- 01Getting Started
- 02Understanding the Operating Modes of Network Devices
- 03Entering Privileged EXEC Mode with enable
- 04Entering Configuration Mode with configure terminal
- 05Renaming the Switch with hostname
- 06Moving Between Modes with exit and end
- 07Entering Port Configuration with interface
- 08Enabling a Port with no shutdown
- 09Assigning an IP Address with ip address
- 10Labeling a Port with description
- 11Viewing the Configuration with show running-config
- 12Listing Interfaces with show ip interface brief
- 13What Is a VLAN? Splitting a Network Logically
- 14Creating a VLAN with vlan
- 15Naming a VLAN with name
- 16Setting the Port Type with switchport mode
- 17Assigning a Port to a VLAN with switchport access vlan
- 18Listing VLANs with show vlan brief
- 19Adding a Static Route with ip route
- 20Viewing the Routing Table with show ip route
- 21Testing Reachability with ping
- 22Tracing the Path with traceroute
- 23Checking OS Information with show version
- 24Checking the Time with show clock
- 25Saving the Configuration with copy running-config startup-config
- 26Saving with write memory (the Short Form)
- 27Setting a Login Message with banner motd
- 28Configuring the Console Line with line console 0
- 29Setting a Password with password
- 30Requiring the Password at Login with login
- 31Configuring Remote Access with line vty 0 4
- 32Creating an Access List with access-list
- 33Checking Access Lists with show access-lists
- 34Viewing the MAC Address Table with show mac address-table
- 35Discovering Neighbors with show cdp neighbors
- 36Viewing the ARP Table with show arp
- 37Understanding Loop Prevention with spanning-tree mode
- 38Rebooting the Device with reload
- 39Hands-On: Configure a Small Office Network
Tracing the Path with traceroute
When traffic isn't getting through and you want to know how far it gets, use traceroute. It walks the path to the destination and displays each intermediate device (router) along the way, in order.
The syntax is traceroute destination-ip. The response time of each hop (waypoint) on the path is shown one line at a time.
Running traceroute 8.8.8.8 lists the IP address and response time of every intermediate device between you and 8.8.8.8, hop by hop.
A common stumble is confusing it with ping. Ping answers only "does it reach or not"; trace answers "how far does it get, and where does it stop."
In real work, it pairs with ping as the investigative command for pinpointing which waypoint is swallowing your traffic during an outage.
🧑💻 You can type this command into the Networking pseudo terminal to try it yourself (this page itself has no interactive terminal).