determining throughput

[Brazen]

Anybody know of a handheld device(s) that can measure throughput between two points on a network with multiple switches and bridges in between?

 

[spidey07]

netiq? Qcheck?

linky for you:

http://www.ixiacom.com/products/performance_applications/pa_display.php?skey=pa_q_check

you load it on two machines and it measures performance.

also moving thru multiple, even 6-7 switches should have no noticible performance hit. although if traffic has to move through 7 switches, you have other design problems.

 

[Brazen]

I am hoping to find a pair of handheld devices (master/slave sort of thing) but it looks like I will indeed have to go with a software based solution, most likely from IXIA. Not too bad though, I suppose I can just install it on two laptops.


Basically, this is for testing microwave radio bridges at branch offices, one in particular does not seem to be performing up to par, but we want to be certain at what point the connection is bottlenecked.

 

[spidey07]

fluke? they're pricey but worth it.

maybe some kind of software running on a PDA?

 

[goldboyd]

Not sure what your budget is or how powerful of a unit you need, but check out Spirent Communications Smartbits gear.

 

[Brazen]

Yeah I think fluke can do end to end throughput testing, but only in there higher-end models which also have a lot of features we don't need, so is kind of a waste of money and a waste of equipment, cuz we will never use the added features.

The PDA idea would be PERFECT and there is software (from IXIA I noticed) that can do it, unfortunately the PDAs we have don't have a NIC and don't have a CF card slot, so we will probably go with laptops.

I'll check out Smartbits and a couple other leads I've gotten, and of course, keep ya posted.

 

[Brazen]

Well, in case anyone is still reading this thread.... It's been a few weeks now and we have settled in on using qcheck. It does exactly what we want to do, it doesn't even seem to be bothered by competing traffic on the line, it still gives the maximum throughput. And it's free.

 

[spidey07]

there are much more sophisticated tools. But qcheck gives the down and dirty pretty well.