If you need to check the availability of the server and see what path the packets take from your computer to the server, you can do a trace.
Programs for tracing are most likely installed initially on operating systems of the main families. For Windows OS, this is tracert.exe, for MacOS - traceroute. For Linux OS, there are several programs - tracepath (simple, most likely already installed in the system) or traceroute. I recommend using the latter. If it is not in your system, install it using your package manager. For example,
#Debian/ubuntu
apt install traceroute
#CentOS, RedHat
yum install traceroute
In order to trace, on Windows OS, open a terminal (cmd) or PowerShell and enter:
tracert <server IP address or domain name>
On Linux, open a terminal and run:
tracepath <server IP address or domain name>
The traceroute program must be run as root:
traceroute <server IP address or domain name>
On MacOS, open a terminal and run:
traceroute <server IP address or domain name>
Each program also has other options, which can be found in the corresponding help documentation or using parameter --help or /?-.
# Linux, macOS
traceroute --help
#windows
tracert /?
The program makes a series of requests to all nodes on the way from the computer on which it is running to the target server. The result is a sequence of nodes. Their IP addresses and hostnames are indicated, as well as the timestamps for which the requests passed. If a response was received from multiple nodes, the traceroute program displays information about all nodes at the same level. Some nodes are not responding to the request. Such requests are marked with an asterisk.
The program will keep hopping until it receives a response from the target node or runs out of "hops". By default, this number is 30. Having reached the limit, the program will give a result about the impossibility of reaching the target node. This is also possible if the target node is configured not to respond to such requests.
An example of the result of the traceroute test performed on the speed test page of our site:
traceroute to google.com (216.58.208.110), 30 hops max, 46 byte packets
1 172.19.0.1 (172.19.0.1) 0.020 ms 0.013 ms 0.011 ms
2 * * gw.zomro.com (45.82.68.1) 539.029 ms
3 aux2-del.infra.novoserve.net (185.147.12.70) 10.201 ms 3.105 ms 9.273 ms
4 ar1-eqe.infra.novoserve.net (185.147.12.29) 1.199 ms 185.147.12.31 (185.147.12.31) 1.272 ms 1.261 ms
5 185.147.12.209 (185.147.12.209) 1.267 ms 1.552 ms 1.268 ms
6 185.147.12.65 (185.147.12.65) 1.349 ms 72.14.209.194 (72.14.209.194) 2.345 ms 2.598 ms
7 * * 108.170.241.225 (108.170.241.225) 2.774ms
8 172.253.66.187 (172.253.66.187) 3.113 ms 2.011 ms 172.253.66.185 (172.253.66.185) 4.144 ms
9 ams17s08-in-f14.1e100.net (216.58.208.110) 1.312 ms 172.253.66.187 (172.253.66.187) 2.119 ms 4.727 ms
As you can see, 9 hops were made. Each hop has 3 timestamps corresponding to the number of requests sent. Some queries were unsuccessful, indicated by asterisks. There are no timestamps for them. On the last hop, the IP address of the target server is reached.
Conclusion
A method for checking the quality of the path from the computer to the server using tracing programs is considered.
Useful information for internet users here.