I am evaluating tools for network performance testing and want to know what other people are using. I have a medium sized network; a 6509 at the core, a few 3750/4000 series switches w/ etherchannel links back to the core and a number of mostly 2950 switches at the access layer. What I want to do is test the aggragate links to be sure the switch are cable of moving the data that they should, in theory, be able to. I also want to know the limits of my switches. For instance, how many more aggregate links can my 6500 handle? At what point to I need to upgrade the supervisor engines? What are some good tools to find out this information at a reasonable price for a network this size?
Thanks in advance.