traceroute for path tracing in Linux CLI - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What is the output of this traceroute command?

You run the command traceroute -m 3 example.com. What does the -m 3 option do?

Linux CLI

traceroute -m 3 example.com

A Sends 3 probes per hop instead of the default 1.

B Specifies the port number 3 for traceroute packets.

C Sets the timeout for each probe to 3 seconds.

D Limits the maximum number of hops to 3, so traceroute stops after 3 hops.

💡 Hint

Think about what 'max hops' means in network path tracing.

The -m option sets the maximum number of hops traceroute will probe before stopping. Here, it limits the trace to 3 hops.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What does this traceroute output indicate?

You run traceroute example.com and see this output for the first hop:

 1  192.168.1.1  1.123 ms  1.045 ms  1.012 ms

What does this line mean?

Linux CLI

traceroute example.com

A The first hop is the router at IP 192.168.1.1, and it responded in about 1 ms each time.

B The traceroute failed to reach the first hop.

C The IP 192.168.1.1 is unreachable.

D The traceroute is showing the destination server's IP.

💡 Hint

The first hop is usually your local router or gateway.

The first hop IP is the first device traceroute reaches, usually your router. The times show how long each probe took.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Why does this traceroute command fail with 'command not found'?

You type traceoute example.com but get bash: traceoute: command not found. What is the problem?

Linux CLI

traceoute example.com

A The domain 'example.com' does not exist.

B You need to run the command as root.

C The command is misspelled; it should be 'traceroute'.

D Traceroute is not installed by default on Linux.

💡 Hint

Check the spelling carefully.

The command is misspelled as 'traceoute' instead of 'traceroute'.

🚀 Application

advanced

How to save traceroute output to a file for later analysis?

You want to run traceroute example.com and save the output to a file named trace.txt. Which command does this correctly?

A All of the above

B traceroute example.com >> trace.txt

C traceroute example.com > trace.txt

D traceroute example.com | tee trace.txt

💡 Hint

Think about how output redirection and tee work.

All options save output to a file: '>' overwrites, '>>' appends, and 'tee' writes and shows output.

🧠 Conceptual

expert

What does an asterisk (*) mean in traceroute output?

In traceroute output, sometimes you see lines like:

 4  * * *

What does this mean?

A The network is blocking traceroute packets permanently.

B The probe timed out; no response was received from that hop.

C Traceroute completed successfully at this hop.

D The hop is the destination server.

💡 Hint

Think about what no response means in network tracing.

Asterisks mean the probe did not get a reply within the timeout period from that hop.