MTR(8)mtrMTR(8)NAMEmtr - a network diagnostic tool
SYNOPSISmtr [-BfhvrctglxspQemniuTP46] [--help] [--version] [--report]
[--report-wide] [--report-cycles COUNT] [--curses] [--split] [--raw] [
--xml] [--mpls] [--no-dns] [--show-ips] [--gtk]
[--address IP.ADD.RE.SS] [--interval SECONDS] [--max-ttl NUM] [--first-
ttl NUM] [--bitpattern NUM] [--tos NUM] [--psize BYTES | -s BYTES]
[--tcp] [--udp] [--port PORT] [--timeout SECONDS] HOSTNAME [PACKETSIZE]
DESCRIPTIONmtr combines the functionality of the traceroute and ping programs in a
single network diagnostic tool.
As mtr starts, it investigates the network connection between the host
mtr runs on and HOSTNAME. by sending packets with purposely low TTLs.
It continues to send packets with low TTL, noting the response time of
the intervening routers. This allows mtr to print the response per‐
centage and response times of the internet route to HOSTNAME. A sudden
increase in packet loss or response time is often an indication of a
bad (or simply overloaded) link.
The results are usually reported as round-trip-response times in
miliseconds and the percentage of packetloss.
OPTIONS-h
--help
Print the summary of command line argument options.
-v
--version
Print the installed version of mtr.
-r
--report
This option puts mtr into report mode. When in this mode, mtr
will run for the number of cycles specified by the -c option,
and then print statistics and exit.
This mode is useful for generating statistics about network
quality. Note that each running instance of mtr generates a
significant amount of network traffic. Using mtr to measure the
quality of your network may result in decreased network perfor‐
mance.
-w
--report-wide
This option puts mtr into wide report mode. When in this mode,
mtr will not cut hostnames in the report.
-c COUNT
--report-cycles COUNT
Use this option to set the number of pings sent to determine
both the machines on the network and the reliability of those
machines. Each cycle lasts one second.
-s BYTES
--psize BYTES
PACKETSIZE
These options or a trailing PACKETSIZE on the command line sets
the packet size used for probing. It is in bytes inclusive IP
and ICMP headers
If set to a negative number, every iteration will use a differ‐
ent, random packet size upto that number.
-t
--curses
Use this option to force mtr to use the curses based terminal
interface (if available).
-e
--mpls
Use this option to tell mtr to display information from ICMP
extensions for MPLS (RFC 4950) that are encoded in the response
packets.
-n
--no-dns
Use this option to force mtr to display numeric IP numbers and
not try to resolve the host names.
-b
--show-ips
Use this option to tell mtr to display both the host names and
numeric IP numbers. In split mode this adds an extra field to
the output. In report mode, there is usually too little space to
add the IPs, and they will be truncated. Use the wide report
(-w) mode to see the IPs in report mode.
-o fields order
--order fields order
Use this option to specify the fields and their order when load‐
ing mtr.
Available fields:
┌──┬─────────────────────┐
│L │ Loss ratio │
├──┼─────────────────────┤
│D │ Dropped packets │
├──┼─────────────────────┤
│R │ Received packets │
├──┼─────────────────────┤
│S │ Sent Packets │
├──┼─────────────────────┤
│N │ Newest RTT(ms) │
├──┼─────────────────────┤
│B │ Min/Best RTT(ms) │
├──┼─────────────────────┤
│A │ Average RTT(ms) │
├──┼─────────────────────┤
│W │ Max/Worst RTT(ms) │
├──┼─────────────────────┤
│V │ Standard Deviation │
├──┼─────────────────────┤
│G │ Geometric Mean │
├──┼─────────────────────┤
│J │ Current Jitter │
├──┼─────────────────────┤
│M │ Jitter Mean/Avg. │
├──┼─────────────────────┤
│X │ Worst Jitter │
├──┼─────────────────────┤
│I │ Interarrival Jitter │
└──┴─────────────────────┘
Example: -o "LSD NBAW"
-g
--gtk
Use this option to force mtr to use the GTK+ based X11 window
interface (if available). GTK+ must have been available on the
system when mtr was built for this to work. See the GTK+ web
page at http://www.gtk.org/ for more information about GTK+.
-p
--split
Use this option to set mtr to spit out a format that is suitable
for a split-user interface.
-l
--raw
Use this option to tell mtr to use the raw output format. This
format is better suited for archival of the measurement results.
It could be parsed to be presented into any of the other display
methods.
-x
--xml
Use this option to tell mtr to use the xml output format. This
format is better suited for automated processing of the measure‐
ment results.
-a IP.ADD.RE.SS
--address IP.ADD.RE.SS
Use this option to bind outgoing packets' socket to specific
interface, so that any packet will be sent through this inter‐
face. NOTE that this option doesn't apply to DNS requests (which
could be and could not be what you want).
-i SECONDS
--interval SECONDS
Use this option to specify the positive number of seconds
between ICMP ECHO requests. The default value for this parame‐
ter is one second.
-m NUM
--max-ttl NUM
Specifies the maximum number of hops (max time-to-live value)
traceroute will probe. Default is 30.
-f NUM
--first-ttl NUM
Specifies with what TTL to start. Defaults to 1.
-B NUM
--bitpattern NUM
Specifies bit pattern to use in payload. Should be within range
0 - 255.
-Q NUM
--tos NUM
Specifies value for type of service field in IP header. Should
be within range 0 - 255.
-u
--udp
Use UDP datagrams instead of ICMP ECHO.
-T
--tcp
Use TCP SYN packets instead of ICMP ECHO. PACKETSIZE is ignored,
since SYN packets can not contain data.
-P PORT
--port PORT
The target port number for TCP traces.
--timeout SECONDS
The number of seconds to keep the TCP socket open before giving
up on the connection. This will only affect the final hop. Using
large values for this, especially combined with a short inter‐
val, will use up a lot of file descriptors.
-4
Use IPv4 only.
-6
Use IPv6 only.
BUGS
Some modern routers give a lower priority to ICMP ECHO packets than to
other network traffic. Consequently, the reliability of these routers
reported by mtr will be significantly lower than the actual reliability
of these routers.
CONTACT INFORMATION
For the latest version, see the mtr web page at http://www.bitwiz‐
ard.nl/mtr/.
The mtr mailinglist was little used and is no longer active.
Bug reports and feature requests should be submitted to the launchpad
mtr bugtracker.
SEE ALSOtraceroute(8), ping(8) TCP/IP Illustrated (Stevens, ISBN 0201633469).
mtr March 4, 1999 MTR(8)
