Incorrect result I
traceroute to 193.220.46.70 (193.220.46.70), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets 1 rtr-servcore1-nethub (134.79.19.4) 0.648 ms 0.228 ms 0.472 ms 2 rtr-core2-p2p-servcore1 (134.79.252.162) 0.342 ms 0.256 ms 0.271 ms 3 rtr-border1-p2p-core2 (134.79.252.137) 0.497 ms 0.926 ms 0.301 ms 4 192.68.191.245 (192.68.191.245) 0.562 ms 0.363 ms 0.481 ms 5 sunnsdn2-slacmr1.es.net (134.55.217.2) 0.619 ms 0.714 ms 0.748 ms 6 sunncr1-sunnsdn2.es.net (134.55.209.98) 1.023 ms 0.788 ms 0.931 ms MPLS Label=136016 CoS=0 TTL=1 S=1 7 paixpart2-sunncr1.es.net (134.55.218.133) 1.432 ms 1.409 ms 1.292 ms 8 unknown.Level3.net (209.245.146.145) 1.166 ms 1.217 ms 1.075 ms 9 so-2-1-0.bbr1.SanJose1.Level3.net (4.68.114.153) 3.574 ms 3.049 ms 3.790 ms 10 ae-1-0.bbr2.Dusseldorf1.Level3.net (212.187.128.21) 165.467 ms 165.667 ms 165.440 ms 11 so-3-0-0.mp1.Berlin1.Level3.net (4.68.128.42) 176.505 ms 224.081 ms 177.365 ms 12 ae-31-53.ebr1.Berlin1.Level3.net (4.68.108.94) 177.440 ms 190.223 ms 180.747 ms 13 ae-2-7.bar1.Stockholm1.Level3.net (4.69.140.201) 194.848 ms 194.563 ms 194.597 ms 14 VIZADA-NETW.bar1.Stockholm1.Level3.net (213.242.69.34) 203.616 ms 203.061 ms 203.522 ms 15 NO-NIT-TN-6.taide.net (193.219.193.136) 204.151 ms 204.134 ms 204.159 ms 16 193.220.46.65 (193.220.46.65) 740.045 ms 738.744 ms 739.817 ms 17 193.220.46.78 (193.220.46.78) 739.863 ms 739.441 ms 739.970 ms 18 193.220.46.70 (193.220.46.70) 741.354 ms 738.494 ms 739.066 ms
With reference to the traceroute above the node so-3-0-0.mp1.Berlin1.Level3.net (4.68.128.42) is in Germany, Europe considering the Round Trip Times (RTT) from the following monitoring nodes:
From |
RTT |
|---|---|
Stuttgart, Germany |
14 ms |
Karlsruhe, Germany |
20 ms |
However, Geoiptool suggests that the node is in US, Kansas. IP2Location suggests that its in Washington, DC.
TULIP suggest that it is somewhere in Europe: (though it locates in Norway my hunch is that its somewhere closer to the intersection of the 4 circles)
Incorrect result II
Similarly the node ae-1-0.bbr2.Dusseldorf1.Level3.net (212.187.128.21) is in Germany considering the following RTTs:
From |
RTT |
|---|---|
Karlsruhe, Germany |
8 ms |
Stuttgart, Germany |
13 ms |
Zurich, Switzerland |
13 ms |
Warrington, UK |
13 ms |
London, UK |
14 ms |
Where as IP2Location suggests that its in UK and so does Geoiptool.
TULIP suggests that the router is in Netherlands which seems to more accurate:
Here are the RTTs from TULIP: (Netherlands RTT 3ms)
Incorrect Result III
dsas3.ctio.noao.edu (139.229.17.44) is in La Serena Chile. GeoTool indicates it is in Tucson near the university. There are other hosts with the same domain name such as dsan3.ctio.noao.edu that are located in Tuscon. Unfortunately these hosts do not respond to pings. The traceroute indicates that the host is a long way away (> 300ms) from SLAC and probably in S. America (ampath is the connection point in Florida to S. America):
37cottrell@pinger:~>traceroute dsas3.ctio.noao.edu 140
traceroute to dsas3.ctio.noao.edu (139.229.17.44), 30 hops max, 140 byte packets
1 rtr-iepm-test (134.79.243.1) 0.326 ms 0.252 ms 0.244 ms
2 rtr-core1-p2p-iepm (134.79.252.5) 0.287 ms 0.232 ms 0.219 ms
3 rtr-core1-p2p-core1old (134.79.252.182) 0.321 ms 0.274 ms 0.268 ms
4 rtr-border1-p2p-core1 (134.79.252.133) 0.428 ms 0.324 ms 0.312 ms
5 slac-mr2-p2p-rtr-border1 (192.68.191.245) 0.260 ms 0.228 ms 0.224 ms
6 sunnsdn2-ip-slacmr2.es.net (134.55.217.2) 0.874 ms 0.862 ms 0.859 ms
MPLS Label=306784 CoS=6 TTL=1 S=0
7 sunncr1-sunnsdn2.es.net (134.55.209.98) 0.960 ms 0.932 ms 0.937 ms
MPLS Label=326496 CoS=6 TTL=1 S=0
8 denvcr1-sunncr1.es.net (134.55.220.49) 27.943 ms 27.934 ms 56.111 ms
MPLS Label=306272 CoS=6 TTL=1 S=0
9 kanscr1-ip-denvcr1.es.net (134.55.209.46) 41.012 ms 41.024 ms 40.991 ms
MPLS Label=307728 CoS=6 TTL=1 S=0
10 chiccr1-ip-kanscr1.es.net (134.55.221.58) 51.640 ms 51.666 ms 51.631 ms
MPLS Label=337056 CoS=6 TTL=1 S=0
11 clevcr1-ip-chiccr1.es.net (134.55.217.53) 60.633 ms 60.601 ms 60.610 ms
MPLS Label=301856 CoS=6 TTL=1 S=0
12 washcr1-ip-clevcr1.es.net (134.55.222.58) 68.134 ms 68.175 ms 68.105 ms
13 ampath-max.es.net (198.124.194.6) 88.318 ms 88.364 ms 88.375 ms
14 aura.ampath.net (198.32.252.218) 325.346 ms 325.963 ms 325.492 ms
15 139.229.127.249 (139.229.127.249) 326.392 ms 326.598 ms 326.655 ms
16 * * *
17 * * *
Incorrect result IV
Traceroute from SLAC to DESY (mms1.desy.de) using mtr.
