"..The means can be likened to a seed, the end to a tree, and there is just the same inviolable connection between the means and the end as there is between the seed and the tree. They say: “Means are, after all, just means.” I would say: “Means are, after all, everything.” As the means, so the end.........If we take care of the means, we are bound to reach the end sooner or later..."

- Mahatma Gandhi

There is a lot of information scattered across the Internet about the different utilities used for network troubleshooting. Yet, few articles detail the background processes taking place while using these utilities. To get a complete and precise idea on how tracing and troubleshooting work in a network, this article analyzes the internal working of 3 network utilities and checks what makes each of them unique.