ICMP, Ping and Traceroute

What this topic solves

ICMP messages, reachability tests, TTL expiry, unreachable messages, PMTUD and diagnostic limitations.

Follow state and packet path

Validate prefix, scope, gateway, neighbor resolution, MTU and longest-prefix match. Correct addressing without a return path is still a failure.

Input → classification/state → decision → table → next-hop/output → counters

Design before configuration

• Define the failure domain and expected convergence behavior.
• Document addressing, identifiers, timers, MTU and policy boundaries.
• Prefer explicit, observable state over assumptions.
• Plan rollback and out-of-band access before risky changes.

Commands and verification

Command syntax varies by platform and software release. The examples below come from the existing portal content and must be validated against the target platform documentation before production use.

# Linux
ping -c 5 192.0.2.1
ping -c 5 198.51.100.10
traceroute 198.51.100.10
tracepath 198.51.100.10
tcpdump -ni any icmp

# Teste de tamanho/DF no Linux (ajuste ao ambiente)
ping -M do -s 1472 198.51.100.10

# Windows
ping 198.51.100.10
tracert 198.51.100.10
pathping 198.51.100.10
ping -f -l 1472 198.51.100.10

Evidence-driven workflow

1. Define source, destination, time window and exact symptom.
2. Establish the expected healthy state and compare it with the observed state.
3. Inspect counters, tables, logs and packet captures before resets.
4. Test one hypothesis at a time and prefer reversible changes.
5. Repeat the original test after correction and check side effects.

ICMP / PMTUD RFCs

Use the current standard/RFC and the documentation for the exact software release being operated. Vendor syntax is an implementation detail; protocol behavior should be understood independently.

Prove the behavior in a controlled topology

Build the smallest topology that reproduces the mechanism, capture control and data traffic, introduce one deliberate failure and diagnose it before applying the fix.

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