How did I get here
Dev tools
network diagnostics
SHOW HN2023
659points
137comments
#30of 3,109 in 2023
Top 1%of 2023 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
23 positive, 17 neutral or asking, 4 mixed, 9 critical, out of 53 comments about the project. Thread score +0.18.
Idea: 7 for, 2 againstExecution: 1 for, 4 againstDesign: 4 for, 1 againstDocs: 3 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Nice visualization and well-written explanation of routing
From 4 comments
Good work, a nice site explaining the traceroute is very handy! I could see myself using this to explain what traceroute is for various technicians I'm training to maintain…
Multicomp on HNThis is incredible, Lexi. I have had a lot of fun learning about the low levels of networking; there are so many interesting details. Documenting those — and making them so…
zerojames on HNGreat write up, thank you for making this! From a learning design perspective, the blend of static and dynamic prose based on my own packet’s journey was super cool, not…
zharknado on HNI think it's also worth mentioning mtr, which is what I use much more frequently than traceroute. It can help diagnose intermittent packet loss, and gives you an averaged sense…
Hasz on HN
Impressive work by a 17-year-old maker
From 3 comments
Keep up the awesome work, Lexi. You are very skilled and I can tell that you will rise very quickly as an engineer and a teacher
animal_spirits on HN> "Hi! I'm Lexi. I'm 17..." Holy shit. This girl's going places. I just skimmed https://kognise.dev and saw that in addition to the deep understanding of TCP/IP and all 7 layers…
luckman212 on HNMost of the really cool things on the interwebs started just like this. Kudos and carry on!
sonicanatidae on HN
Objections
Reverse traceroute does not show the real path from visitor to server
From 3 comments
This is "how your server reaches my computer but reversed" rather than "how my computer reaches your server". The routing in each direction will most likely be very different.
supermatt on HNAs it was mentioned above, you are not measuring connection from the client to the server, but from the server to the client. It can be a completely different route, and internal…
at0mic22 on HN> My claim that this website’s traceroute was the path your packets took to reach my server was a bit of a white lie. To calculate that, I would’ve had to be able to run a…
averageRoyalty on HN
Site was slow or broken under HN traffic
From 2 comments
On my device, there are no intermediate steps shown between my device and the server. Just FYI.
monkeyjoe on HNDoesn't work at all with Enhanced Tracking Protection enabled in Firefox, and times out when it is disabled. I guess it's supposed to do something like this:…
noort on HN
Many routers block ICMP so trace results are incomplete
From 2 comments
Cool! I was nervous it was gonna show my Tor circuit o_o Unfortunately so many nodes ignore traceroute packets that it basically said my exit node connected to Linode and then…
ReactiveJelly on HNAkami blocks the return trace which is no fun. But regarless a cool project. 9 a23-203-147-39.deploy.static.akamaitechnologies.com (23.203.147.39) 36.707 ms 36.783 ms 40.110 ms…
collsni on HN
Requests
Use UDP or TCP probes for more accurate results
From 2 comments
Cool project! Two suggestions, one serious, one frivolous: - I wonder if you could get more accurate results by using TCP or UDP instead of ICMP. I think traditional traceroute…
DylanSp on HNYou can go one step further and instead of separate ICMP ECHO trace, use existing HTTP TCP connection between client's browser and your web server. That way you can traverse…
magnat on HN
Add IPv6 support
From 1 comment
IPv6 support would be great for this. I run my own AS (AS200676) and one of my prefixes is actually announced at my home. I'm really curious as to what would the auto-generated…
sgjohnson on HN
Add a map of hops
From 1 comment
It would be cool to add a map of the hops.
elwebmaster on HN
Questions
How is the path calculated from the reverse direction
From 2 comments
> My claim that this website’s traceroute was the path your packets took to reach my server was a bit of a white lie. To calculate that, I would’ve had to be able to run a…
averageRoyalty on HNOoh, that's compelling. I wonder how that would work for an actual traceroute.
archmaster on HN
Alternatives named
mtr
From 2 comments
I think it's also worth mentioning mtr, which is what I use much more frequently than traceroute. It can help diagnose intermittent packet loss, and gives you an averaged sense…
Hasz on HNInteresting, I didn't know traceroute used UDP by default. Just did some testing with the best traceroute tool, mtr[0], and using the -u flag for UDP seemed to give the worst…
globular-toast on HN
dnschecker online traceroute
From 1 comment
Doesn't work at all with Enhanced Tracking Protection enabled in Firefox, and times out when it is disabled. I guess it's supposed to do something like this:…
noort on HN