What is the Difference Between Ping and Traceroute

The main difference between ping and traceroute is that the ping is used to test the network connectivity and the name resolution while the traceroute is used to find the actual path from the source to the destination.

A computer network is a collection of devices that are connected together to exchange data and resources. The devices communicate with each other through a wired or wireless communication medium. It is important to maintain the network after creating and establishing the network with necessary software, hardware, and protocols. Issues that arise in the network can be solved using troubleshooting, which helps to maintain the proper functioning of the network. Ping and Traceroute are two utilities to troubleshoot a network. Their corresponding commands are ping and tracert.

Key Areas Covered

1. What is Ping
     – Definition, Functionality
2. What is Traceroute
     – Definition, Functionality
3. What is the Relationship Between Ping and Traceroute
     – Outline of Association
4. What is the Difference Between Ping and Traceroute
     – Comparison of Key Differences

Key Terms

DNS, Domain Name, IP Address, Name Resolution, Network Connectivity, Ping, Traceroute

What is Ping

Ping is a command that is used to test issues such as network connectivity and name resolution. To test network connectivity, the user can go to the command prompt and type, ping <ip address> and press enter key. The IP address is the IP address of the destination. This command will send 4 data packets to the destination device. This is called pinging. Then, the destination machine will send data packets to the sending machine. These replies are called echo reply requests. They ensure that there is network connectivity between the sending and the destination devices.

After pining, if the sending device receives a message as “request timed out”, it means that the host is down or there is blocking of the ping requests. If the sending device receives a message as “destination host unreachable”, that means that the messages are coming from the router. It indicates that the route to the destination cannot be found.

Furthermore, the ping command can be used to test name resolution. The user can go to command prompt and type, ping <domain name>. e.g., ping yahoo.com. Getting successful replies indicate that the name resolution by DNS is working fine. The IP address can be used if the domain name does not work. If there are no replies when using the domain name and there are replies when using the IP address, this indicates that there is an issue in the DNS server. Overall, Ping is used to send signals to the destination.

What is Traceroute

Traceroute helps to find the exact path the data packet must take to reach the destination. In the command prompt, the user can type tracert <ip address> and press enter. Then a data packet goes to the destination. Each time it passes a router, it sends that information about that router to the sending device. This information includes the IP address and the time it took to travel between each hop. This way, the traceroute helps to identify where a problem occurs on the network. Overall, Traceroute helps to trace the path from one location to another, recording every hop along the way.

Relationship Between Ping and Traceroute

• If there are no successful replies from the ping command, the tracert command can be used to find where the data packet failed along the path.  

Difference Between Ping and Traceroute

Definition

Ping is a network utility that is primarily used to test the connectivity between two nodes or devices. Traceroute is a network utility used to track the pathway taken by a packet on a network from source to destination. Thus, this explains the fundamental difference between ping and traceroute.

Usage

Ping is used to test network connectivity and name resolution. Traceroute helps to find the exact path of the data packet to reach the destination. It also helps to recognize whether the fault occurred along the path. This is a major difference between ping and traceroute.

Command

Furthermore, the command of ping is ping <ip address>. The user can also use ping <domain name>. Meanwhile, the command for traceroute is tracert <domain name>.

Conclusion

Ping and Traceroute seem similar, but they have a difference. The difference between ping and traceroute is that the ping is used to test the network connectivity and name resolution while the traceroute is used to find the actual path from the source to the destination.

Reference:

1. “What Is Ping? – Definition from WhatIs.com.” SearchNetworking, Available here.
2. “Traceroute.” P2P (Peer To Peer) Definition, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Cmd-ping” By Cristianzambrano – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “TRACEROUTE1” By Yangliy at English Wikibooks – Transferred from en.wikibooks to Commons (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia