Which command helps determine where a ping fails by showing the route to the destination?

Which command helps determine where a ping fails by showing the route to the destination?

• A. ping
• B. traceroute/tracert
• C. ipconfig
• D. ifconfig

Answer: (B)

When troubleshooting connectivity, you want to know the exact path your packets travel and where they stop. Traceroute (or tracert on Windows) does this by probing the route step by step and revealing each hop along the way to the destination. It works by sending probes with progressively higher TTL values. Each router on the path decrements the TTL; when TTL reaches zero, the router sends back an ICMP Time Exceeded message, showing the hop’s address. By collecting these responses, traceroute constructs a hop-by-hop map of the route to the destination. If a ping to the destination fails, you can run traceroute to see where the responses stop, pinpointing whether the problem is inside your network, at your ISP, or beyond. On the other hand, ping only checks whether the destination can be reached and measures round-trip time, without revealing the route taken. The other commands listed focus on your own device’s network configuration rather than the path to the destination.

When troubleshooting connectivity, you want to know the exact path your packets travel and where they stop. Traceroute (or tracert on Windows) does this by probing the route step by step and revealing each hop along the way to the destination.

It works by sending probes with progressively higher TTL values. Each router on the path decrements the TTL; when TTL reaches zero, the router sends back an ICMP Time Exceeded message, showing the hop’s address. By collecting these responses, traceroute constructs a hop-by-hop map of the route to the destination. If a ping to the destination fails, you can run traceroute to see where the responses stop, pinpointing whether the problem is inside your network, at your ISP, or beyond.

On the other hand, ping only checks whether the destination can be reached and measures round-trip time, without revealing the route taken. The other commands listed focus on your own device’s network configuration rather than the path to the destination.