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mtr Introduction

mtr is a network diagnostic tool that can diagnose network problems. It is used to replace the ping and traceroute commands. In terms of performance, the mtr command is faster.

Use mtr

# Install mtr
shell > dnf -y install mtr

The common options of the mtr command are as follows. Under normal circumstances, no additional options are required, followed by the host name or IP address directly:

Options Description
-4 # Use IPv4 only
-6 # Use IPv6 only
-c COUNT # Number of pings sent
-n # Do not resolve the host name
-z # Display AS number
-b # Display ip and hostname
-w # Output a wide range of reports

The information exchanged by the terminal is as follows:

shell > mtr -c 10 bing.com
 My traceroutr [v0.92]
li(192.168.100.4) 2021-10-20T08:02:05+0800
Keys:Help Display mode Restart Statistics Order of fields quit
HOST: li Loss% Snt Last Avg Best Wrst StDev
 1. _gateway 0.0% 10 2.0 5.6 2.0 12.9 3.6
 2. 10.9.128.1 0.0% 10 13.9 14.8 8.5 20.7 3.9
 3. 120.80.175.109 0.0% 10 15.8 15.0 10.0 20.1 3.1
 4. 112.89.0.57 20.0% 10 18.9 15.2 11.5 18.9 2.9
 5.219.158.8.114 0.0% 10 10.8 14.4 10.6 20.5 3.5
 6. 219.158.24.134 0.0% 10 13.1 14.5 11.9 18.9 2.2
 7. 219.158.10.30 0.0% 10 14.9 21.2 12.0 29.8 6.9
 8. 219.158.33.114 0.0% 10 17.7 17.1 13.0 20.0 2.0
 9. ??? 100.0 10 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
10. ??? 100.0 10 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
11. ??? 100.0 10 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
12. ??? 100.0 10 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
13. a-0001.a-msedge.net 0.0% 10 18.4 15.7 9.5 19.3 3.1
...
  • Loss% - packet loss rate
  • Snt - the number of packets sent
  • Last - the delay of the last packet
  • Avg - average delay
  • Best - lowest latency
  • Wrst - Worst time delay
  • StDev - variance (stability)

Shortcut keys for interaction

p - pause; d - switch display mode; n - turn on/off DNS; r - reset all counters; j - Toggle delay display information; y - switch IP information; q - Quit interaction.

Last update: January 14, 2022

Author: tianci li

Contributors: Steven Spencer

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