1MTR(8) mtr MTR(8)
2
6 mtr - a network diagnostic tool
7
11 mtr [-BfhvrctglxspQemniuTP46] [--help] [--version] [--report]
12 [--report-wide] [--report-cycles COUNT] [--curses] [--split] [--raw] [
13 --xml] [--mpls] [--no-dns] [--show-ips] [--gtk]
14 [--address IP.ADD.RE.SS] [--interval SECONDS] [--max-ttl NUM] [--first-
15 ttl NUM] [--bitpattern NUM] [--tos NUM] [--psize BYTES | -s BYTES]
16 [--tcp] [--udp] [--port PORT] [--timeout SECONDS] HOSTNAME [PACKETSIZE]
17
21 mtr combines the functionality of the traceroute and ping programs in a
22 single network diagnostic tool.
23 As mtr starts, it investigates the network connection between the host
26 mtr runs on and HOSTNAME. by sending packets with purposely low TTLs.
27 It continues to send packets with low TTL, noting the response time of
28 the intervening routers. This allows mtr to print the response per‐
29 centage and response times of the internet route to HOSTNAME. A sudden
30 increase in packet loss or response time is often an indication of a
31 bad (or simply overloaded) link.
32 The results are usually reported as round-trip-response times in
35 miliseconds and the percentage of packetloss.
36
39 -h
40 --help
42 Print the summary of command line argument options.
43 -v
46 --version
48 Print the installed version of mtr.
49 -r
52 --report
54 This option puts mtr into report mode. When in this mode, mtr
55 will run for the number of cycles specified by the -c option,
56 and then print statistics and exit.
57 This mode is useful for generating statistics about network
59 quality. Note that each running instance of mtr generates a
60 significant amount of network traffic. Using mtr to measure the
61 quality of your network may result in decreased network perfor‐
62 mance.
63 -w
66 --report-wide
68 This option puts mtr into wide report mode. When in this mode,
69 mtr will not cut hostnames in the report.
70 -c COUNT
73 --report-cycles COUNT
75 Use this option to set the number of pings sent to determine
76 both the machines on the network and the reliability of those
77 machines. Each cycle lasts one second.
78 -s BYTES
81 --psize BYTES
83 PACKETSIZE
85 These options or a trailing PACKETSIZE on the command line sets
86 the packet size used for probing. It is in bytes inclusive IP
87 and ICMP headers
88 If set to a negative number, every iteration will use a differ‐
90 ent, random packet size upto that number.
91 -t
93 --curses
95 Use this option to force mtr to use the curses based terminal
96 interface (if available).
97 -e
100 --mpls
102 Use this option to tell mtr to display information from ICMP
103 extensions for MPLS (RFC 4950) that are encoded in the response
104 packets.
105 -n
108 --no-dns
110 Use this option to force mtr to display numeric IP numbers and
111 not try to resolve the host names.
112 -b
115 --show-ips
117 Use this option to tell mtr to display both the host names and
118 numeric IP numbers. In split mode this adds an extra field to
119 the output. In report mode, there is usually too little space to
120 add the IPs, and they will be truncated. Use the wide report
121 (-w) mode to see the IPs in report mode.
122 -o fields order
125 --order fields order
127 Use this option to specify the fields and their order when load‐
128 ing mtr.
129 Available fields:
130 ┌──┬─────────────────────┐
132 │L │ Loss ratio │
133 ├──┼─────────────────────┤
134 │D │ Dropped packets │
135 ├──┼─────────────────────┤
136 │R │ Received packets │
137 ├──┼─────────────────────┤
138 │S │ Sent Packets │
139 ├──┼─────────────────────┤
140 │N │ Newest RTT(ms) │
141 ├──┼─────────────────────┤
142 │B │ Min/Best RTT(ms) │
143 ├──┼─────────────────────┤
144 │A │ Average RTT(ms) │
145 ├──┼─────────────────────┤
146 │W │ Max/Worst RTT(ms) │
147 ├──┼─────────────────────┤
148 │V │ Standard Deviation │
149 ├──┼─────────────────────┤
150 │G │ Geometric Mean │
151 ├──┼─────────────────────┤
152 │J │ Current Jitter │
153 ├──┼─────────────────────┤
154 │M │ Jitter Mean/Avg. │
155 ├──┼─────────────────────┤
156 │X │ Worst Jitter │
157 ├──┼─────────────────────┤
158 │I │ Interarrival Jitter │
159 └──┴─────────────────────┘
160 Example: -o "LSD NBAW"
161 -g
163 --gtk
165 Use this option to force mtr to use the GTK+ based X11 window
166 interface (if available). GTK+ must have been available on the
167 system when mtr was built for this to work. See the GTK+ web
168 page at http://www.gtk.org/ for more information about GTK+.
169 -p
172 --split
174 Use this option to set mtr to spit out a format that is suitable
175 for a split-user interface.
176 -l
179 --raw
181 Use this option to tell mtr to use the raw output format. This
182 format is better suited for archival of the measurement results.
183 It could be parsed to be presented into any of the other display
184 methods.
185 -x
188 --xml
190 Use this option to tell mtr to use the xml output format. This
191 format is better suited for automated processing of the measure‐
192 ment results.
193 -a IP.ADD.RE.SS
196 --address IP.ADD.RE.SS
198 Use this option to bind outgoing packets' socket to specific
199 interface, so that any packet will be sent through this inter‐
200 face. NOTE that this option doesn't apply to DNS requests (which
201 could be and could not be what you want).
202 -i SECONDS
205 --interval SECONDS
207 Use this option to specify the positive number of seconds
208 between ICMP ECHO requests. The default value for this parame‐
209 ter is one second.
210 -m NUM
213 --max-ttl NUM
215 Specifies the maximum number of hops (max time-to-live value)
216 traceroute will probe. Default is 30.
217 -f NUM
220 --first-ttl NUM
222 Specifies with what TTL to start. Defaults to 1.
223 -B NUM
226 --bitpattern NUM
228 Specifies bit pattern to use in payload. Should be within range
229 0 - 255.
230 -Q NUM
233 --tos NUM
235 Specifies value for type of service field in IP header. Should
236 be within range 0 - 255.
237 -u
240 --udp
242 Use UDP datagrams instead of ICMP ECHO.
243 -T
246 --tcp
248 Use TCP SYN packets instead of ICMP ECHO. PACKETSIZE is ignored,
249 since SYN packets can not contain data.
250 -P PORT
253 --port PORT
255 The target port number for TCP traces.
256 --timeout SECONDS
259 The number of seconds to keep the TCP socket open before giving
260 up on the connection. This will only affect the final hop. Using
261 large values for this, especially combined with a short inter‐
262 val, will use up a lot of file descriptors.
263 -4
266 Use IPv4 only.
267 -6
270 Use IPv6 only.
271
274 Some modern routers give a lower priority to ICMP ECHO packets than to
275 other network traffic. Consequently, the reliability of these routers
276 reported by mtr will be significantly lower than the actual reliability
277 of these routers.
278
282 For the latest version, see the mtr web page at http://www.bitwiz‐
283 ard.nl/mtr/.
284 The mtr mailinglist was little used and is no longer active.
287 Bug reports and feature requests should be submitted to the launchpad
290 mtr bugtracker.
291
294 traceroute(8), ping(8) TCP/IP Illustrated (Stevens, ISBN 0201633469).
295mtr March 4, 1999 MTR(8)