What does dot and square bracket means in the result of Windows Tracert Command

Question

I ran a Trace Route command in the Command Prompt in Windows 8, the result is

C:\Users\O83544>tracert cnproject.sharepoint.cn

Tracing route to prodnet3-7ipv4a0001.sharepoint.cn.akadns.net [42.159.166.25]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     6 ms     6 ms     9 ms  192.168.16.1
  2     9 ms    28 ms    19 ms  . [211.136.161.109]
  3    29 ms    30 ms    33 ms  . [211.136.190.189]
  4     7 ms     8 ms     7 ms  . [211.136.189.2]
  5     *        *        *     Request timed out.

I am wondering what does the dot and the square bracket mean in

. [211.136.161.109]

Thanks!

Answer 1

The DNS name (unknown, using a dot) and the corresponding ip address.

A source that explains the output has the information at the bottom of their site: http://www.howtogeek.com/134132/how-to-use-traceroute-to-identify-network-problems/

The way DNS works is that periods separate parts of the network or zone. It all starts with the root zone, . which is at the end of every DNS name (although hidden to the user a lot). Since tracert does not know the DNS name when you run it, it substitutes a .there for the name.