Available bandwidth measurement as simple as running wget (original) (raw)

An Experimental Evaluation of Tools for Estimating Bandwidth-Related Metrics

I. J. Computer Network and Information Security, 2018

For many different applications, current information about the bandwidth-related metrics of the utilized connection is very useful as they directly impact the performance of throughput sensitive applications such as streaming servers, IPTV and VoIP applications. In literature, several tools have been proposed to estimate major bandwidth-related metrics such as capacity, available bandwidth and achievable throughput. The vast majority of these tools fall into one of Packet Pair (PP), Variable Packet Size (VPS), Self-Loading of Periodic Streams (SLoPS) or Throughput approaches. In this study, seven popular bandwidth estimation tools including nettimer, pathrate, pathchar, pchar, clink, pathload and iperf belonging to these four well-known estimation techniques are presented and experimentally evaluated in a controlled testbed environment. Differently from the rest of studies in literature, all tools have been uniformly classified and evaluated according to an objective and sophisticated classification and evaluation scheme. The performance comparison of the tools incorporates not only the estimation accuracy but also the probing time and overhead caused.

On Fast Estimation of Network Bandwidth

Several tools are available to measure the bandwidth of an Internet link. However, these tools are found to be a bit slow since they send a large amount of probe packets to estimate not only the bandwidth of an Internet link , but also aim to find other characteristics of the link. In addition, these tools are not adaptable towards traffic conditions such as congestion. They send only a fixed number of probe packets in all situations, which often yield an inaccurate result on the actual bandwidth itself. In this work, we present a regression-based, iterative technique to filter out queue delays from all measured roundtrip times; this is done in order to estimate the bandwidth of a link along an Internet path. The technique can be used in existing ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) protocol based tools or on any tool that sends probe packets to measure roundtrip times to estimate the bandwidth. We test the proposed technique on the links along an Internet path. Our test results...

Through the Diversity of Bandwidth-Related Metrics, Estimation Techniques and Tools: An Overview

I. J. Computer Network and Information Security, 2018

The knowledge of bandwidth in communication networks can be useful in various applications. Some popular examples are validation of service level agreements, traffic engineering and capacity planning support, detection of congested or underutilized links, optimization of network route selection, dynamic server selection for downloads and visualizing network topologies, to name just a few. Following these various motivations, a variety of bandwidth estimation techniques and tools have been proposed in the last decade and still, several new ones are currently being introduced. They all show a wide spectrum of different assumptions, characteristics, advantages and limitations. In this paper, the bandwidth estimation literature is reviewed, with focus on introducing four specific bandwidth-related metrics including capacity, available bandwidth, achievable throughput and bulk transfer capacity (BTC); describing the main characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of major bandwidth estimation techniques as well as classifying the respective tool implementations. Also, the fundamental challenges, practical issues and difficulties faced by designing and implementing bandwidth estimation techniques are addressed.

Bandwidth estimation: metrics, measurement techniques, and tools

IEEE Network, 2003

In a packet network, the terms bandwidth and throughput often characterize the amount of data that the network can transfer per unit of time. Bandwidth estimation is of interest to users wishing to optimize end-to-end transport performance, overlay network routing, and peer-to-peer file distribution. Techniques for accurate bandwidth estimation are also important for traffic engineering and capacity planning support. Existing bandwidth estimation tools measure one or more of three related metrics: capacity, available bandwidth, and bulk transfer capacity. Currently available bandwidth estimation tools employ a variety of strategies to measure these metrics. In this survey we review the recent bandwidth estimation literature focusing on underlying techniques and methodologies as well as open source bandwidth measurement tools.