Andy
12-04-2009, 17:05
Testing your servers download and upload speeds the proper way:
By Andy A lot of people seem to have issues knowing the proper ways to test their servers speed, and complain when it goes wrong. There are lots of factors involved in getting the correct speed from your server. Bad speeds can be caused by any number of the following:
- Bad routing to/from the remote server
- Lack of capacity at the remote server
- Congestion on route to/from the remote server
- Not enough capacity on route to/from the remote server
- The remote servers general inability to supply the speed (high resource usage, high disk i/o, hardware problem)
- The local servers inability to take a fast speed (high resource usage, high disk i/o, hardware problem)
- The remote servers software not being good enough for a high speed connection
- The local servers software not being good enough for a high speed connection
Methods you shouldn’t rely on for speed testingSpeed tests like speedtest.net
You can use them, but don’t rely on them. Too many factors are involved and will often give you a very bad result. Factors from bad routing to not enough bandwidth on the remote server and silly things like flash lagging over remote desktop can all cause speed loss. Yes, it happens, and I’ve proven this one as well. 5Mbps with the browser maximised, 75Mbps with it minimised, guaranteed every time.
Torrents (unless they’re the ones specified below)
Torrents can be very, very sporadic in speed, however the ones listed below have plenty of seeds/peers, and they also have super seed boxes on them as well. This is the only time I will ever say a torrent can be used as a speed testing method, purely because I’ve tried these two torrents myself and achieved full speed every time with ease. No other torrents should be used if you want to use torrents as a speed test. Just don’t solely rely upon those results, do some other tests too.
Single thread downloads/uploads in any shape or form!
A single thread is rarely enough to give you the full speed of any 100Mbps box. If its local, like the OVH speed test, then sure, perhaps, but when it’s a remote file it will very rarely happen. It down to a lot of factors again, and its down to the TCP/IP protocol and all this rubbish which I won’t go into, as it baffles even me. Put simply, never rely on a single thread, always use two or more if you can. Don’t go mad though, you can overload your hard disk if you have too many running and slow your speed down that way. 2-4 threads should be plenty to max out 100Mbps from a good server without reducing performance on your own.
Here are some proper ways of getting a correct speed test for your server:-Download:
Try one or more of the following (not at the same time):
#1 HTTP
Download two or three of these Microsoft/Debian files at the same time, and add up the combined download speed.
http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/5/165b076b-aaa9-443d-84f0-73cf11fdcdf8/WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe
http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/3/0/d30e32d8-418a-469d-b600-f32ce3edf42d/WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe
http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/1/9/219163f5-fae5-4c2b-a607-872ff085f9e2/Windows6.0-KB936330-X86-wave1.exe
http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/5.0.0/i386/iso-cd/debian-500-i386-netinst.iso
#2 Torrents
Download both of these torrents at the same time, and add up the combined download speed. You will need a torrent client (e.g. uTorrent) for this.
Let the torrent run through to at least 50% before you decide its not working at the correct speed, torrents take time to acquire connections to seeds/peers.
http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04.2/ubuntu-8.04.2-desktop-i386.iso.torrent ~700MB
http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/torrents//Fedora-10-x86_64-DVD.torrent (http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/torrents/Fedora-10-x86_64-DVD.torrent) ~4GB
#3 FTP
Download any two or three of these files at the same time, and add up the combined download speed. You will need an FTP client (e.g. FileZilla) for this.
Do not use a web browser; it does not have the capability to run at high speeds properly, an FTP client does. I have proven this in several tests.
ftp://ftp.ovh.net/test.bin No login required - 100MB
ftp://ftp.luna.nl/test/1024MByte.bin No login required - 1GB
ftp://ftp.abyssunderground.co.uk/test.bin User: test - Pass: test – 100MB
Upload
#1 FTP
For this test, you’ll have to find someone willing to give you an FTP account to upload to. As there are no public accounts, I can’t give you any links to use. You’ll have to hunt one down as and when you need it.
#2 Real life conditions
The only other real way to test the upload speed is under real life working conditions of the server. Sadly, this method doesn’t always come in peak usage when we need it the most.
=========================================
I hope this guide has helped you understand the problems with speed tests and why it is so difficult to get an accurate reading. I also hope it helps you understand that 100Mbps is a lot of bandwidth to utilise. It’s not easy, and until you actually know you need such bandwidth, I wouldn’t worry about making sure you’re really getting it. Your server is supplied with it, and you can get it. It’s a case of several dozen factors that can stop it happening, all beyond OVH’s control.
=========================================
P.S: Could a MOD please sticky this? :) Please leave it unlocked so I can continue to update it. Thank you.
