Pathping is a network troubleshooting tool that combines the features of ping and tracert commands. It allows you to test the connectivity and performance of a network path between a source and a destination. It does this by sending ICMP echo requests to each router along the path and measuring the latency and packet loss at each hop. Pathping can help you identify which routers or links are causing network problems, such as slow response time or high packet loss.
▶️How to use pathping
Pathping is available on Windows operating systems. You can run it from the command prompt or PowerShell by typing `pathping` followed by the IP address or hostname of the destination. For example:pathping 1.1.1.1
Pathping will first trace the route to the destination and display each hop along the way. This may take a few seconds depending on the number of hops. Then, it will send 100 echo requests to each hop and compute the statistics based on the replies. This may take several minutes depending on the period between pings.
▶️How to interpret pathping results
Pathping results can help you diagnose network issues by showing you where the latency or packet loss occurs along the path.
-If you see high RTT values or packet loss at the first hop, it means there is a problem with your local network or your default gateway.
-If you see high RTT values or packet loss at the last hop, it means there is a problem with the destination network or host.
-If you see high RTT values or packet loss at an intermediate hop, it means there is a problem with that router or link.
-If you see high RTT values or packet loss at multiple hops, it means there is a problem with a network segment between those hops.
▶️How to speed up pathping
Pathping can be slow because it sends many pings to each hop and waits for a long time to compute the statistics. You can speed up pathping by using some switches to modify its behavior.
- You can use `-n` switch to prevent pathping from resolving the IP addresses of intermediate routers to their names. This can save some time if DNS resolution is slow or unavailable.
- You can use `-q` switch to specify the number of echo requests sent to each router in the path. The default is `100`, but you can lower it to `10` or `20` if you don't need very accurate statistics.
- You can use `-p` switch to specify the number of milliseconds to wait between consecutive pings. The default is `250`, but you can increase it to `500` or `1000` if you want to reduce network congestion or burst losses.
For.eg. you can use this command to speed up pathping:
pathping -q 10 -n -p 500 google.com
This command will send only `10` pings to each hop, skip DNS resolution, and wait `500` milliseconds between pings.
🔴 Pathping: A Useful Network Troubleshooting Tool
