[SOLVED] A way to monitor network/packet loss?

[Fryhole]

I've recently started having issues with random spikes of packet loss on my PC, I've tried looking for programs to monitor my network so I could see when it happens and maybe trace it back to a cause. I'm an ISP Mainline tech, so I actually have the ability to monitor the modem side as well as CMTS and I haven't been able to notice any issues that would be causing the random spikes of packet loss, I've replaced an old D3.0 modem with a D3.1 modem, and also the router and CAT6. Does anyone have any hint or clue as to what could be the cause? I'd like to find some sort of software to monitor for packet loss or network health so I could run it on 2 PCs and test if it is singled out to 1 or not.

 

[bill001g]

Pretty standard constant ping to various hops in the tracert. I normally just let it run and when I detect it is causing a issue I can look to see. You could pipe it to a file if you wanted longer term data. There are scripts floating around that add time stamps id you need that.

There are many network monitoring tools but most run on a unix base only and many want pretty much a dedicated server.

 

[Wacabletech06]

A few things from an IR tech.
try going to http://192.168.100.1 in a web browser

what do you see in the event logs?
What do your levels look like?

The software you use is usually looking for events across multiple devices before it flags an event, you may be looking for signle device events which are generally in the event logs. The first thing you should do is at the tap check for ingress, and make sure that it is clean from your side of the network. The next is check attenuation on the drop and at least the modem outlet to make sure they are not bad, or just replace them [which is what I do with mine, its easier than diagnosing them then replacing but I only have internet. Also if you have historical plot software for just the modem look at that and see what it shows for RX, RXSNR, TX, TXSNR, and t3/t4 errors logged.

dslreports under tools is a smoke ping you can try as well, pings you for 24 hrs. Just stay out of the forums, too many armchair cable techs trying to tell you how things actually run when they have no clue.

If in doubt replace those active outlets and drop, somtimes its faster to just replace than diagnose.

 

[SamirD]

Where are you seeing the packet loss? On your own lan? When pinging your gateway? Or isp? Or a particular site? Depending on which one of these it is, I use different tools to figure it out.

 

[nigelivey]

"Just stay out of the forums, too many armchair cable techs trying to tell you how things actually run when they have no clue. "

Perfectly illustrated!

 

[SamirD]

"Just stay out of the forums, too many armchair cable techs trying to tell you how things actually run when they have no clue. "

Perfectly illustrated!

I've ran across this in every forum as well as perfectly capable people, so ymmv.

 

[failboat]

ipfire is a great edge router. the default setup monitors the next hop and keeps charts for you. There are also basic charts of average throughput. so you might see sustained congestion but maybe not some very brief.

my favorite quick and dirty tool to spot congestion quickly is iftop. other than that you need to pcap and thats quite a bit a resources to dedicate to a home solution, but ultimately the only way to see a full picture. another test for local stuff is iperf3 to see if your LAN is retransmitting a lot of packs or if throughput isn't what it should be. if there is congestion on the isp side there is almost nothing you can do to prove it from home.

Also how are you detecting packet loss? if you lose the packet outside your LAN there isn't much way of knowing it was ever lost. if your ping is going up with the packet loss it's buffering somewhere. if a network device had a zero buffer it would be possible to have packet loss with no ping increase. if you have some faulty hardware the retransmission tests should narrow those down.