terminal is just like copying and pasting from any other application:

1. Highlight the text in the terminal to be copied.
2. Select 'Copy' from the edit menu, or right-click and select “Copy”
3. 'Paste' the copied text from the terminal into an email using the Edit menu or right-clicking.

Notes:

• Holding down the Apple (command) key and clicking is the same as right-clicking
• Copy can also be done on the keyboard by holding down the command key and pressing 'C' (% + C).
• Paste can also be done on the keyboard by holding down the command key and pressing 'V' (% + V)

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Using traceroute in Linux, BSD, and other Unices is really easy:

1. Open a terminal
2. Enter the following:
   

   traceroute  your-account.exavault.com

   
   Note: on some systems, the command will be /usr/sbin/traceroute

After you've entered the command, you should see responses like those on in the picture on the right. If you see asterisks, that means that a router or server along the way didn't respond.

Note that when you traceroute to your ExaVault server, our firewalls may not send responses back. If the last lines in the traceroute list asterisks instead of a server and response times, don't worry about it. Use Ping to test connectivity to the server.

Copying and pasting from the Terminal is just like copying and pasting from any other application:

1. Highlight the text in the terminal to be copied.
2. Select 'Copy' from the edit menu, or right-click and select “Copy”
3. 'Paste' the copied text from the terminal into an email using the Edit menu or right-clicking.

Notes:

• Copy can also be done on the keyboard by holding down the CTRL key and pressing 'C' (CTRL + C).
• Paste can also be done on the keyboard by holding down the CTRL key and pressing 'V' (CTRL + V)

To understand why traceroute is useful, you'll need to have some basic knowledge of how data transfers (particularly FTP and SFTP) work:

• When data is getting ready to transfer it is broken up into packets.
• The packets are put into a queue to be transferred.
• The packets are sent to the destination one at a time:
  • The destination sends an acknowledgment for each packet it receives.
  • Subsequent packets in the queue are not sent until an acknowledgement is received for the packet sent before it.
  • If an acknowledgment is not received within an expected time frame, the packet is re-sent.

You might think that is a terribly inefficient way to transfer data. However, the send - acknowledgement /re-send method ensures that data will not be corrupted during transfer.

What that means to you is that FTP and SFTP are very safe and reliable ways to transfer data.

traceroute works in a similar way to data transfers:

• It sends out packets of data to a destination.
• It asks each router /server it encounters along the way to respond three times with how long it took to process the sent packet.

Therefore, if you are experiencing slow transfer speeds, a traceroute can help point out where the bottleneck is.

Here are the rules of thumb we use at ExaVault for traceroute response times:

• Overland: 30 to 50 milliseconds for every 1000 miles (18 to 30 milliseconds for every 1000 KM) in distance.
• Overseas: Overseas data lines (e.g.: trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific, etc.) will impact response times ten-fold.