🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <4bddpf$nb9@doctor.nl2k.edmonton.ab.ca>,
The Doctor <doctor@nl2k.edmonton.AB.ca> wrote:

>BTW try traceroute doctor.nl2k.edmonton.ab.ca when you have a chance
>and produce results here.

bash$ traceroute doctor.nl2k.edmonton.ab.ca         
traceroute to doctor.nl2k.edmonton.ab.ca (204.209.81.1), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
 1  picard.junction.net (199.166.227.10)  2.427 ms  3.02 ms  2.331 ms
 2  cisco.hc.BC.net (134.87.109.1)  11.837 ms  12.779 ms  40.083 ms
 3  psp.bc.canet.ca (192.68.61.1)  13.638 ms  15.56 ms  13.332 ms
 4  psp.ab.canet.ca (205.207.238.14)  33.074 ms  47.779 ms  32.132 ms
 5  regional1.ab.canet.ca (192.68.62.101)  31.984 ms  32.859 ms  34.66 ms
 6  local1.Edmonton.ARnet.AB.CA (198.73.177.2)  33.792 ms  36.554 ms  36.083 ms
 7  doctor.nl2k.edmonton.ab.ca (204.209.81.1)  392.835 ms  178.159 ms 164.914 ms

Well-connected to CA*NET, I see... And this shows that ARNet is also 
well-connected.

But wait.... I try again and I get

 7  doctor.nl2k.edmonton.ab.ca (204.209.81.1)  4340.03 ms  5652.32 ms  5653.01 ms

Let me guess, jolly old St. Nick has just popped out of your chimney and 
discovered that you left the machine running with a Netscape window open 
and a bookmarks list full of sites that are run by that other fellow 
named Nick who runs around in a red suit....


Now lets try one from an abysmally connected site (64K ISDN to EUNet in 
London England). We pick up the trail as the packets zing under the 
Atlantic...

 8  * 38.1.2.19 (38.1.2.19)  161.603 ms  188.91 ms
 9  cpe2.Washington.mci.net (192.41.177.181)  181.423 ms  179.562 ms  155.286 ms
10  borderx1-hssi2-0.Washington.mci.net (204.70.74.101)  201.243 ms  249.05 ms163.787 ms
11  core2-fddi-0.Washington.mci.net (204.70.74.49)  151.167 ms  156.654 ms  149.902 ms
12  core2-hssi-3.WestOrange.mci.net (204.70.1.105)  168.951 ms  292.81 ms *
13  core-hssi-3.Denver.mci.net (204.70.1.109)  264.894 ms  199.418 ms  261.103 ms
14  core2-aip-4.Denver.mci.net (204.70.1.58)  226.148 ms  204.343 ms  200.879 ms
15  core-hssi-4.Seattle.mci.net (204.70.1.90)  259.741 ms  348.551 ms 238.383 ms
16  border2-fddi-0.Seattle.mci.net (204.70.3.146)  357.276 ms  297.258 ms  249.654 ms
17  canet-networking-inc.Seattle.mci.net (204.70.53.6)  335.896 ms  284.738 ms 457.352 ms
18  psp2.bc.canet.ca (205.207.238.133)  375.336 ms  243.967 ms  257.063 ms
19  psp.bc.canet.ca (205.207.238.173)  241.971 ms  275.839 ms  237.829 ms
20  psp.ab.canet.ca (205.207.238.14)  270.778 ms  285.465 ms  273.164 ms
21  regional1.ab.canet.ca (192.68.62.101)  256.519 ms  287.121 ms  284.323 ms
22  198.73.177.2 (198.73.177.2)  530.145 ms  325.983 ms  264.89 ms
23  doctor.nl2k.edmonton.ab.ca (204.209.81.1)  4529.77 ms  4866.16 ms * 

Yep, seems fine up until nl2k. Dennis... you there?

I must admit that I had NEVER seen such large numbers on a traceroute 
until today when I was at a friend's house who accesses the net through 
CLN/BC Systems. I knew BC Systems (government folks) have an terribly 
overloaded network, but 2400 ms was ridiculous. Then I read on a mailing 
list where someone was getting 5 figure!! times on a traceroute and now I 
see this. I confess that it makes no sense to me especially now when 
judging by phone line utilization, network traffic should be low.

I'd like to continue this discussion of network diagnostics here because 
as I remember back to the days two years ago when I was a TCP/IP novice, 
listening in on converstaions like these was what helped me understand 
how the Internet was put together and how it REALLY operated under the 
hood, so to speak.


-- 
Michael Dillon                                    Voice: +1-604-546-8022
Memra Software Inc.                                 Fax: +1-604-542-4130
http://www.memra.com                             E-mail: michael@memra.com