NET11 - Module 1: Telnet, FTP & Internet Tools

Telnet
I am familiar with telnet from managing web sites hosted on a Linux/Apache server platform. Not only is it useful for performing various file management functions, it is also a very quick way to make small changes to web pages - directly on the server instead of transferring files back and forth between server and client. To do this I use a simple little text editor tool residing on the server called Pico. The telnet client I have used in the past is called Putty, but for the purposes of this exercise I used Windows' built-in client.

Compared to search on a web page, the command interface of telnet is more awkward to navigate, and the appearance is less 'friendly', but the server response time seems faster. It was fascinating to watch the Star Wars 'movie' over telnet, probably the most creative use of telnet and ascii I have encountered.

FTP - File Transfer Protocol
My favourite client at the moment is Filezilla. The thing I have always liked about windows-based FTP clients is their similarity to Windows Explorer and the ability to 'drag and drop' files. The default set up for most FTP clients is to display local files on one side of the window and remote files on the other side, making it very easy to compare folder contents and files.

Internet Tools
I began with a traceroute from All Net Tools, a server based in the United States which reached Curtin in 18 hops in an average of 305.55ms.


Results from US server 18 hops; average 305.55ms

I then performed a traceroute from an Indonesian server which reached the Curtin server in 23 hops with an average of 445ms.

I compared these results with a traceroute performed from my own internet connection in Queensland and reached the Curtin server in 14 hops, and an average of 110ms. The best result overall was a trace from the Telstra server, reaching Curtin in 13 hops in an average of 43.98ms.


Results from Telstra server 13 hops; 43.98ms

What do my results tell me? My connection and the Telstra server are both located in Australia, yet Telstra reached the Curtin server at more than twice the speed. From the international tests, although Indonesia is geographically closer to Australia than the United States, it produced a slower result indicating that geographical location is not a decisive factor in traceroute results. Telstra is the largest network in Australia and is the backbone to many smaller networks including my internet provider, so it is possible the size of a network influences traceroute results.

I then used the Windows built-in Ping utility to contact webct.curtin.edu.au as suggested in the exercise. Request timed out! I tried pinging curtin.edu.au and and had a better result, the average round trip time was 110ms (same as my traceroute). I am aware that some servers block ping to prevent DOS (denial of service) attacks; this could be what is occurring with the WebCT server.