Bandwidth Tester

[bdoub1eu]

Hi all! Do you know of any bandwidth testers that are relatively good? Not necessarily bandwidth to the internet but internal bandwidth...

Our cabling underneath our building is somewhat old and I'm trying to figure out if it is cat 5 or cat 5e...Also trying to upgrade our patch panels and wondering if we should go to cat 6. Are there any good internal bandwidth testers that can measure speed internally?

Thanks!

 

[ChrisAC]

Cat5 will do GigE so unless your patch panels have a problem that cabling should be fine. If you do re-cable then you might as well go for Cat6.

If you want the cable tested then I would suggest that you get a good cabling company in to test it for you. 'Proper' CAT5/6 testing equipment is very expensive (Fluke, Microscan etc..) and it isn't worth buying it for one off use. Testing actual bandwidth won't tell you what cabling you have.

Chris.

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Chris A.C, CCNA, CCSA
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[ChrisAC]

This is the type of thing that you would use to test internal cabling;

http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/usedequipment/fluke/cabling/copper/dsp4000.htm

Chris.

**********************
Chris A.C, CCNA, CCSA
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[bdoub1eu]

Thanks guys! I guess I was looking for a tool that I could run on XP that I could connect to a server and tell me what speed I was connecting at...whether 1GB or 100mb's...Just because I'm connected to a GB switch in a remote building doesn't mean I have gb connectivity back to the server room.

Is there anything out there that I can specifiy a server and have it tell me my throughput to that server?

Also I didn't think cat 5 would do GB...I thought only cat 6 was certified for GB...

Thanks again!

 

[ChrisAC]

You could try a file transfer to a server and test your throughput with something like Netmeter (

http://readerror.gmxhome.de/)

but it won't tell you much about your internal cabling.

As for GigE, Cat5e is certified for GigE but I have two GigE links between some routers and switches than run up two floors and are running on some old(ish) Cat5. I wasn't sure about using these links but we had them tested and certified for GigE and the they run just fine.

Chris.

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Chris A.C, CCNA, CCSA
**********************

 

[rjfoster]

I think this might be what you are looking for:

http://tinyurl.com/2unn2

Qcheck allows you to install 'endpoints' on workstations and servers around your network. Then you can fire-up the console from your local workstation, plug in the names/IPs of two 'endpoints' and test actual throughput -- not just the theorhetical wire speed.

We've uncovered lots of problems with this software -- auto-negotiate problems, cable problems, NIC driver problems.

Peace out.

-gg