| How to test the speed of a host | | | | 105.ATM3-0.XR1.SCL1.ALTER.NET |
| | | | [146.188.145.158] |
| Testing speed is not complicated, but it's | | | | |
| not very simple either. I will talk about | | | | 8 138 ms 149 ms 146 ms |
| speed in the large sense of the word. | | | | 195.ATM2-0.TR1.SCL1.ALTER.NET [146.188.146.2] |
| Basically speed is a measure on how fast can | | | | |
| the data be transmitted between the visitor | | | | 9 189 ms 170 ms 209 ms |
| and the host's server. | | | | 107.ATM6-0.TR1.NYC1.ALTER.NET |
| | | | [146.188.137.165] |
| You can test a first type of speed by pinging | | | | |
| the server. That can be done at the MS-DOS | | | | 10 187 ms 180 ms 180 ms |
| prompt with a simple command: ping serverID, | | | | 199.ATM7-0.XR1.BOS1.ALTER.NET |
| where server ID is either a domain name (e.g. | | | | [146.188.179.85] |
| C:>ping yahoo.com), either an IP (e.g. C:> | | | | |
| ping 128.65.134.89). | | | | 11 194 ms 177 ms 185 ms |
| | | | 191.ATM8-0-0.GW1.BOS1.ALTER.NET |
| The results should be similar to these: | | | | [146.188.176.225] |
| | | | |
| Reply from 64.190.235.64: bytes=32 time=432ms | | | | 12 196 ms 208 ms 179 ms NVC.customer.UU.NET |
| TTL=45 | | | | [64.68.0.242] |
| | | | |
| Reply from 64.190.235.64: bytes=32 time=180ms | | | | 13 197 ms 206 ms 207 ms [64.68.191.111] |
| TTL=45 | | | | |
| | | | The numbers on the left are the so-called |
| Reply from 64.190.235.64: bytes=32 time=377ms | | | | "hops". The number of hops that it takes to |
| TTL=46 | | | | transmit a packet of data from computer A to |
| | | | computer B is the number of routers. In our |
| Reply from 64.190.235.64: bytes=32 time=216ms | | | | example there are 13 hops. |
| TTL=45 | | | | |
| | | | As you can see, each response line gives you |
| Ping statistics for 64.190.235.64: | | | | the HOP #, the round trip times for the 3 |
| | | | packets that were sent and host information |
| Packets: Sent=4 Received=4 Lost=0 (0% loss) | | | | (IP address and/or host name). |
| | | | |
| Approximate round trip times in | | | | The roundtrip times for each hop are |
| milli-seconds: | | | | representative of the time it takes to go |
| | | | from the source to the host for that |
| Minimum = 180ms, Maximum = 432ms, Average = | | | | particular hop and back to the source. |
| 301 ms | | | | |
| | | | Short times are a good sign. Also, a small |
| To understand the figures, one must first | | | | number of hops is usually a good sign. |
| understand how ping works. It's actually | | | | |
| pretty basic. When you ping a computer you're | | | | Traceroute is a good way to determine path |
| sending a message: "Hey! Are you there?" | | | | but, just as ping, it should not be used as |
| Then comes the answer: "Yes, I'm here!". By | | | | the last word when it comes to speed |
| measuring the time it took to receive your | | | | evaluation. |
| message plus the time it took it's message to | | | | |
| get to you (and by repeating this process a | | | | The ultimate test is the download speed test. |
| few times) one get a fair idea on how fast | | | | To do that you should ask the host for a test |
| these computers can communicate. | | | | download file. That's about the best way to |
| | | | judge speed. The goal is to find a host that |
| It's all in the time measurement. A ping time | | | | has the capability of sending at least a few |
| of under 200ms is very good, 200 to 400ms is | | | | hundred kBytes/second. If you're on a dial-up |
| average and 400ms and above are poor ping | | | | connection you'll not be able to test this |
| times. However, poor ping times do not always | | | | yourself. Read on and you'll find a solution |
| indicate a problem. If you are pinging | | | | to this particular problem. |
| servers that are very far away (pinging a | | | | |
| server located in USA from a computer located | | | | Because the host might try to fool you by |
| in Australia), poor ping times are normal | | | | giving you a test file located on a fast, |
| even for a good connection. | | | | almost empty server, it might be even better |
| | | | if you'd contact a current customer and ask |
| The Loss % represents the percentage of | | | | him/her to post a test file on his account. |
| packets (sent messages) that were "lost" (did | | | | |
| not return within 1 second). Lost packets | | | | The file should be big enough to allow you to |
| are, obviously, not good. | | | | see the speed stability over time. A 10-15 Mb |
| | | | file should be enough. Another important |
| Another way to measure speed is traceroute. | | | | aspect is the time of the test. The best |
| Obviously this traces the route between the | | | | times are rush hours actually, when the |
| computer and the server. As the information | | | | server are busy. These are are in the morning |
| goes from your computer to the server, it | | | | when most people read their emails (8am on |
| passes through a few so-called routers. A | | | | the east coast of the US) and dinner time. |
| traceroute will tell you how many routers are | | | | Take care to compensate for time differences |
| involved and information about the routers. | | | | as not all servers host American websites. |
| | | | |
| The MS-DOS command for traceroute is tracert | | | | Always keep in mind that all results depend |
| serverID. | | | | on location, ISP etc. This is why it's good |
| | | | to run a tracert from other computers located |
| The results should be similar to these: | | | | in other places of the world (where a |
| | | | significant part of your visitors might come |
| C:WINDOWS>tracert | | | | from). Good places where you can do that are |
| | | | and |
| Tracing route to [64.68.191.111]over a | | | | |
| maximum of 30 hops: | | | | I recommend you to ask the people at to help |
| | | | you with your speed test. Usually there are |
| 1 119 ms 121 ms 120 ms | | | | people from all over the world there, so you |
| sym0103723m01.bctel.net [207.102.1.251] | | | | will get to have the host tested from various |
| | | | parts of the world, through different |
| 2 107 ms 114 ms 98 ms 207.102.34.249 | | | | networks, etc. Don't forget to post the URL |
| | | | of the test file! |
| 3 113 ms 117 ms 123 ms 192.197.174.118 | | | | |
| | | | For as much as I know the right place for |
| 4 135 ms 122 ms 116 ms 166.48.13.245 | | | | this king of test requests is the "Other |
| | | | reviews" forum located at |
| 5 134 ms 145 ms 159 ms | | | | |
| core7.SanFrancisco.cw.net [204.70.4.93] | | | | Do all these things I told you about and |
| | | | you'll get a pretty good idea about the speed |
| 6 144 ms 142 ms 136 ms | | | | of the host you're investigating. Hmm... |
| Hssi2-1-0.BR1.SCL1.Alter.Net [206.157.77.74] | | | | tough word... "investigating". It makes all |
| | | | these things sound soo... dangerous! |
| 7 145 ms 152 ms 147 ms | | | | |