IP Trace Command In Bash

Q. What is the ip trace command in bash? How do I trace IP address in Linux / UNIX bash shell prompt?

A. You can use any one of the following command in bash to trace IP address and other stuff:
a] traceroute - It tracks the route packets take across an IP network on their way to a given host. It utilizes the IP protocol’s time to live (TTL) field and attempts to elicit an ICMP TIME_EXCEEDED response from each gateway along the path to the host.

b] tracepath - It traces path to destination discovering MTU along this path. It uses UDP port port or some random port. It is similar to traceroute, only does not not require uperuser privileges. Option -c causes tracepath to use the return address instead of the reply type (connection refused) to determine when to stop.

traceroute command example

To trace IP router it, enter:
$ traceroute {IP-address} $ traceroute 202.54.2.5 $ traceroute google.com
Sample output:

 1  sl1-dallas.simplyguide.org (74.86.48.97)  0.539 ms  0.740 ms  0.727 ms
 2  po102.dar01.dal01.dallas-datacenter.com (66.228.118.177)  0.713 ms  0.705 ms  0.900 ms
 3  po1.cer02.dal01.dallas-datacenter.com (66.228.118.204)  1.125 ms  1.115 ms  1.102 ms
 4  xe-7-4.r02.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (157.238.224.69)  168.721 ms  168.716 ms  168.704 ms
 5  4.68.63.221 (4.68.63.221)  1.748 ms te-10-1-0.edge2.Dallas3.level3.net (4.68.63.225)  1.722 ms  1.940 ms
 6  ge-1-3-0-79.bbr2.Dallas1.Level3.net (4.68.19.66)  1.928 ms ge-1-3-0-79.bbr1.Dallas1.Level3.net (4.68.19.65)  1.055 ms ge-6-1-0-99.bbr1.Dallas1.Level3.net (4.68.19.193)  1.053 ms
 7  as-1-0.bbr1.Atlanta1.Level3.net (209.247.9.101)  21.007 ms ae-0-0.bbr2.Atlanta1.Level3.net (64.159.1.46)  21.242 ms as-1-0.bbr1.Atlanta1.Level3.net (209.247.9.101)  21.235 ms
 8  ae-21-52.car1.Atlanta1.Level3.net (4.68.103.34)  21.696 ms ae-11-51.car1.Atlanta1.Level3.net (4.68.103.2)  21.691 ms ae-21-52.car1.Atlanta1.Level3.net (4.68.103.34)  21.907 ms
 9  GOOGLE-INC.car1.Atlanta1.Level3.net (4.78.209.194)  21.897 ms  22.126 ms  22.097 ms
10  209.85.254.243 (209.85.254.243)  22.576 ms  188.966 ms 209.85.254.241 (209.85.254.241)  22.549 ms
11  209.85.253.145 (209.85.253.145)  22.180 ms 209.85.253.133 (209.85.253.133)  30.700 ms 209.85.253.137 (209.85.253.137)  30.647 ms
12  yx-in-f100.google.com (74.125.45.100)  22.369 ms  22.295 ms  22.278 ms