Free CompTIA Network+ N10-009 Practice Question

The tracert (or traceroute on Unix/Linux systems) command is used to determine the route taken by packets across an IP network on their way to a specific host. It can identify where packets start to fail to reach the destination, showing each hop in the path and the time taken to get from one node to another. This makes it invaluable for identifying at which hop in the network path packets are potentially being dropped. In contrast, ping is effective for checking reachability and round-trip times but does not show the path of the packets. netstat displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP network connections, which is not suitable for tracing the path of packets. ipconfig (or ifconfig in Unix/Linux) is primarily used to display all current TCP/IP network configuration values and refresh DHCP and DNS settings, but isn't useful for tracing packet paths.