Linux commands for system administrators

Analyzing Network Paths and Latency with mtr

| mtr |

| network analysis |

| latency |

1. What Is mtr?

mtr (My Traceroute) is an interactive network diagnostic tool that merges the capabilities of ping and traceroute. It monitors the path to a given host and provides live statistics on response times and packet loss for each hop.

2. Installing mtr on Linux

Use your package manager based on the distribution:

sudo apt install mtr         # Ubuntu / Debian

sudo yum install mtr         # CentOS / RHEL

sudo pacman -S mtr           # Arch Linux

3. Basic Usage

To trace a host interactively:

mtr google.com

To use ICMP echo (like ping):

mtr -e google.com

4. Understanding mtr Output

Host: IP or name of each hop
Loss%: Percentage of packet loss
Last / Avg / Best / Worst: Response time (ms)
StDev: Standard deviation


Host            Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
192.168.1.1     0%      10    1.1    1.2   1.1   1.3   0.1
10.0.0.1        0%      10    3.4    3.3   3.1   3.5   0.2
...

5. Key mtr Options

Option	Description	Example
-n	Don't resolve hostnames	`mtr -n 8.8.8.8`
-r	Run in report mode	`mtr -r -c 10 google.com`
-c NUM	Number of ping cycles	`mtr -c 20 8.8.8.8`
-e	Use ICMP echo packets	`mtr -e google.com`
-b	Show both hostnames and IPs	`mtr -b google.com`
-o	Customize displayed columns	`mtr -o "LRS" google.com`

6. Saving mtr Output

Store results in a text file for analysis:

mtr -r -c 15 google.com > mtr_report.txt

7. Comparison with ping and traceroute

Feature	ping	traceroute	mtr
Path discovery	❌	✅	✅
Interactive display	❌	❌	✅
Packet loss analysis	✅	❌	✅
Protocols	ICMP	UDP / ICMP	UDP / ICMP

8. Security and Limitations

Some hops may block ICMP or UDP packets
Root permissions may be needed for