Glossary
What is Traceroute?
Shows the responding network hops that packets pass through on their way to the target.
Traceroute gradually increases IPv4 TTL or IPv6 Hop Limit to try to discover responding hops along a path. Its rows are not a complete inventory of every router: routes can change and some devices do not reply. A server-side query shows a path starting at the application server.
Example
In an illustrative output, later hops or the destination can reply even if one earlier hop does not. Read the rows together; no actual network route is presented here.
Common issue
An asterisk or timeout at one hop does not by itself prove that the connection stops there. Reply filtering, a different return path and request limits can affect the result.