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I was playing with traceroute and discovered that I have a gap in my knowledge on how the Internet works. So, in order to get a better feeling for what happens when I connect to a host, I think I first need to understand what happened when I contacted a host in Russia from my computer in Germany.

The traceroute result (excerpt):

6  [AS16374] bcix.retn.net (193.178.185.64) 36 bytes to 10.0.0.2  34.623 ms  34.687 ms  35.207 ms
7  [AS9002] ae1-7.rt.m9p.msk.ru.retn.net (87.245.233.246) 36 bytes to 10.0.0.2  79.420 ms  80.979 ms  79.858 ms
8  [AS9002] gw-garstelecom.retn.net (87.245.229.166) 36 bytes to 10.0.0.2  83.922 ms  77.011 ms  78.163 ms
9  [AS31261] new.themoscowtimes.com (94.124.197.56) 60 bytes to 10.0.0.2  80.030 ms  80.265 ms  80.512 ms

So, if I interpret this correctly, apparently, the packet goes through the exchange in Berlin (bcix) and then the next stop is already in the Ukraine (hop 7, retn.net).

Does that mean there's a direct cable connection between Berlin and Ukraine? Or are some hops masked away? I mean, there's at least one country in between (Poland)? Or is it possible that hops 7 or 8 are in Poland, but they resolve to Russian/Ukrainian looking hostnames?

Or what exactly does that result mean?

Thank you.

scrrr
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2 Answers2

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You are only seeing the IP routing part here - which is not necessarily tied to geographic locations.

The Internet consists of many different technologies, your packet gets encaspulated, tunneled, dissected and put together again a many times on it's journey from your computer to the server.

IMHO It's impossible to explain this in a short & concise manner fit for here - best start your research with the Wikipedia Article on the Internet, namely the Routing section.

Roman
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There likely is a direct link to the ukraine ON THAT LEVEL YOU SEE. SOmeone likely has asked for a virtual link here - something like a VPN. Basically, if you ask for a connection from A to B from a large network provider they wont necesariyl lay a cable but they will give you a endpoint that looks like that.

So, there is a network hidden between this hop - just one that is not part of YOUR routing. Likely your IP packets are going through some VPN style thing. a MPLS or similar network technology (VPLS) likely comes to my mind.

This is similar as if you ping from my computer here to my companies computers in chicago - you also will get a hop in Poland (where I am) and then ext one is in Chicago. In this case it IS a VPN.

TomTom
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  • TomTom thank you for your answer. I've researched MPLS which makes a lot of sense. So apparently, on layer 3, ukrainian retn.net is in fact directly plugged in to bcix, but that is, as you said, just the layer 3 view. I assume this simplifies organisation of AS, accounting and is faster (= MPLS-routing is quicker than IP-routing). I wonder if there's a way to trace more closely to the actual fiber. To even plot a path of a packet on a world map rather precisely. – scrrr Jul 06 '13 at 11:47
  • By the way: Does a trace that doesn't include an exchange, for example PLIX in Warsaw, mean, that the packet in fact did not go through that exchange? Or is it still possible, in this example, that the packet traveled through Warsaw, but, because it was tunnelled, it went through PLIX, even though PLIX does not show up in the trace? – scrrr Jul 06 '13 at 12:07
  • packet exchange normally are layer 3 - all that happens in routing is visible. MPLS is mostly a carrier thing. if you "lease" a direct line from Berlin to Warsaw you can be sure you do NOT get a "real" fiber, but a MPLS tunnel. But if you route packets through an internet hub, then this is routing. And routing is visible. – TomTom Jul 06 '13 at 15:35