How to Run a Traceroute in macOS

Traceroute is a network diagnostic tool that allows you to trace the route taken by data packets from your computer to a destination server.

It can help you:

• Verify whether a server is reachable
• Identify network bottlenecks
• Measure response times between network hops
• Diagnose routing issues
• Determine whether connectivity problems are occurring within your local network, your Internet Service Provider (ISP), or elsewhere on the route

Step 1: Open Terminal

To open Terminal in macOS:

Method 1: Spotlight Search

Press:

Command (⌘) + Space

Type:

Terminal

and press Enter.

Method 2: Applications

Navigate to:

Applications → Utilities → Terminal

and launch the Terminal application.

Step 2: Run the Traceroute Command

In the Terminal window, enter:

traceroute yourdomain.com

Replace:

yourdomain.com

with the domain name you want to test.

For example:

traceroute mybox.com

Press Enter to start the trace.

Step 3: Review the Results

After a few moments, macOS will display a list of network hops similar to the following:

traceroute to mybox.com (192.0.2.1), 64 hops max

 1  router.local            1.2 ms   1.1 ms   1.3 ms
 2  isp-gateway.net        10.4 ms  10.7 ms  10.5 ms
 3  network-node.net       15.2 ms  16.1 ms  15.7 ms
 4  ...

Each line represents a device or router through which the traffic passes on its way to the destination.

The numbers displayed in milliseconds (ms) indicate the response time for each hop.

Saving the Results

If you need to provide the traceroute output to the mybox support team, you can save it to a file.

Run:

traceroute yourdomain.com > traceroute.txt

This will create a file named:

traceroute.txt

in your current working directory.

You can then attach the file to your support request.

Common Results

Successful Trace

A successful traceroute reaches the destination server and displays all intermediate hops.

Timeouts

You may see entries such as:

* * *

or:

Request timed out

This does not necessarily indicate a problem.

Some routers are configured not to respond to traceroute requests while still forwarding traffic normally.

Trace Stops Before Reaching the Destination

If the traceroute never reaches the destination server, possible causes include:

• Network routing issues
• ISP problems
• Firewall restrictions
• Temporary outages
• Server-side filtering of traceroute traffic

Providing Results to Support

If support requests a traceroute result:

• Take a screenshot of the Terminal window, or
• Save the output to a text file and attach it to your support ticket

This information helps identify where connectivity problems occur.

Summary

To perform a traceroute in macOS:

1. Open Terminal.
2. Run:

traceroute yourdomain.com

3. Review the route and response times.
4. Save or capture the results if requested by support.

Traceroute is one of the most useful network diagnostic tools for identifying communication problems between your computer and a destination server.