46cottrell@pinger:~>sudo mtr -r -c 100 mms1.desy.de HOST LOSS RCVD SENT BEST AVG WORST rtr-servcore1-serv01-iepm.slac.stanford.edu 0% 100 100 0.32 0.67 1.41 rtr-core1-p2p-servcore1.slac.stanford.edu 0% 100 100 0.31 0.61 1.14 rtr-border1-p2p-core1.slac.stanford.edu 0% 100 100 0.42 3.66 89.68 slac-mr2-p2p-rtr-border1.slac.stanford.edu 0% 100 100 0.29 3.46 43.24 sunnsdn2-ip-slacmr2.es.net 0% 100 100 0.69 4.28 63.48 sunncr1-sunnsdn2.es.net 0% 100 100 0.76 0.98 1.50 elpacr1-ip-sunncr1.es.net 0% 100 100 25.57 28.03 51.02 houscr1-ip-elpacr1.es.net 0% 100 100 40.47 41.79 71.40 atlacr1-ip-houscr1.es.net 0% 100 100 63.91 64.12 64.51 washcr1-atlacr1.es.net 0% 100 100 77.41 78.02 111.31 esnet-wash.rt1.fra.de.geant2.net 0% 100 100 170.44 170.87 187.50 ??? 100% 0 100 0.00 0.00 0.00 zr-pot1-te0-0-0-4.x-win.dfn.de 0% 100 100 184.23 184.76 194.12 xr-tub1-vlan500.x-win.dfn.de 0% 100 100 185.11 187.46 243.94 xr-des1-te1-1.x-win.dfn.de 0% 100 100 189.55 191.71 272.54 kr-desy.x-win.dfn.de 0% 100 100 190.41 196.04 509.16 ??? 100% 0 100 0.00 0.00 0.00 rt-198-5.desy.de 1% 99 100 189.81 190.66 215.42 mms1.desy.de 1% 99 100 189.52 194.19 218.15
The traceroute is as expected till Washington to Frankfurt (esnet-wash.rt1.fra.de.geant2.net). There's an increase of approx. 100ms since it crosses the Atlantic. However things become strange after that. From Potsdam (zr-pot1-te0-0-0-4.x-win.dfn.de) to Tubingen (xr-tub1-vlan500.x-win.dfn.de) it takes under 3ms on average. This seems highly unlikely since Potsdam is way up north of Germany and is about 650km away from Tubingen.
Moreover the traceroute shows that a packet takes more of a circuitous route to DESY (near Hamburg) from Frankfurt. Following table summarizes this indirect route.
From |
To |
Direction |
Approx. Distance in km |
Approx. Average RTT in ms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Frankfurt (esnet-wash.rt1.fra.de.geant2.net) |
Potsdam (zr-pot1-te0-0-0-4.x-win.dfn.de) |
Potsdam is NE of Frankfurt |
525km |
14ms |
Potsdam (zr-pot1-te0-0-0-4.x-win.dfn.de) |
Tubingen (xr-tub1-vlan500.x-win.dfn.de) |
Tubingen is SW of Potsdam |
650km |
?3ms |
Tubingen (xr-tub1-vlan500.x-win.dfn.de) |
Jena (http://ip.corporationwiki.com/188.1.144.226xr-des1-te1-1.x-win.dfn.de ) |
Jena is NE of Tubingen |
445km |
4ms |
Jena (xr-des1-te1-1.x-win.dfn.de) |
Frankfurt (kr-desy.x-win.dfn.de) |
Frankfurt is SW of Jena |
300km |
5ms |
Frankfurt (kr-desy.x-win.dfn.de) |
Hamburg (rt-198-5.desy.de) |
Hamburg is N of Frankfurt |
500km |
1ms |
Hamburg (rt-198-5.desy.de) |
DESY (mms1.desy.de) |
DESY is near Hamburg |
8km |
4ms |
This observation also points out that RTT based geolocation techniques cannot be relied upon in case of such circuitous routes.