how to test network speed

have a client that quickbooks tech says is not running at 100mbps with the nic card and thereby apparently crashing the quickbooks data base.

so my question is there a device or a way that i can monitor the speed the nic is passing through or excepting data ???

 

Ha ha ha. Some one has written a database that crashes on 10Mb/s networks, and is blaming the network for the problem. Splendid.

There are a number of testers out there. A good network card (Intel or 3com for example) will tell you its connection speed within the network card software. A managed switch will tell you the connection speed too.

The simplest thing to do will be to set the connection speed to 100Mb/s in the network card properties (default will be auto). If there is a problem with the network that is stopping it running at full speed, manually setting the speed to 100Mb/s will stop the connection working. So if you set the connection speed manually and still get connection, you can be pretty sure you are running at 100Mb/s.

Also don't forget that there are two ends to any network connection. So test both at the client and at the database server.

 

thats what quickbooks tech told my client anyway. its an older machine so its possible that its a 10mb card i cant remember. system needs to be replaced anyway so have ordered a new dell for them with a gig card so that should take care of that. there database is huge. i know the server machine is okay cuz its a newer dell. i was hoping like in the old days there was a plug in switch that would tell you if the wall jack was analog or digital for modem connections. was hoping there was a nic switch i could plug into the data port that would tell me what was coming in and going out.

 

The problem is that the speed is usually auto-negotiated. So that fact you connect a box into the port on the wall and that runs at 100Mb/s, doesn't mean the box originally attached to the socket was running at that speed.

Most hubs and switchs have indictor LEDs that show the connection speed. If you can work out which port the wall socket connects to, you might be able to work out the speed at the hub/switch.

 

thank you.

 

Every time I have a customer with a data base crashing over a LAN it's ushally a wiring issue. It's scary how many people don't know how to terminate cat5 cable. I have seen them were they simply match the colors at both ends! That causes terrible cross talk and will bring a network to it's knees. I would test all of your Cat5 segments before I spent any time or money on anything else.

 

i normally dont make my own cat5 cables so that shouldnt apply. found some thing else out it appears it appears that even when this user went to another machine and logged on with her id the same problems started to happen. looks now more like a possible corrupt profile. admin is going to delete her profile and recreate maybe that will fix problem.