If you’re searching for how to run a traceroute on a Mac terminal then you’ve landed at the right place. In this post, we’ll be discussing how to run traceroute on macOS, and what exactly a traceroute is. So, keep reading this post till the end.
Technology has advanced in several ways. Today we’re moving to web3.0, an evolved form of the internet. We’re having gadgets that adhere to different needs, Phones, PCs, and much more.
Mac is a product of the tech giant Apple Inc. Apple is known for several other promising gadgets such as iPhone, iPad, etc. More than a gadget, products produced by Apple are more of a status symbol. Kudos to the marketing team behind Apple.
Well, with innovations come new problems, and to run a traceroute is to fix one of those problems. In simple terms, by figuring out the traceroute you can fix the website loading issue. Sometimes the site seems to not work despite every effort of us to fix it, and traceroute can help you determine the exact spot of the problem.
So, yes! It can be your helper when you’re most in the need of internet and it malfunctions. It just requires a little time and effort and you can fix the issue without hiring a tech guy. But before we hop on to the fix, let’s understand what is a traceroute.
All you need to know about Traceroute
The Internet consists of data that travels through your computer to different servers. Whenever you access websites, your data travels through a path and helps you access the data on that particular site.
In simple terms traceroute is a map of the flow of your data. Now there’s much more to how your data travels. Your data travels from server to server, and it spends a designated time at a particular server, analyzing the traceroute will help you find out the time your data spends at every server.
Traceroute helps us to identify if there are any network delays or loops in that website route. It also logs the time taken to send the packets across multiple networks involved in between.
It’s simple and fascinating at the same time. Wherever you find a problem in your traceroute you can fix it and your internet problem will be resolved. You can fix the time your data spends on a server, and the several stops it takes across the servers.
Traceroute and tracert are the two important diagnostic commands used to check the routes data has travelled to reach from source to destination. Now, that you have an idea of what a traceroute is let’s find out how to run traceroute on macOS terminal, where you’ll solve your actual internet issue.
How to run traceroute on MacOS terminal?
The process is extremely simple, you just need to open the terminal app on your mac and follow the below steps.
- Press Command + Space on your mac to open the Spotlight Search
- Search for Terminal and click Enter to open the Terminal app
- In the terminal app, type traceroute followed by the website name or an IP address as shown in the screenshot below
- Press Enter key on your keyboard
If you’ll see the numbered traceroute and your Mac’s name then your traceroute will be completed. Please note that traceroute will only effectively work when you’ll have an issue connecting to a site. If there’s no issue then you’ll have to wait for the issue to occur to effectively use a traceroute.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Q: What does traceroute do and why might I need it?
A: Traceroute is a command that can show you the path a packet of information takes from your computer to one you specify. It can be used to help troubleshoot network issues, identify routing issues, and more.
2. Q: How can I run a traceroute on my macOS?
A: To run a traceroute on macOS, open the Network Utility, go to the Traceroute tab, type the domain or IP address in the appropriate field, and hit the Trace button. The result will show the path packets take from your machine to the destination host.
3. Q: Why are there multiple lines of output in my traceroute results?
A: Each line represents a “hop”, or step along the route, that the request takes from your computer to the target server or device. The three columns show the amount of time it takes for a response to be received from each hop.
4. Q: Can traceroute harm my macOS or network?
A: Running a traceroute does not inherently harm your system or network. It merely traces the route that packets take from your computer to a specified destination. However, interpreting the results may require a bit of technical knowledge.
Conclusion:
We’re witnessing the evolution of technology. We’re advancing from web 2.0 to web 3.0. As we continue to surf the internet, we sometimes face connectivity issues, like we cannot access a website. And that issue can be fixed by a traceroute.
When you access a website your data travels across the servers. The traceroute is the map through which your data travels. By running a traceroute on your mac terminal you can find out the exact spot that is witnessing an issue and fix it within minutes. You don’t need a professional tech guy, you just need to follow the steps mentioned in this post.
We hope you find our post on how to run traceroute on a mac terminal helpful and informative. For more such tips, follow cult.technology!!
