5/22/2018 MTR (software) - Wikipedia

MTR (software)
My traceroute, originally named Matt's traceroute
MTR
(MTR) is a computer program which combines the
functions of the traceroute and ping programs in one Developer(s) BitWizard
network diagnostic tool.[2] Initial release 1997

MTR probes routers on the route path by limiting the

Stable release 0.92 / June 2, 2017[1]
number of hops individual packets may traverse, and Repository https://github.com/traviscross/mtr
listening to responses of their expiry. It will regularly repeat
this process, usually once per second, and keep track of the
Written in C
response times of the hops along the path.
Operating system Unix-like
Type Network
License GNU General Public License
Contents Version 2

History Website www.bitwizard.nl/mtr (https://ww

w.bitwizard.nl/mtr)
Fundamentals
Examples
WinMTR
Windows versions
Original author(s) Appnor MSP
See also
S.R.L.
References
External links
Developer(s) White-Tiger
Stable release 1.00 /
January 12,
History 2014
Repository github.com
The original Matt's traceroute program was written by Matt Kimball in 1997.
/White-Tiger
Roger Wolff took over maintaining MTR (renamed My traceroute) in October
/WinMTR (http
1998.[3]
s://github.com/
White-Tiger/Wi
Fundamentals nMTR)

MTR is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) and Written in C++
works under modern Unix-like operating systems. It normally works under the Operating system Windows
text console, but it also has an optional GTK+-based graphical user interface Type Network
(GUI).
License GNU General
MTR relies on Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Time Exceeded (type Public License
11, code 0) packets coming back from routers, or ICMP Echo Reply packets Version 2
when the packets have hit their destination host. MTR also has a User Website github.com
Datagram Protocol (UDP) mode (invoked with "-u" on the command line or /White-Tiger
pressing the "u" key in the curses interface) that sends UDP packets, with the /WinMTR (http

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time to live (TTL) field in the IP header increasing by one for each probe sent, s://github.com/
toward the destination host. When the UDP mode is used, MTR relies on ICMP White-Tiger/Wi
port unreachable packets (type 3, code 3) when the destination is reached. nMTR)

MTR also supports IPv6 and works in a similar manner but instead relies on ICMPv6 messages.

The tool is often used for network troubleshooting. By showing a list of routers traversed, and the average round-trip time
as well as packet loss to each router, it allows users to identify links between two given routers responsible for certain
fractions of the overall latency or packet loss through the network.[4] This can help identify network overuse problems.[5]

Examples
This example shows MTR running on Linux tracing a route from the host machine (example.lan) to a web server at Yahoo!
(p25.www.re2.yahoo.com) across the Level 3 Communications network.

My traceroute [v0.71]
example.lan Sun Mar 25 00:07:50 2007

Packets Pings
Hostname %Loss Rcv Snt Last Best Avg Worst
1. example.lan 0% 11 11 1 1 1 2
2. ae-31-51.ebr1.Chicago1.Level3.n 19% 9 11 3 1 7 14
3. ae-1.ebr2.Chicago1.Level3.net 0% 11 11 7 1 7 14
4. ae-2.ebr2.Washington1.Level3.ne 19% 9 11 19 18 23 31
5. ae-1.ebr1.Washington1.Level3.ne 28% 8 11 22 18 24 30
6. ge-3-0-0-53.gar1.Washington1.Le 0% 11 11 18 18 20 36
7. 63.210.29.230 0% 10 10 19 19 19 19
8. t-3-1.bas1.re2.yahoo.com 0% 10 10 19 18 32 106
9. p25.www.re2.yahoo.com 0% 10 10 19 18 19 19

An additional example below shows a recent version of MTR running on FreeBSD. MPLS labels are displayed by default
when the "-e" switch is used on the command line (or the "e" key is pressed in the curses interface):

My traceroute [v0.82]
dax.prolixium.com (0.0.0.0) Sun Jan 1 12:58:02 2012
Keys: Help Display mode Restart statistics Order of fields quit
Packets Pings
Host Loss% Snt Last Avg Best Wrst StDev
1. voxel.prolixium.net 0.0% 13 0.4 1.7 0.4 10.4 3.2
2. 0.ae2.tsr1.lga5.us.voxel.net 0.0% 12 10.8 2.9 0.2 10.8 4.3
3. 0.ae59.tsr1.lga3.us.voxel.net 0.0% 12 0.4 1.7 0.4 16.0 4.5
4. rtr.loss.net.internet2.edu 0.0% 12 4.8 7.4 0.3 41.8 15.4
5. 64.57.21.210 0.0% 12 5.4 15.7 5.3 126.7 35.0
6. nox1sumgw1-vl-530-nox-mit.nox.org 0.0% 12 109.5 60.6 23.0 219.5 66.0
[MPLS: Lbl 172832 Exp 0 S 1 TTL 1]
7. nox1sumgw1-peer--207-210-142-234.nox.org 0.0% 12 25.0 23.2 23.0 25.0 0.6
8. B24-RTR-2-BACKBONE-2.MIT.EDU 0.0% 12 23.2 23.4 23.2 24.9 0.5
9. MITNET.TRANTOR.CSAIL.MIT.EDU 0.0% 12 23.4 23.4 23.3 23.5 0.1
10. trantor.helicon.csail.mit.edu 0.0% 12 23.7 25.0 23.5 26.5 1.3
11. zermatt.csail.mit.edu 0.0% 12 23.1 23.1 23.1 23.3 0.1

Windows versions
WinMTR is a Windows GUI application functionally equivalent to MTR. It was originally developed by Appnor MSP
S.R.L.; it is now maintained by White-Tiger. Although it is very similar, WinMTR shares no common code with MTR.

A console version of MTR does exist for Windows, but it has fewer features than MTR on other platforms.[6]

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See also
traceroute
Ping (networking utility)
PathPing - a network utility supplied in Windows NT and beyond that combines the functions of ping with those of
traceroute, or tracert
Bufferbloat

References
1. "Releases - traviscross/mtr" (https://github.com/traviscross/mtr/releases). Retrieved 4 June 2017 – via GitHub.
2. Upstream Provider Woes? Point the Ping of Blame. (http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/5626/1)
(linuxplanet.com)
3. Cisco router configuration and troubleshooting By Mark Tripod (https://books.google.com/books?id=OOQYkZw1YccC
&q=%22Matt%27s+traceroute%22+-inpublisher:icon&dq=%22Matt%27s+traceroute%22+-inpublisher:icon&as_brr=0
&ei=9YLhS-mhH4SyNsif_JkL&cd=8) (Google Books)
4. Nore, Haakon Løchen (2014). "Understanding network performance bottlenecks" (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn%3
Anbn%3Ano%3Antnu%3Adiva-26550). Institutt for telematikk.
5. Linode: Diagnosing Network Issues with MTR (https://www.linode.com/docs/networking/diagnosing-network-issues-wi
th-mtr)
6. Based on: https://github.com/traviscross/mtr/issues/55#issuecomment-264057403

External links
Official website (https://www.bitwizard.nl/mtr)
MTR manual page (http://ss64.com/bash/mtr.html)
MTR (http://www.bitwizard.nl/mtr/), BitWizard's MTR page with Unix downloads
WinMTR (http://winmtr.net/), the equivalent of MTR for Windows platforms

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This page was last edited on 16 February 2018, at 06:10.

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