Network and Tracert

These days, I’m reading somethings about network. I started playing with the command *Tracert *(in Linux, Traceroute) in the CMD. I’ve figured out some things and I’m learning more about network.

So today, I’m going to talk about network, specifically the command Tracert. We will make an analysis based on two examples.

First, let’s understand what the Tracert command does:
It traces the path that a data packet takes from your computer to a specific destination on the network or the internet.
Example: Open your CMD and type: tracert 8.8.8.8
This route will take you to 8.8.8.8 (dns.google).

Second, let’s understand how Tracert works:

It identifies the “hops”: it lists each router or intermediate server that the information passes through until it reaches the final destination.

For each hop, the command performs three tests and shows the response time in milliseconds (ms). This helps identify points of slowness in the connection.

If the connection drops at some point, Tracert will show where the signal stopped (usually displaying asterisks *), allowing you to know whether the problem is in your internal network, your ISP, or the destination server.

Now try: tracert amazon.com
Compare it with the previous result.

When I made this comparison, I noticed a big difference in the number of hops and latency. While for Google the latency ranged from 6 ms to 51 ms, for Amazon, starting from hop 7, the latency increased to 140 ms, 168 ms, and 185 ms. For Google, there were only 9 hops, while for Amazon there were 30, which is the maximum number of hops that Tracert shows.

I also paid attention to the change in IP addresses.
In the Amazon route, I reached the following IP address at hop 6: 213.140.39.8. After this hop, the latency changed drastically, going from
15 ms, 12 ms, 18 ms to 140 ms, 168 ms, 185 ms.

In addition, there was a network change, and the ranges 213.140.39.8 (hop 6) and 94.142.98.43 (hop 7) are not common in Brazil.

This high variation in latency and this change to those IP addresses is already enough to indicate that the traffic is going through an international route (backbones).

If you want to confirm who owns the IP, use the WHOIS command (Linux), which allows you to see the owner of the address, or access the website who.is and enter the IP address.

Another thing that caught my attention is that from hop 9 onwards, several * appeared in the latency tests and the IP addresses stopped being shown. After researching, I understood that this was not a failure, but rather that Amazon blocks Tracert responses, probably for security reasons.

Some conclusions we can draw from this comparison are:

On the route to Google, we have a more direct connection between my ISP and Google, going from the address 152-255-190-66.user.vivozap.com.br at hop 5 to the address 72.14.243.38 (Google) at hop 6. We are accessing Google through an edge location.

On the route to Amazon, we go through an international route, with higher latency, and the destination blocks ICMP.

From this, we can see that Google services often use local edge infrastructure, while some AWS endpoints follow international routes.

You might be wondering why it is important to know the route to a destination and the latency to each router.

I’ll explain: understanding the Tracert command, routes, latencies, and IPs helps you understand how the internet really works. You don’t connect directly to Google — you go through multiple routers before reaching it.

By understanding this, you become able to identify bottlenecks, network failures, and locate where the slowdown is happening. For example, if you notice high latency in the first hops, it may indicate a problem inside your home network or with your ISP. If everything is fine at the beginning and latency spikes near the final destination, it may be a problem with the server or the cloud infrastructure.

This way, you start to better understand the “behind the scenes” of the internet and, over time, become more capable of diagnosing and solving network-related problems.

I wanted to share some of the knowledge I’ve gained, and I hope it can help someone. I love studying network and understanding how the “fuel” of our modern world (the internet) works.

Please don’t hesitate to comment, ask questions, or give feedback. We are here to exchange ideas and knowledge.

Thank you, and see you next time!