My gut says it's your ISP experiencing congestion (comparatively blind guess). You pretty much have to disconnect everything from your Internet DSL router except one test computer/laptop which should be plugged directly into your DSL router with a proper cable and not use wireless (actually turn it off completely). Ideally do this with a bootable live linux distribution to help avoid any possible background processes: virus update, os update, botnet induced traffic, peer 2 peer, etc. Then run various tests using a command like mtr or if on windows use ping plotter at a target out on the the Internet, ideally multiple targets spread out across multiple providers beyond your ISP (CenturyLink). These are often times extremely illuminating, of course if you don't comprehend the results well they can be either confusing or else lead to incorrect assumptions. A program like Ntop can be helpful along the lines of what you're talking about where you're trying to diagnose a surge in network traffic on your own local area network. If you're on a Mac I know there is an app called little sniffer or something like that that identifies local application's network usage. On Linux there are a number of tools like jnettop, ntop (mentioned above), iptables , and others to help diagnose where traffic is coming from or going to. Good luck! -------- Original message -------- From: Ryan Coleman <ryanjcole at me.com> Date: 09/22/2013 7:17 PM (GMT-06:00) To: TCLUG Mailing List <tclug-list at mn-linux.org> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Home network monitoring? Hah. Apple Mail autocorrected "speediest.net" ,… dammit it did it again: speedtest.net. If you're on DSL and you're streaming more than 2 things you're likely going to have issues…. how do your pings start before the slowdown? can you keep a steady ping of 8.8.8.8 (google's DNS server) going and see? On Sep 22, 2013, at 6:29 PM, Jeff Jensen <jjensen at apache.org> wrote: > Hello Ryan, thank you for the reply. > > The slowdowns happen on all computers. Sometimes related to streaming > (wife and 3 kids) - e.g. Netflix - noticeable speed improvement when > it is stopped. While at times it is likely/obviously internet speed, > sometimes it has happened when no one has been streaming. I've tried > tracking to other background processes but don't get very far. :-/ > This is where I wonder about a monitoring tool that lists the various > process communications in descending order... > We notice the slowdowns with general surfing, ping rates (especially > as shown in games), and just using gmail is pokey. > Noted on 3 user machines; I'm down to one server, which is only > interactively used for admin stuff; tablet surfing noted slower at > times/wifi, but not correlated yet. > > Yes, used the dslreports speed tests (did you mean speediest.net or a > different one? that link went to "domain for sale"! :-). The DSL > router also shows the connect speed. It seems accurate when I compare > the two speed sources with low traffic. Dslreports shows slowdowns at > times when we do too, which helps correlate internet speed as cause. > I'm at the highest DSL speed available in my area, so faster means > switching service type which requires more effort and coordination > than just the next level up! While internet speed could be a good > portion of the cause, I'd like to know before switching as well as > have proper monitoring in place for future use. > > No, using a 24 port switch and only have one. I have a couple of > small ones - 8 port and 4 port used in a couple of rooms. Are you > hinting at a faulty switch? I can possibly borrow a larger one if you > think worth a check. > > On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 5:57 PM, Ryan Coleman <ryanjcole at me.com> wrote: >> First thing: Is the problem occurring on just one computer or many? >> >> Have you run internet speed tests like speediest.net? Have you tried running against other servers (you can pick the server on their site)? >> >> Do you have other switches to try (if you're using a switch)? >> >> >> >> On Sep 22, 2013, at 5:48 PM, Jeff Jensen <jjensen at apache.org> wrote: >> >>> I'm having some home network speed problems and am seeking advice for >>> software and/or hardware to help resolve. I'm having troubles >>> determining if it is internal traffic only or ISP/internet speed. >>> >>> I setup bandwidthd and review its generated charts, but I'm not sure >>> if it sees all traffic, even with the server in promiscuous mode. It >>> sees quite a bit though, so maybe it does. However, I'm having >>> difficulty ascertaining what it's telling me, especially whether it's >>> external vs internal traffic; and it's limited charts. My guess is I >>> need a different tool but I don't know which one. I know of tools >>> like WireShark, but need a higher-level tool that summarizes and >>> coordinates. >>> >>> Currently, CenturyLink DSL is my ISP and have the Zyxel Q1000Z DSL >>> router. The router is ok, but doesn't offer much >>> manageability/reporting/monitoring. And it's stupid enough to not >>> offer discovered hosts back to DNS (especially the names!). It was >>> cheap, so can't complain... >>> >>> So I'm wondering is it a software tool I should use or perhaps a >>> better router with it built in (or both of course!). I wonder about >>> one of the DD-WRT routers, but not sure if that's still the >>> recommended approach or are there better ones/approaches now. >>> >>> I setup Nagios many years ago for fun/to learn and for practical >>> notification on servers and internet status. My prior DSL router >>> (before the high speed upgrade) was a little Cisco and had limited >>> SNMP support, so I configured Nagios to tell me what it could; current >>> one has no SNMP or monitoring support. I mention this as ideally I'd >>> like to have nagio monitor this stuff again, but also in more detail >>> than the prior router to know what is going on. >>> >>> >>> I might change to cable in the future, so isolating the setup with a >>> new router in bridge mode to the DSL or cable device may be part of >>> the equation (vs a new DSL router), if a new router is in the >>> recommended solution. If so, then my question includes which ones are >>> the regarded as the better ones for home networking for someone with >>> much higher desire for monitoring abilities. >>> >>> So knowing this group has a lot more experience than I do at this >>> (many of you do this full time!), if anyone has any suggestions based >>> on my ramblings, I would appreciate them! The only caveat for me is >>> it's the home network, so not going to setup something with high cost >>> as a proper business would. >>> _______________________________________________ >>> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota tclug-list at mn-linux.org http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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