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Quick Start Guide

Get up and running with NetTraceX in just a few minutes.

Prerequisites​

  • Go 1.21 or later
  • Terminal emulator (Windows Terminal, iTerm2, etc.)

Installation​

Option 1: Build from Source​

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/nettracex/nettracex-tui.git
cd nettracex

# Build the application
go build -o bin/nettracex ./cmd/nettracex

# Run the application
./bin/nettracex

Option 2: Go Install​

go install github.com/nettracex/nettracex-tui@latest

First Run​

When you first run NetTraceX, it will:

  1. Create a default configuration file at ~/.config/nettracex/nettracex-tui.yaml
  2. Display the main interface with available tools
nettracex

Basic Usage​

1. Ping a Host​

# Ping Google's DNS server
nettracex ping 8.8.8.8

# Ping with custom parameters
nettracex ping --count 10 --interval 2s google.com

2. Trace Route​

# Trace route to a host
nettracex traceroute google.com

# Trace route with custom parameters
nettracex traceroute --max-hops 20 --timeout 5s github.com

3. DNS Lookup​

# DNS lookup for a domain
nettracex dns google.com

# DNS lookup for specific record types
nettracex dns --types A,AAAA,MX github.com

4. WHOIS Lookup​

# WHOIS lookup for a domain
nettracex whois google.com

# WHOIS lookup with specific server
nettracex whois --server whois.iana.org google.com

5. SSL Certificate Check​

# SSL certificate check
nettracex ssl google.com

# SSL check with custom port
nettracex ssl --port 443 github.com

Interactive Mode​

NetTraceX also provides an interactive mode for continuous network monitoring:

# Start interactive mode
nettracex interactive

# Or use the short form
nettracex -i

In interactive mode, you can:

  • Navigate between different tools using the keyboard
  • View real-time results
  • Export results in various formats
  • Switch between different hosts and parameters

Configuration​

Basic Configuration​

Edit the configuration file at ~/.config/nettracex/nettracex-tui.yaml:

network:
  timeout: 30s
  dns_servers:
    - "8.8.8.8"
    - "1.1.1.1"

ui:
  theme: "auto"
  animations:
    enabled: true

plugins:
  enabled:
    - "ping"
    - "traceroute"
    - "dns"
    - "whois"
    - "ssl"

Environment Variables​

You can also configure using environment variables:

export NETTRACEX_NETWORK_TIMEOUT=60s
export NETTRACEX_UI_THEME=dark
export NETTRACEX_LOGGING_LEVEL=debug

Exporting Results​

Export to JSON​

nettracex ping google.com --export json --output results.json

Export to CSV​

nettracex traceroute github.com --export csv --output trace.csv

Export to Text​

nettracex dns google.com --export text --output dns.txt

Keyboard Shortcuts​

In interactive mode:

  • q - Quit the application
  • h - Show help
  • r - Refresh current results
  • e - Export current results
  • Tab - Switch between tools
  • ↑/↓ - Navigate through results
  • Enter - Execute selected tool

Common Use Cases​

Network Troubleshooting​

# 1. Check basic connectivity
nettracex ping google.com

# 2. Trace the network path
nettracex traceroute google.com

# 3. Check DNS resolution
nettracex dns google.com

# 4. Verify SSL certificate
nettracex ssl google.com

Continuous Monitoring​

# Start interactive mode for continuous monitoring
nettracex interactive

# Or run specific tools in a loop
while true; do
  nettracex ping google.com
  sleep 30
done

Batch Operations​

# Test multiple hosts
for host in google.com github.com stackoverflow.com; do
  echo "Testing $host"
  nettracex ping $host
  nettracex dns $host
done

Troubleshooting​

Common Issues​

"command not found"​

Ensure the binary is in your PATH:

# Check if binary exists
which nettracex

# Add to PATH if needed
export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/nettracex/bin

Permission Denied​

Make the binary executable:

chmod +x bin/nettracex

Configuration Issues​

Validate your configuration:

nettracex --validate-config

Getting Help​

# Show help
nettracex --help

# Show version
nettracex --version

# Show configuration
nettracex --show-config

Next Steps​