How to use traceroute to spot a problem

[Marcia]

I'm having a problem with server speed (timing out in the control panel). I contacted the company, and at their request, ran a traceroute at the time a problem occurred - first time for me, which I'll also do on other sites which are on different servers, though in the same group.

I figure it can either be a network problem, or someone on a particular server sneaking in and using a LOT of system resources. I don't know if that's automatically monitored by them - I would assume so.

What do I look for in a traceroute to spot problem areas?

[bartek]

>What do I look for in a traceroute to spot problem areas?

You would typically look for a bottleneck indicated by the unusually large ms (miliseconds) value and possibly a larger than necessary number of "hops". The one below is my traceroute to WebmasterWorld. This one is A-OK.

C:\WINDOWS>tracert webmasterworld.com

Tracing route to webmasterworld.com [216.71.185.24]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

Tracing route to webmasterworld.com [216.71.185.24]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <10 ms <10 ms 192.168.0.1
2 27 ms 23 ms 23 ms 24.43.10.129
3 25 ms 23 ms 23 ms 10.1.68.1
4 34 ms 29 ms 29 ms 10.0.184.125
5 58 ms 35 ms 36 ms c1-pos7-0.bflony1.home.net [24.7.74.25]
6 41 ms 41 ms 41 ms c1-pos1-0.hrfrct1.home.net [24.7.65.253]
7 46 ms 48 ms 46 ms c1-pos3-0.nycmny1.home.net [24.7.69.2]
8 46 ms 48 ms 48 ms p3-1.nycmny1-ba2.bbnplanet.net [4.0.6.153]
9 45 ms 48 ms 48 ms p7-0.nycmny1-br2.bbnplanet.net [4.24.6.233]
10 44 ms 47 ms 47 ms p4-0.nycmny1-br1.bbnplanet.net [4.24.6.225]
11 43 ms 47 ms 49 ms p5-0.nycmny1-nbr1.bbnplanet.net [4.24.10.81]
12 58 ms 53 ms 53 ms so-4-0-0.chcgil2-br1.bbnplanet.net [4.24.9.65]
13 55 ms 53 ms 54 ms p6-0.chcgil1-br1.bbnplanet.net [4.24.9.70]
14 58 ms 53 ms 54 ms p3-0.chcgil1-ba1.bbnplanet.net [4.24.5.234]
15 56 ms 54 ms 54 ms p1-0.chcgil1-cr1.bbnplanet.net [4.24.5.242]
16 60 ms 59 ms 60 ms p0-0.onlinemllc3.bbnplanet.net [4.24.149.110]
17 58 ms 59 ms 59 ms webmasterworld.com [216.71.185.24]

Trace complete.

[Marcia]

This was done from the server. The numbers don't quite line up with yours in terms of ms - some were higher earlier.

1 BGW-VE1.dedicatedns.com (209.239.32.1) 1.859 ms 1.612 ms 1.883 ms
2 unassigned.alabanza.com (64.176.255.242) 1.046 ms 1.588 ms 1.534 ms
3 12.124.234.9 (12.124.234.9) 1.586 ms 2.897 ms 9.079 ms
4 gbr6-p80.wswdc.ip.att.net (12.123.9.62) 8.016 ms 65.624 ms 8.092 ms
5 gbr3-p90.wswdc.ip.att.net (12.122.5.202) 1.786 ms 1.505 ms 1.523 ms
6 gbr3-p20.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.122.3.53) 7.178 ms 7.333 ms 6.960 ms
7 gbr1-p100.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.122.1.150) 7.120 ms 7.409 ms 6.808 ms
8 nr1-p30.napny.ip.att.net (192.205.32.38) 10.524 ms 10.305 ms 10.254 ms
9 att-gw.sprintnap.icg.net (192.205.32.10) 11.348 ms 11.357 ms 11.132 ms
10 h4-0.nwk-nj-gw1.icg.net (163.179.232.218) 13.256 ms 12.990 ms 13.060 ms
11 a5-0-0-3.was-dc-gw1.icg.net (163.179.235.109) 17.336 ms 16.896 ms 18.722 ms
12 a6-0-0-1.ati-ga-gw1.icg.net (163.179.235.130) 36.714 ms 35.342 ms 36.261 ms
13 a3-0-0-1.dai-tx-gw1.icg.net (163.179.235.185) 64.372 ms 61.027 ms 60.104 ms
14 a0-0-0-1.lai-ca-gw1.icg.net (163.179.235.62) 115.752 ms 115.369 ms 117.265 ms
15 f0-0.whv-ca-gw1.icg.net (165.236.24.90) 114.685 ms 117.702 ms 118.584 ms
16 wla-ca-pm6.icg.net (165.236.29.85) 118.883 ms 115.915 ms 116.284 ms
17 wla-ca6c-45.rasserver.net (199.182.34.45) 256.193 ms 273.550 ms 248.996 ms

The numbers from the server to here do not look like this - it would seem the problem is on my end.

[bartek]

Each line gives 3 time values in ms for each of 3 packets sent (roundtrip). If the three times on any one line are reasonably close, you're doing allright. If they are further apart, it means a change in traffic levels between the three packets. Now if you get a good roundtrip to one router + the next machine gives you poor times and then the following times are better again on the next router - it typically means traffic surges on the network or other *really* complicated issues.

[bartek]

It takes me 150 ms to reach wla-ca-pm6.icg.net (165.236.29.85) on its way to rasserver.net and then it times out...

[Marcia]

thanks bartek, ISP was notified, there's been a problem, and they're aware of it.