# Question about anchors

**URL:** <https://forum.ripe.net/t/question-about-anchors/1787>\
**Category:** RIPE Atlas\
**Created:** [12 August 2026 07:55 UTC](https://forum.ripe.net/t/question-about-anchors/1787 "2026-08-12T07:55:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ksafa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@ksafa](https://forum.ripe.net/u/ksafa)\
**Post date:** [12 August 2026 07:55 UTC](https://forum.ripe.net/t/question-about-anchors/1787/1 "2026-08-12T07:55:51Z")

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Hello everyone,

Please excuse me in advance if this isn’t the appropriate category for this question. I have been using RIPE Atlas lately and was running some measurements and visualizing traceroute paths in Khipu towards some anchors. I noticed that for one measurement toward a specific anchor that Khipu was flagging it as using an anycast service which I found interesting.

First, how does Khipu/RIPE Atlas detect if a target IP is using anycast? Second, is anycast possible for anchors?

Thank you!

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**Author:** ![ssuess](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forum.ripe.net/ssuess/32/357_2.png) [@ssuess](https://forum.ripe.net/u/ssuess)\
**Post date:** [13 August 2026 12:41 UTC](https://forum.ripe.net/t/question-about-anchors/1787/2 "2026-08-13T12:41:54Z")

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Hi Ksafa,

Thanks for the question. Normally no anchor is supported to be running in multiple places using the same IP, so it would seem that this is either a Khipu or IPmap (the source of anycast info for Khipu) error. Would you mind providing the measurement in question so that we can investigate?

Kind regards,

Stephen  
Atlas UI

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**Author:** ![ksafa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@ksafa](https://forum.ripe.net/u/ksafa)\
**Post date:** [13 August 2026 13:05 UTC](https://forum.ripe.net/t/question-about-anchors/1787/3 "2026-08-13T13:05:09Z")

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Hello Stephen,

Thank you very much for the feedback. This is the measurement I was visualizing in Khipu: **[199586055](https://atlas.ripe.net/measurements/199586055).**

Please do let me know if you require any additional information.

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**Author:** ![ssuess](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forum.ripe.net/ssuess/32/357_2.png) [@ssuess](https://forum.ripe.net/u/ssuess)\
**Post date:** [13 August 2026 18:10 UTC](https://forum.ripe.net/t/question-about-anchors/1787/4 "2026-08-13T18:10:22Z")

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Hi again Ksafa,

Thanks for that, I have some answers. No anchor should ever be labeled anycast except by mistake. This one was labeled as such because of a weak signal in IPmap anyway (which is why it was marked “possible”). So I will be removing this from Khipu for clarity. Only non-anchor targets will get anycast lookups. This should be in production in the next week or so. Thanks again for reporting this.

On a not unrelated note: We will be spending some time over the coming months improving IPmap for better, more accurate results. Stay tuned.

Kind regards,

Stephen  
Atlas UI

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**Author:** ![ksafa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@ksafa](https://forum.ripe.net/u/ksafa)\
**Post date:** [14 August 2026 07:54 UTC](https://forum.ripe.net/t/question-about-anchors/1787/5 "2026-08-14T07:54:01Z")

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Hello Stephen,

Thanks once again for the detailed feedback and prompt action, this completely answers my question. I will be also checking out IPmap, it seems to have very interesting functionalities.

Wishing you a nice day!