Network Measurement Tool Properties

GGF Network Measurements Working Group
A Hierarchy of Network Measurement Tool Properties

This table contains mapping of some common network measurement tools to the network characteristics described in the GGF NMWG document. This table is focused on active monitoring tools, however there are a number of passive tools that can also be used to measure some of the NMWG defined characteristics.

Definitions:

bandwidth capacity: the theoretical maximum link-layer bandwidth of a network element or end-to-end path.

bandwidth utilization: the aggregate of all traffic currently being consumed on a hop or path.

available bandwidth: the capacity minus utilization over a given time interval.

achievable bandwidth: the throughput between two end points given a specific set of conditions, such as transmission protocol (e.g.: TCP or UDP), host hardware (e.g.: processor speed, bus speed, NIC speed), operating system, system settings (e.g.: TCP buffer size, txqueuelen setting), and so on.

delay: one way delay (OWD) is the time it takes for a packet to travel from source to destination. Round Trip Time (RTT) is the time to travel from the source to the destination and back.

loss: fraction of packets lost between network element A and B. Loss can also be one way or round trip

For more detail on these definitions, see the document: NMWG document: A Hierarchy of Network Measurements for Grid Applications and Services

Other, more complete lists of network performance tools can be found at:

Internet 2 Tools List (Internet 2 is taking over maintance of this table, so please send updates to them)

CAIDA Tool Taxonomy

We are working with these groups to map the NMWG defined characteristics and names to these lists of tools.

Sample Measurement tools:

Tool name	Characteristics Measured	Measurement Methodology	Path or hop
bing	bandwidth capacity loss delay (round trip)	variable packet size	path
bprobe	bandwidth capacity	packet pair	path
cprobe	bandwidth utilization	packet pair	path
clink	bandwidth capacity delay (round trip)	variable packet size	hop
Iperf	achievable bandwidth	path flooding	path
netest	available bandwidth achievable bandwidth loss delay (round trip)	packet train and path flooding	path
Netperf	achievable bandwidth	path flooding	path
Nettimer	bandwidth capacity	packet pair with tailgating	path
owping	one-way delay loss reordering	active, GPS-based	path
pathchar	bandwidth capacity loss delay (round trip)	variable packet size	hop
pathload	available bandwidth	SLOPS	path
pathrate	bandwidth capacity	packet train	path
pchar	bandwidth capacity loss delay (round trip)	variable packet size	hop
pipechar	available bandwidth loss delay (round trip)	packet train	hop
ping	delay (round trip) loss	ICMP echo	path
sprobe	bandwidth capacity	packet pair	path
traceroute	topology delay (round trip?)	varied TTL	hop
TReno	available bandwidth	TCP simulation	path
ttcp	achievable bandwidth	path flooding	path

Notes:

path = end to end path

hop = tool that provides hop by hop information

Measurement methodology is from Master's Thesis by Rody Schoonderwoerd

Here are the recommended DAMED event names for these measurements:

bandwidth.achievable.TCP.singleStream

bandwidth.achievable.TCP.multiStream
bandwidth.achievable.UDP.singleStream
bandwidth.available
delay.roundTrip
delay.oneWay
loss.oneWay
reordering.oneWay
hop.bandwidth.capacity
hop.bandwidth.utilized

Note: "path" is implied if "hop" is not specified in these event names.