VisualRoute® Online Manual

Manual Index

1.Installing VisualRoute   

First, make sure that you meet the minimum requirements for your platform, including the proper Java VM. Then install VisualRoute:

Windows: Run the 'vr.exe' install program, by opening the file or double-clicking the filename, then follow the instructions.

UNIX: To install VisualRoute for UNIX, follow these steps:

  1. Login as root. You should be root user to install, but not to run VisualRoute (refer to Appendix A for notes on 'running as a user')
  2. Uncompress "uncompress vr.tar" or gunzip "gunzip vr.tar" the download file.
  3. Untar this file "tar -xf vr.tar" to create a directory in your present directory of vr9

Mac: Within 'Finder' double-click on the downloaded StuffIt vr.pkg.sit self-expanding file, this will create the vr.pkg file structure. Next, within 'Finder', double-click on the vr.pkg structure and this will start the 'Installer', then follow the instructions.

2. Running VisualRoute    


Windows: Go to Start / Programs / VisualRoute and click on VisualRoute. If you are running under NT/Win2000/XP, it is possible to configure VisualRoute to run as a Service in the Business, Support, Professional Support and Server Editions:

To do this:

  1. Run VisualRoute Server to configure and verify that it runs properly; Exit VisualRoute

  2. In a DOS prompt window, change to the VisualRoute install directory and press Enter. For example:

    Type CD \Program Files\VisualRoute and press Enter
     

  3. Type "VisualRoute -install" and press Enter

  4. Run the Services Manager (Control Panel) and start the "VisualRoute" service.


UNIX: To run VisualRoute for Unix follow these steps. It is possible to configure VisualRoute to run as a daemon service that is started at system boot. Refer to Appendix A for details.

  1. Change to the install directory "cd vr9"
  2. Make sure that the current directory ('.') is in the PATH environment variable by typing "env | grep PATH". There may be perhaps two or more environment variables that have PATH in them. If it's not already there then set it with (assuming a Kourne shell) "PATH=$PATH:.; export PATH". Note: You could also amend the profile of the account that will be running VisualRoute to include ('.')
  3. If using a Java 1.1 Runtime Environment (JRE), type "jre vr" to run VisualRoute. Otherwise, type "java vr"

Mac: VisualRoute is installed in the /Applications/VisualRoute folder. Click on the VisualRoute application in this directory to start VisualRoute. 

3. Running VisualRoute for the First Time    

When you run VisualRoute for the first time, you will need to apply a purchased license key or a 15-day trial key, which may be obtained by selecting one of the options in the Welcome screen (Fig 3.1). You may also select your preferred language for VisualRoute. The language may be changed at any time under the "Options/Language" menu option.


Fig 3.1: VisualRoute Startup Window

4. VisualRoute Toolbar and Display   

VisualRoute has two options included in the toolbar in the top right hand corner of the GUI (see Fig4.1 below)


Fig4.1 - Toolbar Options

Save - The first icon on the toolbar is the save icon. By clicking this you will get the display below (Fig4.2.) This saves the table and map view as an html document. You can choose between two image formats also (PNG and JPG.) When OK is clicked it will bring up the HTML document for you to view. The default folder for saving is the VisualRoute install folder.


Fig4.2 - 'Save' Display

Snap as Text - The second icon on the toolbar is the snap text icon. This captures the information from the table and automatically pastes into a word processing program

VisualRoute includes a textured (physical) map option for the initial 3 zoom levels. For zoom-in's beyond 3 levels the map changes to the traditional untextured (political) map. You may change the default map type at any time under the Options, Preferences, Display/GUI dialog. You can also customize your own view. Simply choose the 'Options' --> 'select layout' menu option. Select the layout you want (see Fig 4.3 below) and then click 'OK'


Fig 4.3: 'Select Layout' dialog box

Simply choose 'Options' --> 'select layout' from the toolbar and you will get the dialog box above. Select the layout you want and then click 'ok'

5. Select a Host to Monitor    

Enter the host and optional port that you want to monitor into the address box in VisualRoute (Fig 5.1) and either press Enter or press the start arrow to start VisualRoute:


Fig 5.1: Host address box

TIP: Copy (ctrl-c) a host name or URL from any other application and paste (ctrl-v) into the VisualRoute edit box in Fig 5.1. Or use the right mouse button (use Meta-click on Mac; Meta is Apple key) for a context menu.

Port/Probe Testing (Business, Support and Server editions only):

When you are running either the Business, Support or Server editions of VisualRoute you have to option of port testing. The address box in these editions is shown below (fig5.2)


Fig 5.2: Business, Support and Server Address Box

Select your protocol from the drop-down list (to see for example which HTTP server is running select HTTP) and enter the port number. By default the port number is set to the default for that protocol, so for HTTP it would be 80 and for FTP it would be 21 etc. Protocols supported are HTTP, FTP and SMTP.

By clicking the green arrow or hitting enter VisualRoute will tell you what HTTP, FTP or SMTP server is running behind that port or if there is no such server on that port.

