Prerequisites - HP 5500 EI Series Configuration Manual

Figure 2 Network diagram
Tracert uses received ICMP error messages to get the IP addresses of devices. As shown in
tracert works as follows:
1. The source device (Device A) sends a UDP packet with a TTL value of 1 to the destination device
(Device D). The destination UDP port is not used by any application on the destination device.
2. The first hop (Device B, the first Layer 3 device that receives the packet) responds by sending a
TTL-expired ICMP error message to the source, with its IP address encapsulated. In this way, the
source device can get the address of the first Layer 3 device (1.1.1.2).
3. The source device sends a packet with a TTL value of 2 to the destination device.
4. The second hop (Device C) responds with a TTL-expired ICMP error message, which gives the
source device the address of the second Layer 3 device (1.1.2.2).
5. The process continues until the packet sent by the source device reaches the ultimate destination
device. Because no application uses the destination port specified in the packet, so the destination
device responds with a port-unreachable ICMP message to the source device, with its IP address
1.1.3.2 encapsulated. This way, the source device gets the IP address of the destination device
(1.1.3.2).
6. The source device thinks that the packet has reached the destination device after receiving the
port-unreachable ICMP message, and the path to the destination device is 1.1.1.2 to 1.1.2.2 to
1.1.3.2.

Prerequisites

Before you use a tracert command, perform the tasks in this section.
For an IPv4 network:
• Enable sending of ICMP timeout packets on the intermediate devices (the devices between the
source and destination devices). If the intermediate devices are HP devices, execute the ip
ttl-expires enable command on the devices. For more information about this command, see Layer
3—IP Services Command Reference.
4
Figure 2,