It all started with a windows cookie cutter tool vs. CLI linux battle over superiority. I decided to show a buddy of mine just how much you can do from the command line. I showed him the virtues of hping2 mostly.

As I was showing him how to test if a server is load balanced by looking at the IPID #'s something strange happend.

I was originally issuing the command:

Code:
hping2 -G -S -p 80 www.ebay.com >> /tmp/weirdshit ; sleep 5 ; traceroute www.ebay.com >> /tmp/weirdshit
well, its not verbatim, but you get the point, moving on...

heres the output I got. Now I'm curious as to why in the world the record route (-G) from the hping output puts me through the 10.6,10.8,10.5, etc. addresses, then when the traceroute goes off its totally different! Dont worry guys, my public IP is not visible, the closest you can get is the neigborhood node (66.135.*). I know for a fact that the 10.244.32.1 address is my cable modem (see it next to my 192.168 in one RR). Sooo...

I went ahead and tracerouted to the 10.8,6,5 etc figuring they were just private ip's within att's network and on the UDP traceroute they come out to be 18 hops away off the att network!

Heres the (almost) complete output.

Code:
HPING www.ebay.com (eth0 66.135.192.88): S set, 40 headers + 0 data bytes
len=84 ip=66.135.192.88 ttl=108 DF id=19439 sport=80 flags=SA seq=1 win=16616 rtt=130.5 ms
RR: 	10.6.105.7
	10.6.1.106
	66.135.207.70
	157.130.209.22
	137.39.4.250
	137.39.4.84
	137.39.3.237
	204.255.174.173
	12.123.13.69
len=84 ip=66.135.192.88 ttl=108 DF id=44620 sport=80 flags=SA seq=4 win=16616 rtt=146.3 ms
RR: 	10.6.105.7
	10.6.1.74
	66.135.207.206
	157.130.209.22
	137.39.4.250
	137.39.4.83
	137.39.3.236
	204.255.174.173
	12.123.13.69
len=84 ip=66.135.192.88 ttl=108 DF id=15776 sport=80 flags=SA seq=5 win=16616 rtt=265.8 ms
RR: 	10.6.105.7
	10.6.1.102
	66.135.207.230
	157.130.209.22
	137.39.4.250
	137.39.4.83
	137.39.3.236
	204.255.174.173
	12.123.13.69
len=84 ip=66.135.192.88 ttl=108 DF id=49924 sport=80 flags=SA seq=6 win=16616 rtt=163.8 ms
RR: 	10.6.105.7
	10.6.1.78
	66.135.207.94
	157.130.209.22
	137.39.4.250
	137.39.4.83
	137.39.3.236
	204.255.174.173
	12.123.13.69
len=84 ip=66.135.192.88 ttl=108 DF id=46508 sport=80 flags=SA seq=7 win=16616 rtt=156.8 ms
RR: 	10.6.105.7
	10.6.1.98
	66.135.207.214
	157.130.209.22
	137.39.4.250
	137.39.4.84
	137.39.3.237
	204.255.174.173
	12.123.13.69
len=84 ip=66.135.192.88 ttl=108 DF id=53063 sport=80 flags=SA seq=9 win=16616 rtt=3029.6 ms
RR: 	10.6.105.7
	10.6.1.102
	66.135.207.222
	157.130.209.22
	137.39.4.250
	137.39.4.84
	137.39.3.237
	204.255.174.173
	12.123.13.69
len=84 ip=66.135.208.101 ttl=106 DF id=37846 sport=80 flags=SA seq=0 win=16616 rtt=140.6 ms
RR: 	10.8.1.74
	66.135.223.214
	144.223.252.130
	144.232.20.19
	144.232.20.180
	144.232.3.217
	144.232.9.241
	144.232.9.205
	12.123.13.194
len=84 ip=66.135.208.101 ttl=105 DF id=38388 sport=80 flags=SA seq=1 win=16616 rtt=124.6 ms
RR: 	10.8.1.106
	66.135.223.86
	144.223.252.6
	144.232.29.129
	144.232.20.19
	144.232.20.180
	144.232.3.217
	144.232.9.241
	144.232.9.205
len=84 ip=66.135.208.101 ttl=106 DF id=460 sport=80 flags=SA seq=2 win=16616 rtt=142.4 ms
RR: 	10.8.105.18
	10.8.1.70
	66.135.223.230
	144.223.252.130
	144.232.20.19
	144.232.20.180
	144.232.3.217
	144.232.9.241
	144.232.9.205
DUP! len=84 ip=66.135.208.101 ttl=105 DF id=39863 sport=80 flags=SA seq=0 win=16616 rtt=4362.4 ms
RR: 	10.8.1.78
	66.135.223.222
	144.223.252.6
	144.232.29.129
	144.232.20.19
	144.232.20.180
	144.232.3.217
	144.232.9.241
	144.232.9.205
len=84 ip=66.135.208.101 ttl=106 DF id=916 sport=80 flags=SA seq=3 win=16616 rtt=1411.9 ms
RR: 	10.8.105.18
	10.8.1.102
	66.135.223.94
	144.223.252.130
	144.232.20.19
	144.232.20.180
	144.232.3.217
	144.232.9.241
	144.232.9.205
DUP! len=84 ip=66.135.208.101 ttl=105 DF id=40895 sport=80 flags=SA seq=1 win=16616 rtt=3494.2 ms
RR: 	10.8.1.110
	66.135.223.78
	144.223.252.6
	144.232.29.129
	144.232.20.19
	144.232.20.180
	144.232.3.217
	144.232.9.241
	144.232.9.205
len=84 ip=66.135.192.88 ttl=108 DF id=29069 sport=80 flags=SA seq=8 win=16616 rtt=9080.3 ms
RR: 	10.6.105.7
	10.6.1.74
	66.135.207.70
	157.130.209.22
	137.39.4.250
	137.39.4.83
	137.39.3.236
	204.255.174.173
	12.123.13.69