VisualRoute has a special "protocol" that is listed as 'port'. The idea of this is that it simply checks whether the port specified is open or not. It will tell you if the remote system is accepting communications to the port, rejecting them, or ignoring them. It makes no attempt to check what server is behind the open port, it literally just sees if the connection attempts are accepted or not.

6. Select and IP address to Monitor    

After entering a host / port that you want VisualRoute to monitor (Fig 5.1), VisualRoute will resolve the host name to a list of IP addresses and automatically start a trace route to the first IP address in the list.

You may start a new trace route to a different IP Address at any time by selecting any of the other IP addresses from the list. Any currently running trace route will be stopped and the new one started.

Many Internet hosts will resolve to only one IP address. Other very large sites (such as www.microsoft.com and www.nytimes.com) will resolve to many IP addresses.

7. VisualRoute Analysis    

The analysis section for the same trace looks like:


Fig 7.2: VisualRoute Analysis in Advanced Mode

This analysis section will explain in English what is going right or wrong in the trace. It will assist you in pinpointing problem areas in the trace. The blue underlined text in the analysis box can be clicked on for a fuller explanation of error messages.

8. Trace Route Table    

A typical Trace Route Table section looks like Fig 8.1:


Fig 8.1: Trace Route Table

TIP: You can use your mouse to resize the table columns by dragging the right edge of a column.

Note: In general, text that is displayed in purple is non-authoritative (from a local cache on your hard drive maintained by VisualRoute) and text displayed in black is authoritative. Non-authoritative information is validated as soon as possible, but is displayed immediately to speed up the display of information to you.

Clicking an item in the node name column will show a domain whois, if available, for that hop's domain. Similarly, the network whois for a hop can be accessed by clicking the relevant item in the 'Network' column.

The columns in this table are:

Hop The trace route hop count.
% Loss This shows the percentage of ping packets that have been lost at this hop level. This number is red if a host is detected at this hop level. This means that ping packets are being lost. Otherwise, this number is black, because the host may just be ignoring all of our ping packets. This number is updated as the trace is completed, however if you should stop a trace before completion this value may not be totally accurate as VisualRoute may still have been waiting for responses from some of the ping packets that it had sent.
IP Address The IP address of the host at this hop level. It is red if a recent ping packet was lost. It is blue when it matches a Loose Source Route IP address. Otherwise, it is black. The IP Address is bolded if it is the host that you are trace routing to.
Node Name The reverse DNS lookup of the IP Address.
Location The geographical location of the node. It is black if we are fairly certain of the node's location. Otherwise it is purple, meaning that the location is a best guess based upon information from various WHOIS databases. Click on the location for details.
Tzone If the location of the node has been resolved then the time difference to your selected time zone will be displayed. You can change the base time zone that VisualRoute uses in Options -> Preferences -> Analysis Columns
ms The average number of milliseconds (roundtrip) that it took for a ping packet to go from your machine to this hop level and back to your machine (just like the system 'tracert' program).
Graph The blue line is a graph of the 'ms' column. The grey horizontal bar in each hop line represents the minimum and maximum millisecond times for that hop level.
Network The network that this node is in, as reported by various WHOIS databases.

9. Trace Route Map    

A typical Trace Route Map section looks like Fig 9.1:


Fig 9.1: Trace Route Map

The trace route is displayed on a map of the World. Links drawn in blue indicate known locations. Links drawn in purple indicate that a guess was made.

Left Mouse Click Zoom IN
Right Mouse Click¹ Zoom OUT
Mouse Drag Moves the map around

¹ Use Meta-click on Mac (Meta is Apple key)

VisualRoute will immediately redraw the map as new information becomes available from the trace route. In some cases, this will result in lines previously drawn looking like they are being erased and drawn elsewhere. You are just seeing VisualRoute update its map information in real-time.

10. VisualRoute Menu Options    


File

Save as HTML... - Saves the current view to an html page

Print... - Prints the heading, analysis, table, and map.

Exit VisualRoute - Exits the VisualRoute application.

Edit

Copy, Paste - Clipboard support.

Snap table as text... - This will snap a text version of the heading, analysis, and table. Great for e-mailing the results!

Save Table/Map Image (as JPEG) - Allows you to save the traceroute Table and World Map as a graphic in the JPEG format.

License Key... - Allows you to enter or change the product license key.

Options

Language... - Displays a dialog that allows you to select English, French, German, or Spanish as the language.

Reset Map... - Fully zooms out of the map and places it in the centre of the screen.

Column Preferences - This will bring up the column preference tab from the preferences screen. This will allow you to change the titles within the table to what you consider more important

Select Layout (Personal and Server editions only) - This allows you to customize your view within VisualRoute (see Fig4.3)

Preferences... - Displays the VisualRoute Preferences Dialog.

Tools

Database Updater... - This launches a dialog box which allows you to add node naming conventions and locations to IP addresses. It is also now where you can set your home location

eMailTracker... - A tool that allows you to track email servers, given an email address. However, if you are looking to track an actual e-mail received, use eMailTrackerPro.

