Traveling Through a Network

Traveling Through a Network Reflection Essay

 

Part 1: Ping Activity

To explore how packets travel across a network, I used the “Command Prompt” to run the “ping” command. The first test was conducted by typing:

 

ping Google.com 

Results for Google.com:

Packets Sent: 4

Packets Received: 4

Packets Lost: 0 (0% loss)

Minimum Response Time: 25 ms

Maximum Response Time: 38 ms

Average Response Time: 34 ms

 

The results show no packet loss and stable response times, which indicates a reliable and efficient connection to Google’s servers.

 

 

Next, I pinged two International websites hosted in different regions: 

ping sbs.com.au (Australia):

Packets Sent: 4

Packets Received: 4

Packets Lost: 0 (0% loss)

Minimum Response Time: 28 ms

Maximum Response Time: 60 ms

Average Response Time: 43 ms

 

ping Japan.go.jp (Japan)

Packets Sent: 4

Packets Received: 4

Packets Lost: 0 (0% loss)

Minimum Response Time: 26 ms

Maximum Response Time: 28 ms

Average Response Time: 27 ms

 

For comparison, I also tested a website hosted in China:

ping en.moe.gov.cn

Packets Sent: 4

Packets Received: 0

Packets Lost: 4 (100% loss)

 

Additionally:

ping fmprc.gov.cn

Result: Name resolution error (host could not be found)

The International sites showed varying response times. While Australia and Japan responded successfully, the China-based site experienced 100% packet loss, likely due to firewall restrictions or blocked ICMP traffic.

 

 

Part 2: Traceroute Activity

To further analyze packet paths, I used the traceroute command:

 

tracert google.com

Traceroute Results for Goole.com:

Total Routers (Hops): 8

Hop Times: Approximately 25-40 ms

Successfully reached destination

The traceroute showed packets traveling through 8 routers before reaching Google’s server. The response times between routers were consistent, showing no significant delays.

 

Next, I ran traceroute for the International websites:

tracert sbs.com.au

Total Routers (Hops): 10

Several “Requested timed out” responses during middle hops

Successfully reached destination

 

tracert japan.go.jp

Total Routers (Hops): 11

Multiple timeouts in middle hops

Successfully reached destination

 

 

tracert en.moe.gov.cn

Trace reached several International routers before repeated timeouts

Did not successfully complete the trace.

 

The traceroute results show that more routers and additional network infrastructure were involved when reaching International destinations. The timeouts likely indicate routers configured not to respond to traceroute requests or firewall filtering.

 

Part 3: Traveling Through a Network Reflection Essay

 

Using ping and traceroute commands helped me understand how packets travel through networks. When a user requests access to a website, the data is broken down into small packets that move through multiple routers before reaching the destination server. Each of the routers determined the next best path to forward the packets until it reached its final location. The ping command measures the roundtrip time it takes for a packet to travel to the destination and back, while traceroute reveals the specific routers involved in the journey.

When comparing results, Google.com had relatively low roundtrip times and fewer hops because its geographically closer and likely use’s regional data centers. The Australian and Japanese websites required more routing steps and showed slightly higher latency. This supports the conclusion that geographical distance and the number of routers involved influenced the response times. However, routing policies, firewalls, and content delivery networks (CDNs) also impact latency.

The China-based site demonstrated how the firewall restrictions or ICMPM blocking policies prevented ping responses and caused traceroute to fail before reaching its destination. This illustrates that packet loss does not always mean the website is down, it may simply be configured not to respond to diagnostic tools.

Ping and traceroute are valuable troubleshooting tools. If a website fails to load, ping can determine whether the server is reachable. If there is packet loss, this may indicate connectivity issues. Traceroute can identify where delays or failures occur along the path, helping determine whether the issue is within the local network, the ISP, or the remote server.

Common reasons for why ping and traceroute may time out include:

1. 1.     Firewalls or security policies blocking ICMP packets.
2. 2.     Networks congestion or routing failures along the path.

 

This activity reinforced my understanding of how data travels across global networks and how the diagnostic tools can help analyze and troubleshoot the connectivity problems.