Network Plus Certification/Management/Performance Monitoring
Objective 4.4: Conduct network monitoring to identify performance and connectivity issues
Network monitoring utilities
Packet sniffers
Connectivity software
Load testing
Throughput testers
A throughput tester measures the amount of data that can be transferred through a network or processed by a device (such as the amount of data that can be retrieved from disk in a specific period of time). On a network, a throughput tester sends a specific amount of data through the network and measures the time it takes to transfer that data, arriving at a measure of the actual bandwidth. Use a throughput tester to validate the bandwidth on your network, and to identify when the bandwidth is significantly below what it should be. Note: A throughput tester can help you identify when a network is slow, but does not give you sufficient information to identify why it is slow.
