Question

How can I test the bandwidth throughput of my Titan NexGen Server?

Answer

The testing process will involve 4 tests, the first of which will occur from the Titan NexGen computer itself and will involve transferring the file locally to the local server. The second phase will involve performing the same test, but using the IP address of the Titan box, which will incorporate the NIC into the equation. Next the test will be performed from another computer on the LAN, which will incorporate network traffic into the equation. The final test, if applicable, will be done from a remote computer somewhere on the Internet which then incorporates Internet traffic and firewall overhead.

Pre-requisites

1. A test file. Usually something large, such as 100MB or 500MB. the idea is to have a file which takes a while to transfer. This allows the focus to be on the transfer speeds instead of the time it takes to build and breakdown the connection necessary to transfer the file.
   

2. An SFTP or FTP client; or a Web Browser if testing is done using the WebUI.
   

Steps

LocalHost Test

1. Run the Titan NexGen Admin console, navigate to the Services, and then to the Protocol tab for the protocol to be tested. Set the IP address for the protocol to "Any IP Address". 
2. Once you have Any IP Address set as the address for the service, Stop/Restart the specific server instance to get a fresh logfile and to ensure that the system is listening on all IP addresses.
3. On the Titan NexGen computer, run your FTP/SFTP/Browser client software and connect to LOCALHOST or 127.0.0.1. Login to the server using your username and password and then upload the test file.
4. Keep track of the elapsed time.
5. Run the test 3-4 times and take the average of the transfer times. This will be your baseline speed. Convert the time to all seconds, then take the file size/seconds to get MB/s as your baseline transfer speed.
6. Why is this the baseline test? The LocalHost test uses internal network routing to transfer the file. This means that no data packets actually left the computer. You can even run this test after unplugging the ethernet cable.

Local IP Test

1. Now that you have the baseline MB/s, run the same test (still on the Titan NexGen computer), but this time, instead of using LOCALHOST/127.0.0.1, connect using the IP address of the computer. This will probably be something like 10.10.0.x or 192.168.1.x. To find out the address, open a command prompt and enter IPCONFIG to get the v4 IP address of the computer.
2. Run the client software and connect to the IP address, using your SFTP/FTP/Browser client and transfer the same file 3-4 times noting the file transfer speed.
3. This test is a bit different than the first test because it actually sends the packets briefly out through the NIC and back into the box on the NIC IP address, so it's incorporating some of the network subsystems and the Windows Firewall (and maybe malware scanners) which sit at the edge of the box.
4. Note the time difference in the two tests. If there is any degradation, you'll want to check your AV software, Malware Software, Firewalls, and any other system software running on the Titan box which scans files as they arrive over the network. You'll want to get the Local IP Test results to be as close to the LocalHost test as possible.

LAN Test

1. With the IP address of the Titan Nexgen server in hand, relocate to a different computer on the internal LAN.
2. Using the same SFTP/FTP/Browser client and the same test file, upload the file 3-4 times to the Titan NexGen server and measure the results.
3. This test incorporates overall LAN traffic and network latency as the data is passed around the LAN before it arrives at the Titan NexGen server.
4. The results of this test should be very similar to the Local IP test. If they differ, your Network Administrator should be consulted to track down the bottleneck on the LAN.

WAN Test

1. The final test is the WAN test which is performed from a source outside the corporate network.
2. To perform this test, you'll need to have the public Internet IP address or host name of the firewall which routes traffic to your Titan NexGen server. Your Network Administrator will be able to provide you with this information.
3. Using the same SFTP/FTP/Browser client and the same test file, upload the test file 3-4 times to the Titan NexGen server by connecting to it using the WAN IP address obtained from the Network Admin.
4. Note the test results to determine the average MB/s for the WAN test.
5. This test takes into account the overall speed through the Internet along with any overhead involved in transferring data through the corporate firewall. The delta of the LAN speed vs the WAN speed is the firewall overhead + the Internet overhead.