Heads up! You can now install the Terminal on your Windows machine so you can use it like I do in the video. Previously this was only available of Mac and Linux. Please install this to make your life easier if you are on Windows as you follow this course: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/windows-terminal/9n0dx20hk701

Exercise time!

Open up the Terminal and run traceroute on any website you want.

For Mac/Linux users you can open the Terminal this way: Instructions

For Windows users you can open the Command Prompt this way: Instructions


For Windows User:

Keep in mind that on Windows you will have to run tracert instead of traceroute

For Windows users, to interpret tracert, check out this: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/website/how-to/read-traceroute.

If you see the IP addresses a little bit different than in my videos or the links above: The IP addresses you see may be IPv6. In this case, you will have to run: tracert -4 google.com which forces IPv4 hops

If you see ***** (asterisk) in your output: If a packet is not acknowledged within the expected timeout (5seconds), an asterisk is displayed. Sometimes this can be due to your internet connection or traceroute may show **** because of widespread use of firewalls and other security practices by the company that owns that server.

Finally, if you have any questions, reach out to our student community in the #helpme channel on Discord (Lecture 2 provides the link if you have not yet joined)!

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Fun Little Lesson:
Terminal is the name of a terminal emulator. The command shell is the name of the tool to access different commands. A terminal emulator, such as the Terminal app, or the Command Prompt app, is the tool that allows you to type commands to the command shell, and view the text it prints as it runs.

Windows has two command shells:

• Command Prompt/Shell: their legacy shell abbreviated as CMD
• PowerShell: their better shell

MacOS and Linux use a different command shell:

• BASH (Bourne Again Shell)