Ping Grapher... (Business and Server Editions only) - Shows the VisualRoute Ping Grapher dialog

Reverse Trace Server... (Support and Professional Support Editions Only) - Launches the Reverse Trace Server preferences and setup dialogs

VisualRoute Server...  (Business and Server editions only) - Launches the VisualRoute server preferences and setup dialogs

Help

Support... - Takes you to this web page.

Product Feedback... - Takes you to our Feedback web page

VisualRoute Home Page... - Takes you to the VisualRoute home page

Frequently Asked Questions... - Takes you to our FAQ web page.

How to Purchase... - Takes you to our Purchase web page.

Newsletter Signup... - Takes you to the Newsletter signup webpage

Debug Console... - Launches the Java Console window

About... - Displays the About box. The amount of memory used by VisualRoute in the Java VM is displayed in this dialog.

11. VisualRoute Preferences Dialog    

To view the preferences dialog, select "Preferences..." in the Options menu. The tabs in this dialog are:

12. Display/GUI Tab    

The Display/GUI dialog tab looks like Fig 12.1:


Fig 12.1: Display/GUI Tab

The Application Options are:

Notify me of product releases - Does as it says. When a new version of VisualRoute comes out you will be notified when starting VisualRoute

Integrate VisualRoute - This adds a VisualRoute logo to the Internet Explorer toolbar. This allows you to trace that site you are currently on when you press the VisualRoute button

The Display Options are:

Use Physical Map - When checked a textured map will be displayed showing mountain ranges etc, when unchecked a basic colour map will show

Switch table/map location - This allows you to change the location of the map and table in the main view of VisualRoute. By default this option is turned on; by deselecting the table will appear above the map.

Show Map Crosshairs - When a trace is plotted on the map the end location is displayed under a crosshair

Start/End locations - When the start and end locations of a trace are guessed this option tells VisualRoute to plot them on the map anyway. By default this option is turned on.

Auto zoom to Traceroute - Enables auto zooming of the map to show just the locations of the hosts for the current trace. The zoom level of the map will update realtime as more locations are resolved.

Display Advanced Analysis text - VisualRoute can display more information about a traceroute in an advanced analysis. By default the advanced analysis is turned on.
 

13. Analysis Columns Tab    

The Analysis Columns dialog tab looks like Fig 13.1:


Fig 13.1: File & Caching tab

The Analysis Columns Options are:

Column Preferences - This allows you to change which columns are visible, and the order in which columns are shown. Simply choose a column then move it up or down using the buttons in the centre of the dialog box. You can also remove or add columns using the hide and show buttons also in the centre of the dialog box

14. Caching Options Tab    

The Caching Options dialog tab looks like Fig 14.1:


Fig 14.1: Analysis Columns Tab

The Caching Options are:

The only options is the 'Use the stored local whois as authoritative whois information' check box. By default this is checked which allows any whois information on your machine to be used when running a trace in VisualRoute.

All the cache explanations are in the yellow box at the bottom of the dialog box. To clear a cache just click the 'Clear Now' button to the right of the cache you wish to clear.

15. Advanced Tab    

The Advanced dialog tab looks like Fig 15.1:


Fig 15.1: Advanced Tab

The Advanced Options are:

The greyed out options are only available in the Business, Support and Server editions of VisualRoute.

If target host is down, try to contact other hosts nearby to see if the network is up - if VisualRoute cannot contact the host you specified, checking this option causes VisualRoute to scan that host's network. This allows you to discover whether the host cannot be contacted because its entire network is down, or if it is just that one specific host within the network with connectivity trouble. For more information see Appendix D. (Business, Support and Server editions only).

Number of pings sent to each hop - you can set the number of pings you want to be sent to each hop of the traceroute

Ping packet size - you can set the number of bytes in each packet that is sent out in a traceroute

Maximum time to wait for response - you can set the maximum time in milliseconds you want VisualRoute to wait for a response from a specific hop. The request will timeout once that time is passed

Port (for TCP tracerouting) - allows you to set the port number for TCP tracerouting

You can also choose your protocol: ICMP, UDP and TCP (Business, Support and Server editions only)

16. Database Updater    

These instructions apply to VisualRoute Version 9 and above. If you have a version prior to this, please upgrade.

The initial screen you are presented with when starting the database updater is shown below in fig 16.1:


Fig 16.1: Database updater initial screen

You have three options in the database updater which are detailed below, you can either add a location to a node name, add a location to an IP or you can set the home location that all traces start from.

Node Naming Conventions:


Fig 16.2: Add Naming Convention Rule dialog box

When entering a naming convention you have to enter a domain that the naming convention applies to, which is done in the first text box. You also have to enter the search string, examples are given in the yellow box at the bottom of the dialog box.

To choose the location simply select the country and city from the drop down menus

IP Addresses:


Fig 16.3: Add IP Address Rule dialog box

Adding a location to an IP is the same as adding one to a node name, the only difference is you have to enter the IP address or CIDR range you want and not a node name.

