[ Man, we have the cross-link-o-death today!  And to a _global_ list
(NetBSD) to boot!  ;-]

On Mon, 2004-10-18 at 08:31, Brian Rose wrote:
> What are some good tools to look into for measuring network performance? 
> I'm working in a heterogeneous environment consisting of a router,

What type of "router"?  A router that understand "routing protocols"?
Or one that is simply has 2 network interfaces and does 1-to-many NAT?

> switch, 

Is there a "monitoring" port available?  I assume not.

> NetBSD/Linux, and Windows machines (XP/Win98).
> The equipment is nothing fancy (it is my home setup), so don't expect a 
> SNMP interface on my router or switch.

But you _may_ be able to setup SNMP agents on _all_ nodes.
If you can do that, you can effectively use SNMP.
Sure, it's a hell of a lot easier if your switch/router in managed (and
does it all for you at the equipment).
But don't discount what you can do with host-only SNMP.

> I just need to know where to start looking since I am a networking ignoramus.

Without equipment-based monitoring, you're going to be limited.
You probably won't be able to accurately tell exactly what you're
pushing through the equipment.
But you _should_ be able to collect statistics and analyze information
gathered from the hosts collectively.

At this point, I'd just dive into the SNMP suite on Linux/BSD and have
fun.  Also don't forget to install SNMP agents on NT/2000/XP/2003, basic
ones are included with the OS (don't think DOS/95/98/ME offers any
though).
There's gotta be a project out there ... (damn I'm too spoiled with
managed equipment ;-).

I did a search on SF.NET for "host SNMP" (and checked "require all
words").  There were several that were intriguing (e.g., "for disparate
network hosts without centralized management"), but most were in the
"planning" stage.  One "Beta" one was based on Perl while another was
designed for "raw" I/O-byte tracking of 1000s of systems with minimal
overhead.

Maybe FreshMeat.NET would have some non-Freedomware (Standardware/
Commerceware) offerings?


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                  b.j.smith@ieee.org 
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