Query Routing Vector Database Results Example

The Test Traffic Measurement Service (TTM) was shut down on 1 July 2014. This information is available for historical reference.

tt20 to tt17

This is an example of the output of the script. A user asked for the routes between tt20 and tt17 from February 14, midnight, to February 16, midnight. The script returned a page starting with this table;

The table above shows the traceroute output between tt20.ripe.net to tt17.ripe.net.

A traceroute between each pair of test-boxes is done (approximately) 10 times an hour. On February 13, at 22:44, traceroute found the route shown above between the two hosts. The entry was selected from the data-base because it is the last measurement before the specified interval started.

This vector got reference number 11821 and contained 12 elements or hops. The first entry is 195.178.64.60, which translates into testbox.ten34.ces.net. tt20.ripe.net is an alias for that name.

The traceroutes are done 10 times an hour, traceroutes that produce the same output are not show. The next table shows the first route that was different.

The next vector that was used was number 12000. This vector is longer, 13 instead of 12 elements and completely different. This new vector was used from February 15, 22:40 to February 15, 23:44. After that, the original route was used again.

Note that exact time when the vector was changed is not known. We use the traceroute program to determine the route between two points (on average) 10 times an hour or (on average) every 6 minutes. Traceroute only finds the path between two hosts at the time it is run. If two subsequent runs produce different results, then all one can conclude is that the change occurred sometime between the two runs.

When printing the time-stamps, we assume that change occur immediately after a traceroute. In reality, the change may be made several minutes later, so "Feb 13, 22:40", should be interpreted as "sometime in the 6 minutes interval following Feb 15, 22:40:38".

One should also keep in mind that the web-page only shows the changes that it has noticed. There is on average a 6 minute interval between two traceroutes, so two subsequent traceroutes will never notice a change that is made and undone again in the time between 2 measurements.

If a router does not return it's IP-address, then it will appear as 255.255.255.255 in the list.