MTR (My traceroute, originally called Matt's traceroute) is a computer program which combines the functionality of the traceroute and pingprograms in a single network diagnostic tool.[1]
MTR probes routers on the route path by limiting the number of hops individual packets may traverse, and listening to responses of their expiry. It will regularly repeat this process, usually once per second, and keep track of the response times of the hops along the path.
Examples
My traceroute [v0.71]
example.lan Sun Mar 25 00:07:50 2007
Packets Pings
Hostname %Loss Rcv Snt Last Best Avg Worst
1. example.lan 0% 11 11 1 1 1 2
2. ae-31-51.ebr1.Chicago1.Level3.n 19% 9 11 3 1 7 14
3. ae-1.ebr2.Chicago1.Level3.net 0% 11 11 7 1 7 14
4. ae-2.ebr2.Washington1.Level3.ne 19% 9 11 19 18 23 31
5. ae-1.ebr1.Washington1.Level3.ne 28% 8 11 22 18 24 30
6. ge-3-0-0-53.gar1.Washington1.Le 0% 11 11 18 18 20 36
7. 63.210.29.230 0% 10 10 19 19 19 19
8. t-3-1.bas1.re2.yahoo.com 0% 10 10 19 18 32 106
9. p25.www.re2.yahoo.com 0% 10 10 19 18 19 19
Windows base MTR
Installation
Step 1 – Download
The latest version is 0.91. Download WinMTR now!
Step 2 – Installation
You will get a .zip archive containing two folders WinMTR-32 and WinMTR-64.
Both contain two files: WinMTR.exe and README.TXT.
Just extract the WinMTR.exe for your platform (32 or 64 bit) and click to run it.
If you don’t know what version you need, just click on both files and see which one works ;-)
As you can see, WinMTR requires no other installation effort.
Trick: You can copy the WinMTR.exe file in Windows/System32 so it’s accessible via the command line – cmd!
Step 3 – Usage
Visual:
- Start WinMTR.
- Write the name or IP of the host (e.g. google.com)
- Press the Options button to configure ping size, maximum hops and ping interval (the defaults are OK).
- Push the Start button and wait.
- Copy or export the results in text or HTML format. Useful if you want to document or file a complaint with your ISP.
- Click on Clear History to remove the hosts you have previously traced.
Command line:
- Run winmtr –help to see what are the options
- Run winmtr hostname (e.g. winmtr www.yahoo.com)
Step 4 – Troubleshooting
a) I type in the address and nothing happens.
Usually this has to do with lame antivirus or firewall applications. Stop all that when doing debugging or when using WinMTR. Or, configure them properly.
b) I get an error saying the program cannot be executed.
You are running the 64 bit version on a 32 bit platform. Try the WinMTR.exe stored in the WinMTR_x32 folder.
c) I get an error unspecified here.
Please report it to us to make sure it’s not a bug in the application.
