hi,
i am a beginner in networking area. for curiosity i started reading about several protocols. i also tried linux terminal commands for example ping, traceroute.
i read about traceroute that it traces the path through certain points in the internet. i wanted to know what is meant by points in internet. is it autonomous systems? any help is appreciated.

Thanks

what traceroute does is report back every hop that it takes to a destination. when i say 'hop' that means every router that your request traverses according to advertised routes

to put it in lamens terms, think of when you give directions to someone. you have a point of origin (source) and a target address (destination)...every turn along the way (hop) is part of those directions (routes)

understand?

traceroute to www.principal-hayley.com (109.108.146.84), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 rtr28-3.cs.ucr.edu (169.235.28.3) [AS6106] 1.504 ms 1.553 ms 1.624 ms
2 c6513stat--te10-1.ucr.edu (138.23.3.101) [AS6106] 0.932 ms 1.263 ms 1.334 ms
3 xmr-telecom-1--te1-2.ucr.edu (138.23.3.89) [AS6106] 0.596 ms 1.035 ms 1.107 ms
4 dc-riv-agg1--ucr-2ge.cenic.net (137.164.50.69) [AS2152] 0.633 ms 0.714 ms 0.903 ms
5 dc-lax-core2--riv-agg1-10ge.cenic.net (137.164.46.8) [AS2152] 3.217 ms 3.286 ms 3.345 ms
6 dc-lax-isp2--lax-core2-10ge.cenic.net (137.164.47.138) [AS2152] 1.980 ms 1.943 ms 1.957 ms
7 xe-9-3-0.edge5.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.59.48.177) [AS3356] 2.040 ms 2.154 ms 34.161 ms
8 vlan60.csw1.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.144.62) [AS3356] 2.187 ms vlan90.csw4.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.144.254) [AS3356] 2.228 ms vlan70.csw2.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.144.126) [AS3356] 5.949 ms
9 ae-73-73.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.137.37) [AS3356] 2.196 ms 2.214 ms ae-83-83.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.137.41) [AS3356] 2.231 ms
10 ae-3-3.ebr1.SanJose1.Level3.net (4.69.132.9) [AS3356] 9.933 ms 9.952 ms 9.967 ms
11 ae-2-2.ebr2.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.135.186) [AS3356] 78.394 ms 78.506 ms 78.341 ms
12 ae-62-62.csw1.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.148.34) [AS3356] 78.448 ms 78.506 ms ae-82-82.csw3.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.148.42) [AS3356] 84.274 ms
13 ae-71-71.ebr1.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.134.69) [AS3356] 78.353 ms 78.406 ms 78.429 ms
14 ae-42-42.ebr2.London1.Level3.net (4.69.137.69) [AS3356] 146.961 ms ae-44-44.ebr2.London1.Level3.net (4.69.137.77) [AS3356] 146.939 ms 146.549 ms
15 ae-56-221.csw2.London1.Level3.net (4.69.153.130) [AS3356] 156.091 ms ae-58-223.csw2.London1.Level3.net (4.69.153.138) [AS3356] 146.981 ms ae-56-221.csw2.London1.Level3.net (4.69.153.130) [AS3356] 153.787 ms
16 ae-21-52.car1.London1.Level3.net (4.69.139.98) [AS3356] 147.263 ms 146.948 ms 147.163 ms
17 ge-0-1-0-630.as8553.net (213.228.202.78) [AS3356] 147.180 ms 147.217 ms 147.253 ms
18 ge-0-0-0-0.man1.as8553.net (195.10.255.35) [AS8553] 153.306 ms 153.544 ms 153.672 ms
19 router1.synergy.ukfast.net (81.95.51.12) [AS8553] 153.534 ms 153.715 ms 153.723 ms
20 srvlist-84-146-108-109.static.ukfast.co.uk (109.108.146.84) [AS8553] 154.096 ms 153.344 ms 153.880 ms

if i have the above example of traceroute 1,2,3 would be hops? are points the same as hops or they are IXPs (internet exchange point) . i read on wikipedia that two different autonomous systems are connected thru IXPs. for example if i want to see the number of points in internet in the above example, shall i say points in internet in this particular traceroute are number of AS?

the explanation i gave still applies, all an IXP is is basically a shortcut between 2 networks to avoid taking a longer path.

have a look at this wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_exchange_point

if you analyze your output you can see where the trace is taking its path and make educated guesses on where the IXP might be but traceroute (or any other tool) wouldnt give this information because its not something that can be pinpointed just by using a packet tracer...its just a route defined between 2 points that happens to improve performance (like jumping fences in backyards instead of making the block)

if you're really curious though and want to gather as much info as you can the link below would be a great start
http://www-rp.lip6.fr/~augustin/ixp/

another note take take down is BGP is the routing protocol of the internet and without going into to much detail BGP is grouped together by Autonomous System numbers that identify the routers or areas if you will...when establishing BGP routes both ends need to know the AS #
this is most certainly not a text book explanation but you mentioned you were a beginner so im trying to be gentle haha
read this if to learn more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Gateway_Protocol

and look into CCNA material to get a strong foundation of networking

"Points" is an odd choice of word for an explanation of ip routing as there are numerous accepted terms - routers, gateways, nodes.
They all mean the same thing as far as IP is concerned.

IP is an example of a packet switched networking protocol. This means that rather than having permanent established fixed bandwidth channels end to end, data streams are split into packets and autonomously transmitted as discrete lumps. What this allows is literally a "network" or possible a better word is "mesh" of connected nodes (or "points" or routers or gateways).

Each node, like a postal sorting office, receives packets from its neighbours, makes a decision as to which exit point leads most directly to the destination and sends it on its way. Critical to understanding many features of a packet switched network is that the decision made for each packet is a discrete event and can change from packet to packet - the packets while in transit are independent of each other.

A node is a router or gateway that routes IP packets. An AS is a cluster of these nodes that are managed by a single administrative authority that, and this is key, use BGP to exchange routing information with another cluster of nodes that are run by someone else.

e.g. Cable and Wireless have an AS that consists of many hundreds of "nodes". Internally these all exchange routing information using something called IS-IS which is an Internal Gateway Protocol(IGP). Where C&W's cluster of nodes meets British Telecomms cluster of nodes, which probably use a different IGP, they exchange routing information using a common protocol BGPv4 which is an External Gateway Protocol (EGP). BGP distinguishes these clusters of nodes using AS numbers, hence when you route from a source on C&Ws network to a destination in BT's network you have passed through two "AS"s.

So a "point" is a node on the network of routers in a cluster. Clusters of nodes that exchange routing information using BGP are distinguished by AS numbers.

ya what he said