2
I ran tracert for google.com and stackexchange.com getting these results:
The second one seems all fine. But why on earth doesn't the first one end with "google.com" but with some IP of my ISP?
I learned about the tracert command today, mind you, so please be forgiving and pedagogical.
The system is Windows 7.
Michał Masny
Posted 2014-01-26T22:08:15.327
Reputation: 296
2
"google.com" resolves to some address, but that address does not reverse resolve to "google.com".
In fact, what "google.com" resolves to depends on where the computer resolving it is located. This allows a server located near the client to service the request instead of bogging down a centrally-located server with all the clients across the world.
Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
Posted 2014-01-26T22:08:15.327
Reputation: 100 516
1As a brief sidenote one should say that some terms to look up in that context are content distribution networks (CDN) and also anycast. – Marki – 2014-01-26T22:45:21.313
There is no single machine somewhere named "google.com" for your trace to end on. Google's infrastructure isn't anywhere near that simple. When you access "google.com", you are given some convenient portal into a massive content distribution network involving a absurdly large number of individual machines. – David Schwartz – 2014-01-27T01:24:05.560