Set Home Location:


Fig 16.4: Set Home Location dialog box

This setting is pretty self explanatory; to set the home location simply check the 'All traces begin from the same geographic location' check box then choose the country and city from the drop down menus.

17. eMailTracker in VisualRoute    

VisualRoute has the ability to trace an email address. By choosing the 'eMailTracker' option in the tools menu you will get a dialog box like the one below in fig 17.1:


Fig 17.1: eMailTracker in VisualRoute

Simply enter the email address/domain name you wish to trace then press the 'Enter' key. An example trace is shown below in fig 17.2:


Fig 17.2: An example trace using eMailTracker

Once the trace has finished you can see information such as the mail server, the IP address and the status of the mail server. You can trace the server or IP address using VisualRoute by clicking on either the server name or the IP address.

For more detailed eMail tracking please consider our eMailTrackerPro product which traces emails headers.

18. Ping Grapher    

Ping Grapher is only available in the Business, Support and Server editions of VisualRoute

The VisualRoute Ping Grapher feature offers the ability to measure a network device's latency continuously at specified intervals.

To access this feature, select the 'Ping Grapher' option from VisualRoute's Tools menu. You will be presented with the following dialog box:


Fig 18.1: Ping Grapher Dialog

Simply enter the IP address or hostname of the system whose latency you wish to monitor, and the interval at which it should be monitored, and press enter.

You can select the zoom level using the Zoom to drop-down list box. A zoom level of 240 seconds means that 240 seconds of data is displayed in the graph window.

As data gradually builds up, it will fill the entire plot area and will automatically scroll rightwards as new data is made available. To view a specific part of the history, deselect 'Auto Scroll' and the 'Select time' scrollbar will be made available. Use this bar to scroll through the history data.

To hide dialog controls in order to maximize the plot area, click 'Hide'

19. Reverse Trace Server    

Reverse Trace Server is only available in the Support Editions

The Reverse Trace Server allows support users to perform a trace as if from the customers desktop to verify what a problem maybe


Fig 19.1: Reverse Trace Server

Choose the IP address and port number you wish and the click apply. Once you have customized these options then click 'Start' to start the Reverse Trace Server. When started the 'Test' button will become available and can be used to see what the server page will look like (fig19.2)


Fig 19.2: Server page

When you need to perform a trace you send the customer to this page which will be the IP and port number of the machine you have set the Reverse Trace Server up on (for example 192.168.0.1:82). The customer then has to download the file where indicated on the server page.


Fig 19.3: Remote Trace Dialog Box

The file the customer downloads is called helpdesk.exe. He/she needs to run this exe when downloaded. It will appear as in fig19.3 above. As soon as the customer has run this exe a check box will become available in your main VisualRoute window (fig19.4 below)


Fig 19.4: Support Connection

When this check box is checked the next trace you perform will be as if you were on your end users machine. Both the end user and the support technician can disconnect at any time if they feel the need to. When the support technician is connect to an end user the end users details will appear in the 'Support Engine' section of fig 19.1 above. Below the details you will see a 'Disconnect User' button.

Note for Professional Support Edition Users:

The dialog that this section describes has now changed in the new Professional Support edition. This edition allows many users to connect to the server, so instead of having a message saying 'The following user is connected to the reverse trace server: xxxx from xxxxx", we now have a list of users. Also, instead of a checkbox saying 'use reverse trace connection' in the main application window, we have a similar drop-down list. The standard support edition (which allows only 1 user to connect) is still available, and the dialogs are as previously.

20. VisualRoute Server    

VisualRoute Server is only available in the Business and Server editions of VisualRoute

VisualRoute can be configured to run as a (web) server, providing visual trace route capabilities to anyone with a Java-enabled web browser. This is how our Live Demo works. This is very useful when:

Note: VisualRoute Server acts as its own Web server, and does not require IIS, Apache or any 3rd party Web server application to function.

To enable VisualRoute Server, go to Tools / VisualRoute Server... in the menu and you will see a status dialog that looks like Fig 20.1:


Fig 20.1: VisualRoute Server Status Dialog

Just press the 'Start' button to start the Server component of VisualRoute. Users can now use a Java-enabled web browser to connect to your server and perform visual trace routes.

Preferences / General Tab: When you press the Preferences... button in the Fig 20.1 dialog, you will see the Fig 20.2 dialog:


Fig 20.2: VisualRoute Server General Preferences Dialog

The VisualRoute Server preference options are:

IP - Allows you to configure VisualRoute Server to run under any/all IP address on the machine, or only on the specified IP Address, which is very useful if you want VisualRoute Server to coexist with IIS on the same machine (see the note at the end of this section).

Port - The port number that the server will use. The default is the standard WWW port 80. To change the port, enter in a new number and press Enter. You will need to change the port number if you install VisualRoute Server on a server that already has a web server service (port 80 used).

Max Users - The maximum numbers of users that can perform a VisualRoute trace concurrently. To change this setting, enter in a new number and press Enter.

