Using TraceTCP

A route trace based on "Ping" (using ICMP type 8 echo request) is commonly used to discover hosts along an internet path between a client and server. On MS Windows a route trace is performed using the "tracert" command. However, many hosts now drop these ICMP echo requests making a route trace impossible. TraceTCP is an equivalent to tracert using TCP instead of ICMP.

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This involves two pieces of software: The first needs to be installed on your PC, the second just needs to be unzipped and run from a command line. The user should be logged in to the client PC using and Administrator account.

The following instructions are for Windows 7, tracing a route to the Minkata shard server (foundry.openuru.org).

1. Download and install WinPcap from here: http://www.winpcap.org/install/default.htm - this is a "packet capture" library that is needed by the next piece of software. You shouldn't need to re-start your PC after installing this, but it might be wise to do so.
2. Download TraceTCP from here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/tracetcp/files/ (click on the "Download tracetcp-0.99.4beta.zip (85.1 kB)" link) and save it to somewhere convenient.
3. We now need to put the TraceTCP program somewhere that it's easy to use. Double click on the zip file and open the folder inside. Find the file "tracetcp.exe", right click on it and select "Copy".
4. Open your "User's Files" folder (usually the the folder with your username on it e.g. C:\Users\username), right click on some blank space in the folder and select "Paste". Make sure you paste a copy of the file and don't just create a shortcut.
5. Open a command prompt: From the start menu select "All Programs" -> "Accessories" -> "Command Prompt". The command window should open showing the path to the folder where you just put the copy of tracetcp.exe.
6. Now type in the following command (double check it before pressing Enter):
   tracetcp foundry.openuru.org:14617 -n > trace.txt
   After about 30-40 seconds the prompt should reappear, and there will now be a file called "trace.txt" in the folder.
7. Attach the trace to a ticket reply.

Ideally, you should repeat this a few times, changing the file name each time, so that you get traces at different times of the day (e.g. a couple of traces taken during the morning and couple taken during the evening), then zip all the traces up together.