Traffic generator use

[san_dec21]

Thanks in advance

can someone explain how to use traffic generator in live environment?because i want to test the throughput of router

where i get traffic generator software software

[Goutam Sanyal]

Hi San,

You can enable "IP NBAR Protocol-Descovery"

i.e.

Router#conf t

Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.

Router(config)#int ser 0/0/0

Router(config-if)#ip nb

Router(config-if)#ip nbar pro

Router(config-if)#ip nbar protocol-discovery

Also you can install to Cisco Netflow, to monotor the traffic.

Link: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6601/products_ios_protocol_group_home.html

Thanks

Goutam

pls rate if it helps u!

[san_dec21]

Thanks for quick reply

but i want to know that how to generate traffic load in local lan for testing purpose

[Goutam Sanyal]

Hi,

u can use ping, telnet, ftp, and/or some protocol wise application.

Thanks

Goutam

Pls rate if it works.

[pciaccio]

You can use what is called "The poor mans traffic generator" It is the CHARGEN application built into the router. You first need to enabled TCP and UDP small services on the router (TCP and UDP port 19). Then you can do a telnet to the remote device and add the parameter chargen to it. ex. telnet 10.10.10.10 chargen

This will start generating traffic to the remote telnet address...Good Luck..Pls rate..

[Goutam Sanyal]

Hi picaccio,

U r right. But the basic use of CHARGEN to genetates ASCII date, it might not helpful to determine the difference.

Thanks

Goutam

[Joseph W. Doherty]

"can someone explain how to use traffic generator in live environment?"

Place traffic generator on one side of router and have it generate traffic that should be routed across the router. Depending on what type of traffic you're generating, a "sink" (destination device that accepts and terminates traffic - some can also echo traffic) might be required on the other side of the router.

If you generate full bandwidth traffic on one link, you can often hit the max performance of the smaller "pure" routers. On the more powerful "pure" routers, it might take several links of max bandwidth to hit the max. On L3 switches, some can take all links running at full bandwidth. (L3 switches often require dedicated hardware traffic generators to push that much bandwidth.)

"where i get traffic generator software"

They can be purchased, but there are some simple ones that are free. Recently, I've discovered one, pcattcp (Windows), that is a variant of TTCP but it also can generate UDP packets at defined transmission rates. The latter good for filling links or the small routers.

PS:

Don't forget, using such traffic generators can disrupt production traffic performance. (Also good to test QoS.)

[pciaccio]

Try using the IPerf software. It is free and you can find it on the web. It works by setting up one end as a server and the other as a client. You can pecify what type of traffic to send (UDP or TCP). You can flood your WAN links pretty good with this. Also you can adjust the TCP window size to long links to tweek your TCP parameters... Try it out...