Trace the network path (instant check, not a monitor)

View as Markdown

HostTracker does not have a traceroute monitor type. Traceroute is an on-demand instant check: it traces the path from each selected HostTracker checkpoint to your host, hop by hop, so you can see where latency or packet loss starts. It runs once and never alerts.

When to use it

Run a traceroute while investigating a problem a monitor found - slow checks from one region, failures from some locations but not others - to see whether the trouble is on your network, at an upstream provider, or at the destination. Comparing traces from several locations quickly shows whether a problem is regional.

Run a traceroute

On the website - the traceroute tool at host-tracker.com/en/ic/check-trace. No account needed.
With the API - start an instant check (scope check:write) and poll GET /check/{dbId}/{id} for the per-location result; a trace usually takes up to a minute:

curl -X POST https://api2.host-tracker.com/check \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HT_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "type": "trace", "url": "example.com", "pools": ["westeurope", "northamerica"] }'

Pool ids come from GET /agent/pool (MCP list_locations); an unknown one is refused with 422 unknown_pool.

With MCP - run_instant_check(url="example.com", type="trace", pools="westeurope,northamerica"), then get_check_result(dbId, id) if it is still running when the tool returns.

For ongoing monitoring

To be alerted when a host stops answering, use a Ping or Website / HTTPS monitor; run a traceroute afterwards to see why.