Access Control List - By default, the server grants full access to anyone who can connect to the machine/port. The access control list allows you to fine-tune access based upon a list of 'access verb and CIDR address'. This 'Access Control List' is processed in-order (top to bottom) and the first entry to match the client's IP address is the access entry that is used. If no entry in this list matches, then access is denied. The access verbs are:

To add an entry to the Access Control List simply click the 'Add' button and you will be presented with the dialog box below (fig 20.3)


Fig 20.3: Add ACL Item Dialog Box

deny   - denies all access
trace   - allow trace only back to originating ip address
full   - allows full access to all features
super   - full access, even past max users

So, as an example, if you wanted to grant full access to everyone in your company, but no one else, you would delete the default 'full - 0.0.0.0/0' entry, select the 'full' verb, enter in the CIDR for your company and press 'Add to List'.

Security Tab: The security tab looks like Fig 20.4:


Fig 20.4: VisualRoute Server Security Preferences Dialog

Server Security - These options control the number of traces users may perform and allows you to set a username/password for admin objects.

Restrict Applet Hosting by Domain - Allows you to control the domains that can host the VisualRoute applet from your VisualRoute Server. Used to prevent unauthorized use of your VisualRoute server by other sites that attempt to access the VisualRoute applet and service via the Java codebase attribute. Please note that you must list all URL domains that are authorized to access your VisualRoute Server. For example, for http://visualroute.visualware.com, both visualroute.visualware.com and 161.58.180.113 would be added to the list.

Mapping/GUI Tab: The mapping/GUI tab looks like Fig 20.5:


Fig 20.5: VisualRoute Server Mapping Preferences Dialog

The GUI options allows you to adjust the look and feel of the applet within the web interface. You can set options such as zoom levels on the map and simplified controls.

Business Edition Tab: The Business Edition tab looks like Fig 20.6:


Fig 20.6: VisualRoute Server Business Edition Tab

This section allows you to set the username and password for the applet. Anyone who wants to go to the server has to enter the username and password. Providing this is done they are granted full use of VisualRoute server.


NT/Win2000/XP Service: To run VisualRoute Server as a Windows NT/2000 service, just follow these steps:

  1. Run VisualRoute Server to configure and verify that it runs properly; Exit VisualRoute
  2. In a DOS prompt window, change to the VisualRoute install directory and press Enter. For example,

    Type CD \Program Files\VisualRoute and press Enter

  3. Type "VisualRoute -install" and press Enter
  4. Run the Services Manager (Control Panel) and start the "VisualRoute" service.

Similarly, to uninstall the service, follow steps 2 and 3 above, substituting "VisualRoute -uninstall" for "VisualRoute -install".

When installing VisualRoute as a service you may come across the "java.net.BindException: Address in Use" error. This means that another server is awaiting incoming connections on the port that has been selected (default 80). This maybe be caused by another copy of VisualRoute being run, possibly as a service.

Note: VisualRoute is now installed by default as 'interact with desktop' when it's being installed as a service.

Customizing the Server Web Page: When a client connects to the server, they get a web page that is automatically generated by VisualRoute. To create your own custom web page, create an HTML document that contains this HTML code:

<applet code="VisualRouteApplet.class" width=600 height=1024>
Java support required!
</applet>

Then place this new HTML document into the VisualRoute "www" directory under the name "index.html". This new index.html will then be used when the client connects to the server.

Placing the VisualRoute applet on your corporate web server: If you want to integrate the VisualRoute Server applet into your corporate web server, you must use HTML code that looks like:

<applet codebase="http://www.yourvrserver.com" code="VisualRouteApplet.class" width=600 height=1024>
Java support required!
</applet>

Where http://www.yourvrserver.com is the URL to your VisualRoute Server (that is running and working). So, your corporate web server contains an HTML web page with the HTML code above and it points to your working VisualRoute Server (via codebase) so that traces can be performed. Please note that simply viewing the "www" folder files through your corporate web server will not work.

Starting a Traceroute Automatically: To start an automatic trace to a domain or IP address with VisualRoute Server, add '?go=www.host.com' or '?go=IP Address" onto the URL in your browser. For example:

http://your-vr-server.com/?go=www.visualroute.com

will automatically launch VisualRoute Server and run a traceroute to 'www.visualroute.com'. This allows for great flexibility in creating custom Web pages with traceroute capabilities. For instance, the following input box is simple to include in html, and allows you to input a domain/IP directly, which will launch VisualRoute Server and run a trace to that domain. As VisualRoute Server may also be embedded in html code, it is easy to create a customized look and feel for your site while providing the traceroute functionality via an HTML form like:

<form action="http://your-vr-server.com/" method=get>
Host:
<input name=go size=25>
<input name=submit type=submit value="VisualRoute Trace!">
</form>

Coexisting with IIS: Want IIS to use port 80 on one IP Address and VisualRoute Server to use port 80 on a different IP Address, but on the same physical machine? This works, but IIS has the nasty tendency to grab up all IP Addresses on a machine, even if IIS is not configured to use all IP Addresses. This prevents any other application from using port 80 on a free IP address. Microsoft Tech Note Q238131 has details on how to fix IIS. However, also make sure that you have no services set to use IP Address "All Unassigned", otherwise IIS will still grab all IP Addresses. Instead, make sure that you specify the IP Addresses that you want IIS to use for each type of service (HTTP, FTP, etc).

