traceroute:tldr:b0cb3

The traceroute command is a network diagnostic tool used to track the route taken by packets from the source computer to a destination host. The command "traceroute ${host}" is a placeholder command where ${host} should be replaced with the actual host or IP address you want to trace.

When you execute the traceroute command with a specific host, it sends a series of packets with increasing Time to Live (TTL) values to the destination host. Each packet gets forwarded through different routers in the network, and when a router receives a packet with a TTL value of 0, it sends an ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) Time Exceeded message back to the source computer. By receiving these Time Exceeded messages, the traceroute command can determine the IP addresses of the routers along the path to the destination host.

The traceroute command repeats this process multiple times to gather more information about the path taken to reach the destination. It displays the IP addresses of the routers and the round-trip time (RTT) for each step. This allows you to identify any network delays or latency issues along the path.

Overall, the "traceroute ${host}" command is used to investigate the network path and measure the response times between your computer and a specific destination host.