Impact Of Network Latency On Websites And The Importance Of Traceroute Check

Network latency is one of the main reasons for a slow website. Sometimes these issues increase the load times of any website. You can test this by accessing the site from a different network.

Traceroute is a tool that allows you to check for network latency. It traces the path from the computer to the server you are accessing.

Running traceroute on Linux:

Open a Terminal window and type: traceroute -I yourdomain.com

The -I option is necessary so that the traceroute uses ICMP. You can also use traceroute with an IP, i.e. traceroute -I 1.2.3.4

Running traceroute on Mac OS X:

Launch Network Utility. This can be done through Mac OS X Spotlight by typing Network Utility, and then clicking the Top Hit.

Follow these steps:

1. Click Traceroute.
2. Enter the domain name for which you want to do a traceroute. For example email.coolexample.com
3. Click Trace.
4. Select the results, and then right-click and select Copy or press COMMAND+C to copy the text.
5. Paste the text into a text editor (TextEdit, etc.) and save the file.

Running traceroute on Windows:

On Windows 10, click the Start menu and type cmd then press the Enter key. This will take you to the MS-DOS Prompt or Command Prompt where a window will display with something similar to the following:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\windows>

Now follow these steps:

1. Type tracert your domain name and press Enter.
2. After the traceroute has completed, right-click anywhere on this window and click Select All.
3. Press Enter and the information will be copied to the Windows clipboard.
4. Paste this into a text document (Notepad, WordPad, etc.).

For accessing the same thing on Windows 7 & Vista, click Start menu and search CMD whereas on Windows 8 – Right-click the Start menu, select Run then enter CMD and press OK.

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When reviewing traceroute, look at the time it takes each hop to complete. This number should be fairly consistent. Any extreme variations can indicate a network problem. Contact your Internet Service Provider for assistance reviewing the traceroute if needed.