Network Speed Testing and Monitoring Platform

Wed Jan 16 20:07:18 UTC 2019

I investigated building a product that could reliably speedtest up to a 
gig and found the same thing. A raspberry Pi 3B or 3B+ can reliably test 
up to ~100Mbps. The 3B only has a 10/100 NIC; The 3B+, while having a 
gigabit NIC, tops out at ~300Mbps internally. Both models of the Pi are 
available as a kit that retails under $100. For testing up to 1Gbps, an 
x86 mini PC like those sold for firewall appliances 
(http://a.co/d/02UQFow) are available and retail for $200-$300 at the 
low end.

My conclusion was that doing testing within the CPE was the most cost 
effective way to go. One should keep in mind that even gigabit CPEs may 
not be able to reliably test > 100Mbps due to CPU or other software 
limitations. Public speedtest servers may also not reliably test > 
100Mbps, so for reliable gigabit testing you'll need to run your own.

Casey Russell wrote on 1/16/2019 1:45 PM:
> I don't think a raspberry pi will reliably fill a full Gig and keep it 
> full (maybe that's not required in this scenario), but I've installed 
> a Linux based OS with the PerfSONAR tools (including iperf) on a 
> couple of different mini PCs in the "few hundred dollars" price range.
>
> The last one was the Liva X from ECS.  It was more than capable of 
> filling 1G circuits with traffic and keeping them full without loss or 
> wonky results due to things like CPU overrun or other processes 
> causing bus contention.  I'm pretty sure the Liva X is retired now, 
> but their current gen should suffice as should a number of comparable 
> competitors.
>
> Sincerely,
> Casey Russell
> Network Engineer
>
> phone785-856-9809
> 2029 Becker Drive, Suite 282
> Lawrence, Kansas 66047
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>
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 1:27 PM Chris Kimball 
> <CKimball at misalliance.com <mailto:CKimball at misalliance.com>> wrote:
>
>     Would a raspberry pi work for this?
>
>     Could 3D print a nice case with your logo for it.
>
>

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