Final answer:
A traceroute works on the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) and is a diagnostic tool used to trace the path that data packets take from one device to another on a network, like the internet.
Step-by-step explanation:
Running a traceroute works on the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP). A traceroute is a diagnostic tool used to trace the path that data packets take from one device to another on a network, like the internet.
When a traceroute command is run, it sends out a series of packets with gradually increasing time-to-live (TTL) values. Each packet is then given a TTL value, starting from 1 and incrementing by 1 with each subsequent packet. As a packet travels from one device to another, it decreases the TTL value by 1. When the TTL reaches zero, the device discards the packet and sends back an ICMP Time Exceeded message to the source device.
The source device then records the IP address of the device that sent the Time Exceeded message. By repeating this process multiple times with increasing TTL values, a traceroute is able to create a map of the network path that the packets take, showing intermediate devices along the way.