In a recent journal entry for writing class, I decided to research where my request goes when I type "www.stake.tk" into my browser. Here is the entry, almost verbatim:
11/5/2002
    I got to thinking (no kidding!) about my web site. The server that my files are on is in Bellevue WA, the company that helps Tokelau control their TLD is headquarted in Amsterdam, and I of course am in Pouhkeepsie NY.

    For me to visit my website this is what has to happen:

  1. My computer sends a request to the Netherlands to lookup the numerical address of "stake.tk".
  2. The numerical address of the server that hosts my web files is found and is sent back to me.
  3. Communication between my computer and the server begins. Everyone is happy.
Just because I was curious, I decided to do some research and find out how many computers my request goes through before my web site appears on my screen. Here's step one:

1st Leg of trip - Poughkeepsie NY, USA to Amsterdam, Netherlands
# Computer/Company City State/Province Country
1 Mine Poughkeepsie NY USA
2 Marist Poughkeepsie NY USA
3 Marist Internet Access Poughkeepsie NY USA
4 Applied Theory Poughkeepsie NY USA
5 Applied Theory LaGuardia NY USA
6 Applied Theory New York City NYUSA
7 Applied Theory Albany NY USA
8 Applied Theory Syracuse NY USA
9 Applied Theory Syracuse NY USA
10 Applied Theory Rochester NY USA
11 Applied Theory Buffalo NY USA
12 Broadwing Washington D.C. USA
13 Broadwing ? NY USA
14 Broadwing ? NY USA
15 Broadwing ? NY USA
16 Broadwing ? NY USA
17 Colt.net London England UK
18 Colt.net Bodrum Mugla Turkey
19 Colt.net ? ? Netherlands
20 TK Amsterdam Noord-Holland Netherlands

 

    Now after a quick lookup of "stake.tk", the server gives me the numerical address of my hosting server. And away we go:

 

2nd Leg of trip - Poughkeepsie, NY to Bellevue, WA
# Computer/Company City State/Province
1 Mine Poughkeepsie NY
2 Marist Poughkeepsie NY
3 Marist Internet Access Poughkeepsie NY
4 Applied Theory Poughkeepsie NY
5 Applied Theory LaGuardia NY
6 Applied Theory Philadelphia PA
7 Applied Theory Washington D.C.
8 ep.net ? CA?
9 Electric Lightwave Sacramento CA
10 Electric Lightwave Logan UT
11 Electric Lightwave Logan UT
12 Electric Lightwave Sacramento CA
13 Electric Lightwave Susanville CA
14 Electric Lightwave Logan UT
15 Electric Lightwave ? CA?
16 Electric Lightwave Susanville CA
17 Electric Lightwave Bellevue WA
18 Northwest Link Issaquah WA
19 Northwest Link ? WA?
20 okatu.freeshell.org Bellevue WA

 

Total for both legs of the trip: 12 seconds @ 2100 EST, 2 seconds @ 0130 EST

Not bad for going all the way from Turkey to Washington, and places in between.

Here are some points that I noticed:

  1. Certain hops cover enormous distances, such as 17 to 18 and 18 to 19 in the 1st leg of the trip. I assume that between such points there is some kind of "high-speed expressway"; perhaps fiber, maybe microwave or satellite.
  2. On the 2nd leg, there is a transcontinental leap from 7 to 8. I'm sure that there is a fiber line accross North America.
  3. Hops 9-16 during the 2nd leg of the trip seem to be wasted. My request was passed between 3 locations: Sacramento, Logan, and Susanville. In fact, the computer at 10 passed the request to a computer which was probably right next to it. The request was then sent back to Sacramento. The computer at 12 is probably even in the same cabinet as the one at 9. This may seem convoluted, but it only took the request milliseconds to pass through all of these machines.
  4. All this time, my request goes nowhere near Tokelau, the country who provides the .tk TLD. Funny how that works out...

    You can take a look at a (dated) map of the Internet with my route drawn out.

    This endevor took about an hour to complete. Much thanks to the traceroute command.


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