A junior Linux administrator is troubleshooting a network connectivity issue to a remote server. They do not have root privileges on their local machine. The administrator needs to identify the network path to the destination and also discover the Path Maximum Transmission Unit (PMTU) along this path to check for potential fragmentation issues. Which of the following commands is the most suitable for this task?
The correct command is tracepath. The tracepath utility is designed to trace the network route to a destination while also discovering the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) along the entire path. A key feature and advantage of tracepath is that it does not require superuser (root) privileges to run, making it ideal for users in environments with restricted access.
traceroute is a similar tool, but it often requires root privileges for its default functionality, and it does not automatically discover the PMTU.
mtr combines the functionality of ping and traceroute but is more of a real-time monitoring tool and also typically requires root privileges to run.
ping -R uses the record route option, which is severely limited in the number of hops it can record (usually 9) and is often blocked by network hardware, making it unreliable for tracing a full path. It also does not provide PMTU discovery.
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What is Path MTU Discovery (PMTU) and why is it important?
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CompTIA Linux+ XK0-006 (V8)
System Management
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