Which command would you use on Unix/Linux to view the route to a destination?

Which command would you use on Unix/Linux to view the route to a destination?

• A. ipconfig
• B. ifconfig
• C. traceroute
• D. netstat

Answer: (C)

This question is about discovering the path packets take to reach a destination. On Unix/Linux, the tool to view that route is traceroute. It works by sending probe packets with gradually increasing TTL, and each router along the path that expires a packet’s TTL replies with info about itself. You get a hop-by-hop map of the route and the time to each hop, which makes traceroute ideal for seeing where the path goes and where delays or problems occur. Other commands serve different tasks: ipconfig shows IP configuration (more Windows-focused); ifconfig is an older Linux tool for configuring interfaces and doesn’t display the path to a destination; netstat shows active connections and can show routing information, but it isn’t used to trace the route to a specific host. If you needed the routing table itself, you’d use a command like ip route or netstat -rn, but that describes where packets would go, not the actual hop-by-hop path.

This question is about discovering the path packets take to reach a destination. On Unix/Linux, the tool to view that route is traceroute. It works by sending probe packets with gradually increasing TTL, and each router along the path that expires a packet’s TTL replies with info about itself. You get a hop-by-hop map of the route and the time to each hop, which makes traceroute ideal for seeing where the path goes and where delays or problems occur. Other commands serve different tasks: ipconfig shows IP configuration (more Windows-focused); ifconfig is an older Linux tool for configuring interfaces and doesn’t display the path to a destination; netstat shows active connections and can show routing information, but it isn’t used to trace the route to a specific host. If you needed the routing table itself, you’d use a command like ip route or netstat -rn, but that describes where packets would go, not the actual hop-by-hop path.