NeoTrace is an internet utility used to trace the connections between computers on the internet. At itΓÇÖs heart is a super fast multi-threaded version of Traceroute. NeoTrace allows you to trace the connection from your computer to other sites on the internet, and analyze this information.
All traffic on the internet is made up of packets of data which travel between multiple computers or nodes from their destination to their source. The path that these packets traverse is called the route.
The structure of the internet has a long history and many aspects of it are a result of the evolution it has made from the original network into the global data infrastructure it is used as today. One of these aspects is that there is no single route between any two distantly spaced nodes. Another aspect is that you are at the mercy of the intervening route for the performance of your traffic.
Regardless of how fast your connection to ΓÇÿthe internetΓÇÖ is, your overall connection to another site is limited by the slowest point in the route. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
Latency is the time it takes for data to travel the route.
Bandwidth is the amount of data that can travel through the connection in a given period of time.
Besides using NeoTrace to look for weak spots in a connection you can use it to:
- Discover if you canΓÇÖt reach a site due to a failure at your ISP or further into the internet.
- Determine the point of a network failure that is preventing you from reaching a web site.
- Track down the origin of unwanted email (ΓÇÿspamΓÇÖ).
- Monitor performance.
- Uncover the owners of a site.
- Determine the type and quality of connection a site has to the net.
- Get detailed contact information on sites all over the world (when available).
