network test

[Red Squirrel]

Is there a program or trick that can be used to measure packet loss on a server? Something like an FTP download won't really do as packet loss is transparently taken care of and won't be noticeable I don't think.

I run a UO game server and get random waves of massive lag, regardless of the server traffic and I'm starting to wonder if it's my host (dedicated server on a 10meg uplink - over 10x the previous connection, but more lag now). I just need a way to test this so I can confirm whether or not it's the problem, and contact them about it.

 

[nweaver]

things to watch for (not sure if you have access to all these items):

Port flapping (switch)
Duplex mismatch (lots of bad packet counts on the switch)
Resource problems on the server (does it happen to be backup up something ever x minutes and that causes the issue, virus scans, etc)


IMHO one of the easiest ways to determine if the ISP's network may be to blame is to tracert out and find a remote gateway 2-4 hops away from you, but still in the ISP's control and run pings to that and your first hop (default gateway), and establish if the lag spikes affect traffic INSIDE the ISP's network or not). Found a program called ghostping that may help with plotting various pings over time for patterns. Not sure if it would help. You could also speed up MRTG checks, and do some fancy stuff to check ping times and resources at nearly the same time to corrolate system issues with lag spikes.

 

[Red Squirrel]

my isp blocks trace route but if I use the Linux one it works, oddly. As soon as I get on theplanet's gigabit router the ping skyrockets to like 300 ms. But I have no access to those routers so not much I can do I guess. :/ kind of sucks since I'm paying for this leased server but everyone lags worse then they did on my adsl line.