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Support Area: Network Troubleshooter

Control Center icon:

What is the Network Troubleshooter?

When your web site is accessed from any given computer, the data that is sent passes through a series of waypoints - other computer networks, systems and routers - called 'hops'. Often if your site is running slowly or experiencing intermittent connection problems, it may be related to one of the hops between you and the server. Before contacting support to see if the problem is related to our servers or network, you can use the Network Troubleshooter to find out where exactly the problem lies.

The Traceroute Manager can be used to trace the connection from your web site to the place where you are connecting from, or to another location on the Internet. To trace from your web site to your current location, just press the button labeled 'From <your website.com> to <your IP address>'.

To trace from your web site to any other location on the Internet, place its name in the text box labeled 'Server Name' and click on the 'Trace Route' button.

By performing either of the above two commands you will get a listing of the routers through which you are traveling in order to get from your IP address to your website or the server that you entered. An example output is given below and is a trace route from ritcsguy.com to 204.210.150.193.

What you should look for

If you notice one of the hops displaying a 'timed out' message, or if one of the hops shows a time (the numbers shown in milliseconds) that is far longer than the others, you may have spotted the node with the problem. If the node is close to the beginning of the list - either the first or second hop - then the problem is likely with our network and you should contact support. If the problem node is near the bottom of the list then the problem is likely with your ISP or even your LAN if you are on one. If the problem node is towards the middle, then the issue lies with one of the network operators that are used to transmit data between you and the server. These differ geographically so people located in other cities or parts of the world don't take the same path and therefore do not have the problem. If you find a problem node in the top or middle section, forward the trace to us via the Assistance Center. In the unlikely event the problem node is inside our network, we probably know about it already but can use the trace as a diagnostic tool. If the problem is outside our network we can contact the party responsible for maintaining the equipment.

How to run traceroutes from your computer

If your site does not load at all, you cannot use the Network Troubleshooter since it is located on your Control Center. If you are using Windows 9x, you can simply go to an MS-DOS Prompt and type 'tracert <domaine.com>' where 'domain.com' is your site. You will be given the text results which you can then copy and paste into the Assistance Center to send to us.

Recommended Network Tools

We highly recommend Sam Spade (www.samspade.org/ssw) and NetLab (www.adanil.com/NetLab/) as freeware network diagnostic tools for your home PC. Check them out!

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