Traceroute to ebay:
 1  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  37.681 ms  28.050 ms  26.270 ms
 2  10.244.32.1 (10.244.32.1)  48.218 ms  42.265 ms  57.027 ms
 3  68.87.165.213 (68.87.165.213)  43.639 ms  42.305 ms  44.143 ms
 4  68.87.165.41 (68.87.165.41)  39.045 ms  28.299 ms  45.850 ms
 5  68.87.165.37 (68.87.165.37)  33.368 ms  33.145 ms  43.746 ms
 6  12.124.91.5 (12.124.91.5)  72.129 ms  36.749 ms  48.773 ms
 7  gbr2-p60.ormfl.ip.att.net (12.123.32.157)  30.166 ms  48.591 ms  33.717 ms
 8  gbr3-p80.ormfl.ip.att.net (12.122.5.129)  32.790 ms  41.076 ms  40.062 ms
 9  tbr2-p012701.hs1tx.ip.att.net (12.122.12.165)  42.164 ms  43.321 ms  38.831 ms
10  tbr1-cl1.dlstx.ip.att.net (12.122.10.129)  42.518 ms  40.674 ms  78.210 ms
11  ggr2-p300.dlstx.ip.att.net (12.123.17.81)  51.416 ms  175.786 ms  236.295 ms
12  att-gw.dfw.level3.net (192.205.32.114)  44.030 ms  53.141 ms  44.068 ms
13  so-1-2-0.bbr2.Dallas1.Level3.net (209.244.15.165)  42.947 ms  47.209 ms  45.114 ms
14  so-2-0-0.mpls1.Sacramento1.Level3.net (209.247.8.78)  93.545 ms  84.795 ms  110.123 ms
15  so-10-0.hsa1.Sacremento1.Level3.net (4.68.113.58)  83.037 ms  82.813 ms  82.536 ms
16  * * *
17  * * *
18  * * *
19  * * *

