Measuring internal network speed

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mailmarshall

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#311631 2-Feb-2024 15:21

Hi there folks, when we got our place few years ago we were told cat 6 has been run around the house. However as the renno, was done in phases there are 3 different areas where cables were run to and then connected up via gig switches.

I am not sure if the cables were run well as the speed copying files internally from NAS is around 15mb/sec. That might be ok but feels slow??

Sorry I am not a techy but have used speedtest which gives internet speed, is there an internal network version of such tool?

Any help appreciated.

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#3189667 2-Feb-2024 15:30

Can you plug a laptop into each and see what speed the network card connects at e.g.1Gb, 100Mb, 10Mb? Duplex?

muppet

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#3189668 2-Feb-2024 15:31

iperf.

You run the iperf client on one PC and the iperf server on the other.

Here's a little windows tutorial.

Jase2985

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#3189689 2-Feb-2024 16:21

if you are not a techie, IPERF is a bit of a learning curve. if you are testing 10Gbe I find it gives better results than almost anything else though.

Ive used a previous version of this on a gigabit connection

https://totusoft.com/lanspeed

Just have a shared folder available on the device you're testing to

Jase2985

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#3189690 2-Feb-2024 16:22

muppet:

iperf.

You run the iperf client on one PC and the iperf server on the other.

Here's a little windows tutorial.

testing to a NAS so it might not be as easy as testing to 2 PC's (windows linux or macs)

mailmarshall

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#3189705 2-Feb-2024 18:21

Awesome thanks folks. Will follow the video and see what happens.

nova

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#3189707 2-Feb-2024 18:46

I am not sure if the cables were run well as the speed copying files internally from NAS is around 15mb/sec. That might be ok but feels slow??

This does seem slow, what speed do you get if you copy a file from one directory to another, both on the NAS and your local hard drive?

It is possible that one of the cables is limiting the speed to 100Mbps, have you checked that all the patch cables going to and from the switches are cat 6? The problem might not be with the in-wall wiring, but with the patch cable from the wall to the switch.

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Jase2985

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#3189710 2-Feb-2024 19:18

nova:

I am not sure if the cables were run well as the speed copying files internally from NAS is around 15mb/sec. That might be ok but feels slow??

This does seem slow, what speed do you get if you copy a file from one directory to another, both on the NAS and your local hard drive?

It is possible that one of the cables is limiting the speed to 100Mbps, have you checked that all the patch cables going to and from the switches are cat 6? The problem might not be with the in-wall wiring, but with the patch cable from the wall to the switch.

i can get 10Gbps on cat5e patch cables.

I would be checking the link on your devices are all 1gbps. a quick speed test using one of the methods above will also help identify any issues.

Goosey

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#3189750 2-Feb-2024 21:24

What do you mean the runs are using “switches”.

- are you saying a run will go somewhere then get connected to a switch and then from there another run goes somewhere else?

mailmarshall

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#3189788 3-Feb-2024 08:20

Goosey:
What do you mean the runs are using “switches”.

- are you saying a run will go somewhere then get connected to a switch and then from there another run goes somewhere else?

Yes that is correct i.e we dont have one central ‘comms room’ where all cat6 cable runs go to. As mentioned renovation was done in 3 phases and these 3 ‘comms areas’ are connected to each other via switches.

Not sure if that matters - apologies as I am non techy.

Goosey

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#3189789 3-Feb-2024 08:29

Ok, so what happens if you plug directly into the router (take your device there)…..thus by passing all the cable runs.

If that’s better then goto the first switch and plug in there and see what you get…

if that’s ok, then goto the next one.

This should help isolate which section of the cable run is faulty or if it’s in fact a problem at the source.

(have you tried turning off the switches for a few minutes then plugging them back in…I’m assuming these are all powered switches or are you saying these are non powered and potentially these are hubs)?

how long ago were these runs installed?

mentalinc

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#3189797 3-Feb-2024 09:03

Jase2985:

if you are not a techie, IPERF is a bit of a learning curve. if you are testing 10Gbe I find it gives better results than almost anything else though.

Ive used a previous version of this on a gigabit connection

https://totusoft.com/lanspeed

Just have a shared folder available on the device you're testing to

This really tests the speed of the file store, not the network. iperf runs in memory so a better option.

But agree with others, plug in a few places and check the link speeds per windows

Powershell:

Get-NetAdapter | select interfaceDescription, name, status, linkSpeed

Linkspeed should show 1Gbps. if it says 100 Mbps (or anything other than 1 Gbps, then that is the issue).

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#3189802 3-Feb-2024 09:31

In the past I've occasionally used https://github.com/librespeed/speedtest to basically set up a local speedtest server, mainly for personal curiosity.

Jase2985

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#3189828 3-Feb-2024 11:14

mentalinc:

This really tests the speed of the file store, not the network. iperf runs in memory so a better option.

But agree with others, plug in a few places and check the link speeds per windows

Powershell:

Get-NetAdapter | select interfaceDescription, name, status, linkSpeed

Linkspeed should show 1Gbps. if it says 100 Mbps (or anything other than 1 Gbps, then that is the issue).

yep but most file stores should be able to run GbE Speeds with out any issues and it would easily show that the link speed is more than 100Mbps

mailmarshall

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#3189829 3-Feb-2024 11:27

mentalinc:
Jase2985:

if you are not a techie, IPERF is a bit of a learning curve. if you are testing 10Gbe I find it gives better results than almost anything else though.

Ive used a previous version of this on a gigabit connection

https://totusoft.com/lanspeed

Just have a shared folder available on the device you're testing to

This really tests the speed of the file store, not the network. iperf runs in memory so a better option.

But agree with others, plug in a few places and check the link speeds per windows

Powershell:

Get-NetAdapter | select interfaceDescription, name, status, linkSpeed

Linkspeed should show 1Gbps. if it says 100 Mbps (or anything other than 1 Gbps, then that is the issue).

Cool !! Didnt even think of that to eliminate issue - thank you.

Installation varies from 2008, 2013, 2016 roughly from what I can see from renno paperwork. The lengths would be 15m or 20m max per run.

cddt

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#3190285 4-Feb-2024 13:09

Sounds like a possibly complicated set up with the different installations etc. Might be handy to have a mate who knows his stuff check it out in person?

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