How do you test TCP/IP networks?

Answer 1

What kind of test?

Basic TCP/IP diagnostic tools include ping and traceroute.

Ping shows connectivity, and traceroute will (more or less) show the layer 3 route that was taken to reach a destination.

Answer 2

each device has a IP address in it.
from any one device you can Ping another, this shows that the line is connect to each device.

As a rule you would open a DOS window and type in:
Ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -L1500 -t and let it ping for around
10 to 20 respondences. If it fails to ping you have a connection problem to that device. If the ping is good
look at the time: sample attached;
(cntrl C breaks any ping or trace)
if it is low 10 ms to 100 ms no problem. if it is a local machine on the network it should not go over 100ms.

I do a lot of international pings and they can run up to 1100 ms
before I get concerned.

Reply from 129.42.60.212: bytes=32 time=65ms TTL=47
Reply from 129.42.60.212: bytes=32 time=65ms TTL=47
Reply from 129.42.60.212: bytes=32 time=65ms TTL=47
Reply from 129.42.60.212: bytes=32 time=65ms TTL=47

As mentioned traceroute is a nice tool if the ping fails. it will show you how far the ping went before it quit.

sample tracert: starts at trace location #5

5 42 ms 85 ms 33 ms 33.250.87.1
6 66 ms 21 ms 21 ms 198.26.75.34
7 33 ms 32 ms 32 ms chi-edge-08.inet.qwest.net [216.207.8.197]
8 32 ms 32 ms 33 ms chi-core-02.inet.qwest.net [205.171.20.113]
9 56 ms 57 ms 56 ms dvr-core-02.inet.qwest.net [67.14.1.218]
10 56 ms 56 ms 56 ms dvr-edge-01.inet.qwest.net [205.171.10.26]
11 64 ms 64 ms 64 ms 67.135.64.122
12 * * ^C

I had to cut off the first few IP's for privacy issues.

have fun.

Answer 3

This article will give you some insights as well as resources (free) for testing your network:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Broadband-Tools-To-Measure-System-Performance-And-More&id=92758

God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://DS3-Bandwidth.com
http://Broadband-Nation.blogspot.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/freedomfirecom

Answer 4

What are you trying to test exactly? There are different things that can be done. You need to be more specific.

The Syko Ward

Answer 5

If your testing your own network, go to start, run, and type cmd. In the command prompt, type ping 127.0.0.1. Its a loop back command that allows you to ping yourself.