By Andy A lot of people seem to have issues knowing the proper ways to test their servers speed, and complain when it goes wrong. There are lots of factors involved in getting the correct speed from your server. Bad speeds can be caused by any number of the following:
- Bad routing to/from the remote server
- Lack of capacity at the remote server
- Congestion on route to/from the remote server
- Not enough capacity on route to/from the remote server
- The remote servers general inability to supply the speed (high resource usage, high disk i/o, hardware problem)
- The local servers inability to take a fast speed (high resource usage, high disk i/o, hardware problem)
- The remote servers software not being good enough for a high speed connection
- The local servers software not being good enough for a high speed connection
Methods you shouldn’t rely on for speed testingSpeed tests like speedtest.net
You can use them, but don’t rely on them. Too many factors are involved and will often give you a very bad result. Factors from bad routing to not enough bandwidth on the remote server and silly things like flash lagging over remote desktop can all cause speed loss. Yes, it happens, and I’ve proven this one as well. 5Mbps with the browser maximised, 75Mbps with it minimised, guaranteed every time.
Torrents (unless they’re the ones specified below)
Torrents can be very, very sporadic in speed, however the ones listed below have plenty of seeds/peers, and they also have super seed boxes on them as well. This is the only time I will ever say a torrent can be used as a speed testing method, purely because I’ve tried these two torrents myself and achieved full speed every time with ease. No other torrents should be used if you want to use torrents as a speed test. Just don’t solely rely upon those results, do some other tests too.
Single thread downloads/uploads in any shape or form!
A single thread is rarely enough to give you the full speed of any 100Mbps box. If its local, like the OVH speed test, then sure, perhaps, but when it’s a remote file it will very rarely happen. It down to a lot of factors again, and its down to the TCP/IP protocol and all this rubbish which I won’t go into, as it baffles even me. Put simply, never rely on a single thread, always use two or more if you can. Don’t go mad though, you can overload your hard disk if you have too many running and slow your speed down that way. 2-4 threads should be plenty to max out 100Mbps from a good server without reducing performance on your own.
Here are some proper ways of getting a correct speed test for your server:-Download:
Try one or more of the following (not at the same time):
#1 HTTP
Download two or three of these Microsoft/Debian files at the same time, and add up the combined download speed.
http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/5/165b076b-aaa9-443d-84f0-73cf11fdcdf8/WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe
http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/3/0/d30e32d8-418a-469d-b600-f32ce3edf42d/WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe
http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/1/9/219163f5-fae5-4c2b-a607-872ff085f9e2/Windows6.0-KB936330-X86-wave1.exe
http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/5.0.0/i386/iso-cd/debian-500-i386-netinst.iso
#2 Torrents
Download both of these torrents at the same time, and add up the combined download speed. You will need a torrent client (e.g. uTorrent) for this.
Let the torrent run through to at least 50% before you decide its not working at the correct speed, torrents take time to acquire connections to seeds/peers.
http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04.2/ubuntu-8.04.2-desktop-i386.iso.torrent ~700MB
http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/torrents//Fedora-10-x86_64-DVD.torrent (http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/torrents/Fedora-10-x86_64-DVD.torrent) ~4GB
#3 FTP
Download any two or three of these files at the same time, and add up the combined download speed. You will need an FTP client (e.g. FileZilla) for this.
Do not use a web browser; it does not have the capability to run at high speeds properly, an FTP client does. I have proven this in several tests.
ftp://ftp.ovh.net/test.bin No login required - 100MB
ftp://ftp.luna.nl/test/1024MByte.bin No login required - 1GB
ftp://ftp.abyssunderground.co.uk/test.bin User: test - Pass: test – 100MB
Upload
#1 FTP
For this test, you’ll have to find someone willing to give you an FTP account to upload to. As there are no public accounts, I can’t give you any links to use. You’ll have to hunt one down as and when you need it.
#2 Real life conditions
The only other real way to test the upload speed is under real life working conditions of the server. Sadly, this method doesn’t always come in peak usage when we need it the most.
=========================================
I hope this guide has helped you understand the problems with speed tests and why it is so difficult to get an accurate reading. I also hope it helps you understand that 100Mbps is a lot of bandwidth to utilise. It’s not easy, and until you actually know you need such bandwidth, I wouldn’t worry about making sure you’re really getting it. Your server is supplied with it, and you can get it. It’s a case of several dozen factors that can stop it happening, all beyond OVH’s control.
=========================================
P.S: Could a MOD please sticky this? :) Please leave it unlocked so I can continue to update it. Thank you.