MTR network troubleshooting tool

[viking60]

We have traceroute which is a great tool and ping. These are often used when we experience network problems, but now I have found a tool that combines them and gives both report or live info.

As traceroute mtr sends and receives packages and measures the success in the shape of package loss and speed or latency as it is called. Latency is the time the from packet send to return (I think) and it is measured over several columns where you should keep your eyes on the Avg column.

Mtr is a program both for Windows and Linux/Unix and is short for MyTraceRoute. In WIndows it is a gui called WinMTR.

I will mention how to run mtr in Windows but concentrate on the Linux way.

I installed MTR from my standard Manjaro and Arch repos - it will probably be in most standard repos (I know that it is in the Mageia repos).
(You can also install it as a GUI called mtr-gtk.)

Then I simply started it by typing mtr - and it showed me a live info of localhost.
Then I checked out google.com

Code: Select all

mtr google.com

And got loots of live action there.
I noticed that my ISP had a packet loss of 30 - 40 % on one of the limes but the next one had zero so that is of no consequence.
The route is clear and so is the info once you get the hang of it.
I found this helpful

There is mostly no need to watch the live traceroute so generating a report after 10 packages will probably give sufficient info.
To do this we type:

Code: Select all

mtr -rw google.com

Windows users must do a:

Code: Select all

mtr --report google.com

..which will work in Linux too.

This tool will definitely be in my toolbox in the future

[R_Head]

Traceroute is a tool that used a lot when I was a system admin. My career took another path and have not used it in ages.

Thanks Viking for bringing back that gem.

Now with Net Neutrality coming to effect, will be a good tool to see if it will be worse; I bet it will be

Is a keeper