MTR(8) mtr MTR(8)
mtr mtr
July 12, 2014
NAME
mtr - a network diagnostic tool
SYNOPSIS
mtr [-4|-6] [-F FILENAME] [--report] [--report-wide] [--xml] [--gtk]
[--curses] [--displaymode MODE] [--raw] [--csv] [--json] [--split]
[--no-dns] [--show-ips] [-o FIELDS] [-y IPINFO] [--aslookup]
[-i INTERVAL] [-c COUNT] [-s PACKETSIZE] [-B BITPATTERN]
[-G GRACEPERIOD] [-Q TOS] [--mpls] [-a ADDRESS] [-f FIRST-TTL]
[-m MAX-TTL] [-U MAX-UNKNOWN] [--udp] [--tcp] [-P PORT] [-L LOCALPORT]
[-Z TIMEOUT] [-M MARK] HOSTNAME
DESCRIPTION
mtr 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
percentage 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
milliseconds and the percentage of packetloss.
OPTIONS
-h, --help
Print the summary of command line argument options.
-v, --version
Print the installed version of mtr.
-4 Use IPv4 only.
-6 Use IPv6 only. (IPV4 may be used for DNS lookups.)
-F FILENAME, --filename FILENAME
Reads the list of hostnames from the specified file.
-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
- 1 - Formatted: April 26, 2024
MTR(8) mtr MTR(8)
mtr mtr
July 12, 2014
quality of your network may result in decreased network
performance.
-w, --report-wide
This option puts mtr into wide report mode. When in this mode,
mtr will not cut hostnames in the report.
-x, --xml
Use this option to tell mtr to use the xml output format. This
format is better suited for automated processing of the
measurement results.
-t, --curses
Use this option to force mtr to use the curses based terminal
interface (if available).
--displaymode MODE
Use this option to select the initial display mode: 0 (default)
selects statistics, 1 selects the stripchart without latency
information, and 2 selects the stripchart with latency
information.
-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+.
-l, --raw
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.
Example of the raw output format:
h 0 10.1.1.1
p 0 339
h 1 46.149.16.4
p 1 530
h 2 172.31.1.16
p 2 531
h 3 82.221.168.236
p 3 1523
h 5 195.130.211.8
p 5 1603
h 6 193.4.58.17
p 6 1127
h 7 193.4.58.17
d 7 www.isnic.is
- 2 - Formatted: April 26, 2024
MTR(8) mtr MTR(8)
mtr mtr
July 12, 2014
-C, --csv
Use the Comma-Separated-Value (CSV) output format. (Note: The
separator is actually a semi-colon ';'.)
Example of the CSV output format:
MTR.0.86+git:16e39fc0;1435562787;OK;nic.is;1;r-76520-PROD.greenqloud.internal;288
MTR.0.86+git:16e39fc0;1435562787;OK;nic.is;2;46.149.16.4;2086
MTR.0.86+git:16e39fc0;1435562787;OK;nic.is;3;172.31.1.16;600
MTR.0.86+git:16e39fc0;1435562787;OK;nic.is;4;82.221.168.236;1163
MTR.0.86+git:16e39fc0;1435562787;OK;nic.is;5;???;0
MTR.0.86+git:16e39fc0;1435562787;OK;nic.is;6;rix-k2-gw.isnic.is;1654
MTR.0.86+git:16e39fc0;1435562787;OK;nic.is;7;www.isnic.is;1036
-j, --json
Use this option to tell mtr to use the JSON output format. This
format is better suited for automated processing of the
measurement results.
-p, --split
Use this option to set mtr to spit out a format that is suitable
for a split-user interface.
-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 FIELDS
Use this option to specify which fields to display and in which
order. You may use one or more space characters to separate
fields.
Available fields: center allbox tab(%); ll. 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 X"
-y n, --ipinfo n
Displays information about each IP hop. Valid values for n are:
tab(%); ll. 0%Display AS number (equivalent to -z) 1%Display IP
prefix 2%Display country code of the origin AS 3%Display RIR
- 3 - Formatted: April 26, 2024
MTR(8) mtr MTR(8)
mtr mtr
July 12, 2014
(ripencc, arin, ...) 4%Display the allocation date of the IP
prefix
It is possible to cycle between these fields at runtime (using
the y key).
-z, --aslookup
Displays the Autonomous System (AS) number alongside each hop.
Equivalent to --ipinfo 0.
Example (columns to the right not shown for clarity):
1. AS??? r-76520-PROD.greenqloud.internal
2. AS51969 46.149.16.4
3. AS??? 172.31.1.16
4. AS30818 82.221.168.236
5. ???
6. AS??? rix-k2-gw.isnic.is
7. AS1850 www.isnic.is
-i SECONDS, --interval SECONDS
Use this option to specify the positive number of seconds between
ICMP ECHO requests. The default value for this parameter is one
second. The root user may choose values between zero and one.
-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 PACKETSIZE, --psize PACKETSIZE
This option 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
different, random packet size up to that number.
-B NUM, --bitpattern NUM
Specifies bit pattern to use in payload. Should be within range
0 - 255. If NUM is greater than 255, a random pattern is used.
-G SECONDS, --graceperiod SECONDS
Use this option to specify the positive number of seconds to wait
for responses after the final request. The default value is five
seconds.
-Q NUM, --tos NUM
Specifies value for type of service field in IP header. Should
be within range 0 - 255.
- 4 - Formatted: April 26, 2024
MTR(8) mtr MTR(8)
mtr mtr
July 12, 2014
-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.
-a ADDRESS, --address ADDRESS
Use this option to bind the outgoing socket to ADDRESS, so that
all packets will be sent with ADDRESS as source address. NOTE
that this option doesn't apply to DNS requests (which could be
and could not be what you want).
-f NUM, --first-ttl NUM
Specifies with what TTL to start. Defaults to 1.
-m NUM, --max-ttl NUM
Specifies the maximum number of hops (max time-to-live value)
traceroute will probe. Default is 30.
-U NUM, --max-unknown NUM
Specifies the maximum unknown host. Default is 5.
-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/SCTP/UDP traces.
-L LOCALPORT, --localport LOCALPORT
The source port number for UDP traces.
-Z SECONDS, --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
interval, will use up a lot of file descriptors.
-M MARK, --mark MARK
MISSING
ENVIRONMENT
mtr recognizes a few environment variables.
MTR_OPTIONS
This environment variable allows to specify options, as if they
were passed on the command line. It is parsed before reading the
- 5 - Formatted: April 26, 2024
MTR(8) mtr MTR(8)
mtr mtr
July 12, 2014
actual command line options, so that options specified in
MTR_OPTIONS are overridden by command-line options.
Example:
MTR_OPTIONS=-4 -c 1 mtr -6 localhost
would send one probe (because of -c 1) towards ::1 (because of -
6, which overrides the -4 passed in MTR_OPTIONS).
DISPLAY
Used for the GTK+ frontend.
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.bitwizard.nl/mtr/.
The mtr mailinglist was little used and is no longer active.
For patches, bug reports, or feature requests, please open an issue on
GitHub at: https://github.com/traviscross/mtr.
SEE ALSO
traceroute(8), ping(8), TCP/IP Illustrated (Stevens, ISBN 0201633469).
- 6 - Formatted: April 26, 2024