Preventing traces to Secure IP Addresses: To prevent a VisualRoute trace to a particular IP address (or range of IP addresses), edit the .\data\user\secure.txt text file (a file you must create). Each line in this file is "cidr-address,x". For example, here is an example secure.txt file that secures two IP ranges:

198.242.57/24,x
201.109/16,x

If there is an attempt to trace directly to any secure IP in this list, it will be treated like a DNS error (does not exist). If the IP address shows up in a trace, it will be replaced by the 'x' in the line definition.

Appendices    

A. Unix Notes
B. Protocols
C. Troubleshooting Guide
D. How 'Scan Network' works
E. US State Codes
F. Country Codes
G. Release History

Appendix A: Unix Notes

Running as a user: Before VisualRoute can be run as a user (non-root), you need to grant the VisualRoute ping engine the privileges it needs in order to run. The following commands should be submitted:

cd vr9/exe
su
Password: (enter password)
chown root:bin vrping1.*
chmod 4755 vrping1.*
exit
 

Running as a daemon service: For VisualRoute to be set up on Unix as a service/daemon, you will need to install the X virtual frame buffer software. This provides a virtual terminal without the need for a hardware console nor, even if the console is present, a sign on as this maybe construed a security issue. There is a VisualRoute shell script, VisualRoute.sh, provided for the placing in /etc/rc2.d. Basically the script has three environment variables at the beginning that the should be reviewed. They are:

Once these have been changed the script can be saved, named as S95VisualRoute and copied over to the boot directory. Please ensure that this will start after the X font server software at boot (the process is xfs) , as some X fonts are required for the Xvfb to function

Other Applications Support: VisualRoute will still work without the following applications; you will just not get the functionality provided for the menu items referenced in each section.
 

NOTE: If your are not running DNS you must enter the dotted decimal notation of the end-point computer in the Host/URL'. Without DNS, the local computer will not be able to resolve the IP address of the computer name you want to trace to.

How does the UNIX version differ from the Windows version? The UNIX version uses a different "ping" engine to elicit network responses. It also brings up different applications for the 'Edit | Snap table as text...', the 'Help' menu items, and e-mail. If web access (which can take several seconds to appear), the Edit menu item operations, or e-mail accesses fail, it may be because the path to the appropriate application is not in the PATH environment variable. Specifically, the path to 'hotjava' for browser access, the path to 'dtpad' for the editor, and the path to 'dtmail' for email for the defaults. Or, the path to the application specified by VR_BROWSER, VR_EDITOR or VR_EMAIL.

If you have used VisualRoute previously, the functionality should be the same.

Appendix B: Protocols

Port Name Description
7 ECHO Echo
13 DAYTIME Daytime
17 QOTD Quote of the Day
20 FTP-DATA File Transfer [Default Data]
21 FTP File Transfer [Control]
23 TELNET Telnet
25 SMTP Simple Mail Transfer
37 TIME Time
43 WHOIS Who Is
53 DOMAIN Domain Name Server
66 SQL*NET Oracle SQL*NET
69 TFTP Trivial File Transfer
70 GOPHER Gopher
79 FINGER Finger
80 HTTP World Wide Web
88 KERBEROS Kerberos
92 NPP Network Printing Protocol
107 RTELNET Remote Telnet Service
109 POP2 Post Office Protocol - Version 2
110 POP3 Post Office Protocol - Version 3
111 SUNRPC SUN Remote Procedure Call
119 NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol
123 NTP Network Time Protocol
137 NETBIOS-NS NETBIOS Name Service
138 NETBIOS-DGM NETBIOS Datagram Service
139 NETBIOS-SSN NETBIOS Session Service
161 SNMP SNMP
162 SNMPTRAP SNMPTRAP
179 BGP Border Gateway Protocol
215 SOFTPC Insignia Solutions
217 DBASE dBASE Unix
396 NETWARE-IP Novell Netware over IP
512 EXEC remote process execution
513 LOGIN remote login a la telnet
514 SHELL cmd
666 DOOM doom Id Software

Appendix C: Troubleshooting Guide

DNS lookups in VisualRoute fail for all host names. If you are running Zone Alarm, make sure that MS Java, vrdns2.exe, and vrping1.exe are all allowed access to the Internet.

Problems with eSafe and other anti-virus software. Several users have reported that running eSafe disables VisualRoute. This is because a 'feature' of eSafe prevents a Java application from running normally unless there is a "protection set" defined for it. Please refer to your eSafe manual for details on how to define this "protection set".

