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I am analyzing tracert on windows , trying to understand details:

tracert 8.8.8.8

Tracing route to dns.google [8.8.8.8] over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1

2 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 169.254.10.1

3 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 88.220.36.225

4 5 ms 5 ms 5 ms 88.220.204.172

5 5 ms 5 ms 5 ms 88.220.204.179

6 5 ms 10 ms 5 ms 88.220.207.32

7 5 ms 5 ms 5 ms 142.250.239.81

8 5 ms 5 ms 5 ms dns.google [8.8.8.8]

So the question is, I wonder how this is even possible that it takes only 5 ms to get dns.google? and why there is no other hops from Poland? Last HOP is directly from Google Warsaw to Google Mountain View? is it because its own network?

what kind of internet is it? I mean if it was satellite internet it has higher pings hundreds of ms. but not 5ms, how does it is so fast over the atlantic ocean?

I am also want to confirm that this part "169.254.10.1" I understand that this is default Windows DHCP whenthere is no DHCP available, however, it that hop occurs in the of the ISP's router intranet?

Nusrat Nuriyev
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    Who says that the `8.8.8.8` that responds to you is in Mountain View? It is totally possible to have multiple machines using the same IP address if you can control the routing... (p.s. this is probably off topic for ServerFault) – hardillb Aug 08 '23 at 13:46
  • Related question: https://serverfault.com/questions/690752/one-ip-address-two-different-countries – David Trevor Aug 08 '23 at 13:49
  • Anycast is a thing. – Zac67 Aug 08 '23 at 15:15
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    169.254/16 is not just a Windows default, it [can be the default for _any_ IPv4 link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address#Address_autoconfiguration) that doesn't have other means of address assignment. Whether it's a good idea for your ISP to do this on their routers depends on factors you didn't provide in your Q -- and probably are internal to the ISP so you can't. – dave_thompson_085 Aug 09 '23 at 00:31

2 Answers2

5

It isn't possible.

Google employs Anycast. The DNS server is bound to be physically close to you at 5ms response times.

vidarlo
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4

Your question appears to based on several incorrect assumptions:

  1. Although "IP-address to location" database providers like to quote pretty good accuracy you would do well to remember that that IP-addresses are used on the internet and not for navigation in the real world.

  2. The street address that many "IP-address to location database" providers will use for an IP-address from the IP-address range(s) that belong to corporations will the street address of the corporate head quarters and for example neither the datacenter nor branche office location where an IP-address is actually used.

    Thus the geographic location of 8.8.8.8 will often be said to be Mountain View, California.

  3. An IP-address is a network location and not a longitude/ latitude or street address.

  4. Routing protocols allow you to almost instantly change where on the internet you want to use a particular IP-address (range/subnet).
    Where a particular IP-address (range) is used today does not have to be the same place where is was used yesterday nor where it will be used tomorrow.

  5. Two IP-addresses that look like they are pretty close numerically (i.e. 10.10.9.8 and 10.10.9.13 ) do NOT have to be used by systems that are nearby physically/geographically.

  6. The same IP-address (ranges) can be used in multiple locations. Anycast is an example of such technology.

    That is one technique which allows a provider like Google (and many others) to operate for example an IP-address such 8.8.8.8 from different servers/clusters and datacenters around the globe and near to their customers. Anycast routing will direct traffic from clients to the nearest datacenter (in internet routing terms, not necessarily the nearest "as the bird flies" geographic distance) to ensure optimal performance.

The second part of the equation as to why Google appears to be so close by to you is probably the Internet Exchange that your ISP and Google both belong to. There they will have a "direct" connection between their networks.

HBruijn
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