Troubleshooting

Diagnostic Tools

If A Network Condition Prevents Traceroute from Reaching the Destination. Common reasons for Traceroute failing to reach a destination include:

Timeouts (indicated by one asterisk per probe, per hop; refer to Figure C-17, above.)

Unreachable hosts

Unreachable networks

Interference from firewalls

Hosts configured to avoid responding

Executing traceroute where the route becomes blocked or otherwise fails results in an output marked by timeouts for all probes beyond the last detected hop. For example with a maximum hop count of 7 (maxttl = 7), where the route becomes blocked or otherwise fails, the output appears similar to this:

At hop 3, the first and third probes timed out but the second probe reached the router.

All further probes within the maxttl timed-out without finding a router or the destination IP address.

An asterisk indicates a timeout without finding the next hop.

Figure C-18. Example of Traceroute Failing to Reach the Destination Address

C-57