Problems with NetZIP. The NetZIP Folders feature interferes with how Java accesses class files in a ZIP file. When you attempt to run VisualRoute, you will get an "Unable to locate system class java\lang\Object" error message. The solution is to disable NetZIP while you run VisualRoute. You can temporarily disable NetZIP by right clicking on the NetZIP icon in the system tray and selecting 'Disable' from the menu.

Do you have the proper Java support installed? Most problems are caused by not having the proper version of Java installed. See the product Support page for more details.

Try reinstalling your Java VM. We have found that a lot of support issues are cleared up by reinstalling the Java VM. The problem is file versioning conflicts, which a reinstall clears up.

Test your internet connection. Do the system commands ping and tracert work? From a DOS window, try 'ping www.visualroute.com' or 'tracert www.visualroute.com'. If these commands do not work, please ask your network administrator if your TCP/IP stack is properly configured.

Are you running Microsoft's TCP/IP stack? VisualRoute works best with Microsoft's TCP/IP stack. The Microsoft TCP/IP stack comes with Windows.

Is your display set to 800x600, 256 colors, or better? This is a minimum requirement for VisualRoute.

Appendix D: How 'Scan Network' Works

WARNING: 'Scan Network' is an option that should be used with great care. While it can improve the VisualRoute analysis, high security sites may think that you are attacking their network.

If the host you are monitoring does not respond, is the network to that host down, or is the host itself down? With 'Scan Network' checked, VisualRoute can answer this question.

Scan network first determines which class C network the host in question resides in. It then sends ping packets to all possible IP addresses for the network, looking for any host that is up and running.

For example, let's say you are trying to monitor www.yahoo.com and it is not responding. With 'Scan Network' checked, VisualRoute determines that the network for www.yahoo.com is 204.71.200.x.

It then sends ping packets to hosts .x+1, .x-1, .x+2, .x-2, and so on for all hosts on network 204.71.200.x. The scan stops the moment there is any response, which indicates that the network to www.yahoo.com is up.

Appendix E: US State Codes

Code State
al Alabama
ak Alaska
az Arizona
ar Arkansas
ca California
co Colorado
ct Connecticut
de Delaware
dc Dist.Columbia
fl Florida
ga Georgia
gu Guam
hi Hawaii
id Idaho
il Illinois
in Indiana
ia Iowa
ks Kansas
Code State
ky Kentucky
la Louisiana
me Maine
md Maryland
ma Massachusetts
mi Michigan
mn Minnesota
ms Mississippi
mo Missouri
mt Montana
ne Nebraska
nv Nevada
nh New Hampshire
nj New Jersey
nm New Mexico
ny New York
nc North Carolina
nd North Dakota
Code State
oh Ohio
ok Oklahoma
or Oregon
pa Pennsylvania
pr Puerto Rico
ri Rhode Island
sc South Carolina
sd South Dakota
tn Tennessee
tx Texas
ut Utah
vt Vermont
vi Virgin Islands
va Virginia
wa Washington
wv West Virginia
wi Wisconsin
wy Wyoming

