Why does the traceroute command show * in its output?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Issue

  • While trying traceroute to a RHEL server, the command intermittently does not return the prompt for a few seconds, and then the command shows * in its output.
  • When traceroute -I is issued then this behavior and delay in output does not occur.

  • While pinging to a RHEL system traceroute behaviour is different. Working as expected with Solaris and Windows.

  • Traceroute is showing * in output as follows :

$ traceroute hostname 
traceroute to hostname (192.168.1.254), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
 1  hostname (192.168.1.254)  0.353 ms  0.309 ms  0.389 ms

$ traceroute hostname 
traceroute to hostname (192.168.1.254), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
 1  hostname (192.168.1.254)  0.336 ms *  0.379 ms

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

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