Utilizing the ping command in the command prompt window on your computer might look like something only computer science teachers and students must do, but the reality is that any instructor or student can benefit from understanding how to do it. Similarly, running a traceroute may seem like something just a computer system science instructor or trainee ought to know how to do, but its in fact something that anybody can benefit from understanding how to do..
A traceroute shows you the hops or connection points between your computer system and the destination (typically a site). This is a fascinating way for students to see where in the world traffic is going to and coming from. Run a couple of traceroutes with your students and see if theyre surprised by what they see. View this brief video in which I show how to conduct a traceroute..

Back in November I.
released a video about utilizing the ping command on a Windows computer. The reason for that was to show a simple method to examine if a site is down or if there is a problem on your end..