Traceroute to one of the "close" 10 addresses:
 1  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  2061.859 ms  21.535 ms  59.507 ms
 2  10.244.32.1 (10.244.32.1)  57.556 ms  34.871 ms  34.351 ms
 3  68.87.165.213 (68.87.165.213)  29.287 ms  34.626 ms  33.420 ms
 4  68.87.165.41 (68.87.165.41)  43.963 ms  43.355 ms  35.603 ms
 5  68.87.165.37 (68.87.165.37)  60.645 ms  33.749 ms  42.323 ms
 6  12.124.91.5 (12.124.91.5)  40.779 ms  40.324 ms  46.821 ms
 7  gbr1-p60.ormfl.ip.att.net (12.123.32.153)  35.693 ms  43.038 ms  37.233 ms
 8  gbr3-p70.ormfl.ip.att.net (12.122.5.121)  40.255 ms  44.350 ms  22.841 ms
 9  tbr2-p013702.hs1tx.ip.att.net (12.122.4.101)  59.093 ms  46.965 ms  42.521 ms
10  tbr1-cl1.dlstx.ip.att.net (12.122.10.129)  42.546 ms  44.902 ms  45.343 ms
11  tbr2-p013601.dlstx.ip.att.net (12.122.9.162)  55.041 ms  42.761 ms  41.909 ms
12  tbr2-cl6.sl9mo.ip.att.net (12.122.10.89)  58.917 ms  55.456 ms  81.842 ms
13  gbr5-p20.sl9mo.ip.att.net (12.122.11.122)  55.481 ms  56.894 ms  55.507 ms
14  gar3-p360.sl9mo.ip.att.net (12.123.25.25)  54.146 ms  56.421 ms  57.598 ms
15  12-220-0-41.client.insightBB.com (12.220.0.41)  62.598 ms  65.570 ms  63.884 ms
16  12-220-1-197.client.insightBB.com (12.220.1.197)  70.110 ms  69.902 ms  66.582 ms
17  12-220-1-113.client.insightBB.com (12.220.1.113)  70.611 ms  69.961 ms  70.542 ms
18  * * *
19  10.6.105.7 (10.6.105.7)  121.702 ms  122.920 ms  118.042 ms
Me's lost? maybe some of you all could give me some insight? This really intrigues me! Could it be some type of geographical load balancing for the web requests but the UDP oriented traceroute goes towards their domain across the nation from me? Are by bids being redirected to a supercluster for bid snipers? I'm lost here, kinda...

edit! Ok, now I'm throughly confused. I've tried the same hping command to a few different sites (10) out of all of them the -G matches the path the traceroute takes. However on 4 of the tries, it didnt return any packets whatsoever.

edit 2,

did a little more digging, now I'm throughly confused...

command:

Code:
hping2 -c 1 -G -S -p 80 www.ebay.com ;
paratrace www.ebay.com &
lynx -dump www.ebay.com > /dev/null
output. Now I understand that you can only go so far on the record route option due to the IP headers limited length. I'm also pretty sure that the TCP gets caught up in queues which is why the long paratrace, but to be jumping off my network (comcast > attbi > internet) directly into a 10.* private network that according to traceroute is 18 hops away while doing the hping2 command has me confused. Well, I just noticed its 5am here, so I have to go get some sleep.

Code:
HPING www.ebay.com (eth0 66.135.208.88): S set, 40 headers + 0 data bytes
len=84 ip=66.135.208.88 ttl=104 DF id=24372 sport=80 flags=SA seq=0 win=16616 rtt=127.6 ms
RR: 	10.8.1.66
	66.135.223.214 
	144.223.252.6  
	144.232.29.129
	144.232.20.19
	144.232.20.180
	144.232.3.202
	144.232.20.58
	144.232.9.205
HPING www.ebay.com (eth0 66.135.192.88): S set, 40 headers + 0 data bytes
Paratrace output:
  UP:    *.*.*.*:80    [22]   0.629s
001 =      192.168.1.1|80    [01]   0.706s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
002 =      10.244.32.1|80    [02]   0.747s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
003 =    68.87.165.213|80    [03]   0.784s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
004 =     68.87.165.41|80    [04]   0.831s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
005 =     68.87.165.37|80    [05]   0.873s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
006 =      12.124.91.5|80    [06]   0.924s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
007 =    12.123.32.157|80    [07]   0.968s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
008 =     12.122.5.133|80    [08]   0.987s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
010 =     12.122.12.30|80    [10]   1.050s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
011 =  204.255.174.149|80    [11]   1.078s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
009 =     12.122.2.129|80    [10]   1.141s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
012 =    152.63.82.198|80    [13]   1.372s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
013 =    152.63.10.102|80    [14]   1.394s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
015 =     152.63.48.90|80    [18]   1.451s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
017 =   157.130.209.22|80    [19]   1.481s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
014 =      152.63.1.33|80    [18]   1.532s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
016 =    152.63.56.253|80    [19]   1.586s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
018 =   66.135.207.170|80    [20]   1.632s(   192.168.1.102 -> 66.135.192.87   )
edit 3, ok, last one of the night. I actually had to get out of bed and do this one last one! I'm such a fuggin geek! I thought it might be something with DNS pointing to different servers, so I ran the same commands against the numerics. It gave me the same results???!!!??