Appendix G: Country Codes

Code Country
af Afghanistan
al Albania
dz Algeria
as American Samoa
ad Andorra
ao Angola
ai Anguilla
aq Antarctica
ag Antigua and Barbuda
ar Argentina
am Armenia
aw Aruba
au Australia
at Austria
az Azerbaijan
bs Bahamas
bh Bahrain
bd Bangladesh
bb Barbados
by Belarus
be Belgium
bz Belize
bj Benin
bm Bermuda
bt Bhutan
bo Bolivia
ba Bosnia and Herzegowina
bw Botswana
bv Bouvet Island
br Brazil
io British Indian Ocean Territory
bn Brunei Darussalam
bg Bulgaria
bf Burkina Faso
bi Burundi
kh Cambodia
cm Cameroon
ca Canada
cv Cape Verde
ky Cayman Islands
cf Central African Republic
td Chad
cl Chile
cn China
cx Christmas Island
cc Cocos (Keeling) Islands
co Colombia
km Comoros
cd Congo
cg Congo
ck Cook islands
cr Costa Rica
ci Cote D'Ivoire
hr Croatia (Hrvatska)
cu Cuba
cy Cyprus
cz Czech Republic
dk Denmark
dj Djibouti
dm Dominica
do Dominican Republic
tp East Timor
ec Ecuador
eg Egypt
sv El Salvador
gq Equatorial Guinea
er Eritrea
ee Estonia
et Ethiopia
fk Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
fo Faroe Islands
fj Fiji
fi Finland
fr France
fx France, Metropolitan
gf French Guiana
pf French Polynesia
tf French Southern Territories
Code Country
ga Gabon
gm Gambia
ge Georgia
de Germany
gh Ghana
gi Gibraltar
gr Greece
gl Greenland
gd Grenada
gp Guadeloupe
gu Guam
gt Guatemala
gn Guinea
gw Guinea-Bissau
gy Guyana
ht Haiti
hm Heard and Mc Donald Islands
hn Honduras
hk Hong Kong
hu Hungary
is Iceland
in India
id Indonesia
ir Iran
iq Iraq
ie Ireland
il Israel
it Italy
jm Jamaica
jp Japan
jo Jordan
kz Kazakhstan
ke Kenya
ki Kiribati
kr Korea
kp Korea (North)
kw Kuwait
kg Kyrgyzstan
la Laos
lv Latvia
lb Lebanon
ls Lesotho
lr Liberia
ly Libya
li Liechtenstein
lt Lithuania
lu Luxembourg
mo Macau
mk Macedonia
mg Madagascar
mw Malawi
my Malaysia
mv Maldives
ml Mali
mt Malta
mh Marshall Islands
mq Martinique
mr Mauritania
mu Mauritius
yt Mayotte
mx Mexico
fm Micronesia
md Moldova
mc Monaco
mn Mongolia
ms Montserrat
ma Morocco
mz Mozambique
mm Myanmar
na Namibia
nr Nauru
np Nepal
nl Netherlands
an Netherlands Antilles
nc New Caledonia
nz New Zealand
ni Nicaragua
ne Niger
ng Nigeria
nu Niue
nf Norfolk Island
mp Northern Mariana Islands
no Norway
om Oman
pk Pakistan
pw Palau
pa Panama
pg Papua New Guinea
py Paraguay
Code Country
pe Peru
ph Philippines
pn Pitcairn
pl Poland
pt Portugal
pr Puerto Rico
qa Qatar
re Reunion
ro Romania
ru Russian Federation
rw Rwanda
kn Saint Kitts and Nevis
lc Saint Lucia
vc Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
ws Samoa
sm San Marino
st Sao Tome and Principe
sa Saudi Arabia
sn Senegal
sc Seychelles
sl Sierra Leone
sg Singapore
sk Slovak Republic
si Slovenia
sb Solomon Islands
so Somalia
za South Africa
gs South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
es Spain
lk Sri Lanka
sh St. Helena
pm St. Pierre and Miquelon
sd Sudan
sr Suriname
sj Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands
sz Swaziland
se Sweden
ch Switzerland
sy Syria
tw Taiwan
tj Tajikistan
tz Tanzania
th Thailand
tg Togo
tk Tokelau
to Tonga
tt Trinidad and Tobago
tn Tunisia
tr Turkey
tm Turkmenistan
tc Turks and Caicos Islands
tv Tuvalu
ug Uganda
ua Ukraine
ae United Arab Emirates
uk United Kingdom
us United States
um United States Minor Outlying Islands
uy Uruguay
us USA
uz Uzbekistan
vu Vanuatu
va Vatican City State
ve Venezuela
vn Viet Nam
vg Virgin Islands (British)
vi Virgin Islands (United States)
wf Wallis and Futuna Islands
eh Western Sahara
ye Yemen
yu Yugoslavia
zr Zaire
zm Zambia
zw Zimbabwe

Appendix F: Release History

9.3c - May 12th, 2005

9.3b - April 25th, 2005

9.2a - February 20th, 2005 (build 2652)

9.0d - January 4th, 2005 (build 2600)

9.0c - December 17th, 2004 (build 2584)

9.0a - November 18th, 2004 (build 2555)

8.0f - May 31st, 2004 (build 2384)

8.0e - April 27th, 2004 (build 2352)

8.0d - March 23rd, 2004 (build 2318)

8.0a - November 12th, 2003 (build 2180)

7.3b - October 3rd, 2003 (build 2174)

7.2a - June 20th, 2003 (build 2031)

7.1c - February 12, 2003 (build 1913)

7.1b - February 11, 2003 (build 1893)

7.0g - December 19, 2002 (build 1858)

7.0b - October 8, 2002 (build 1786)

7.0a - September 24, 2002 (build 1772)

6.1e - September 5, 2002 (build 1752)

6.1a - July 5, 2002 (build 1688)

6.0b - October 9, 2001 (build 1421)

6.0a - September 21, 2001 (build 1403)

5.4a - July 26, 2001 (build 1347)

5.3a - June 26, 2001 (build 1317)

5.2c - April 24, 2001 (build 1254)

5.2b - April 10, 2001 (build 1240)

5.2a - April 4, 2001 (build 1234)

5.1c - February 26, 2001 (build 1196)

5.1b - February 20, 2001 (build 1191)

5.1a - February 14, 2001 (build 1185)

5.0b - June 7, 2000 (build 943)

5.0a - May 1, 2000 (build 896)

4.2a - January 9, 2000 (build 783)

5.1c - December 19, 1999 (build 762)

5.1b - November 11, 1999 (build 724)

5.1a - October 19, 1999 (build 701)

4.0c - February 16, 1999 (build 456)

4.0a - November 30, 1998 (build 378)

3.3a - August 28, 1998

3.2c - July 1, 1998

3.2b - June 24, 1998

3.2a - April 20, 1998

3.1b - April 3, 1998

3.1a - March 19, 1998

2.1a - February 17, 1998

2.0a - January 26, 1998

1.0a - November 17, 1997

© 1997-2004 Visualware Inc. | All rights reserved | Legal Information