Physical device that reads ethernet speed within a network

[badcookies]

I got a question for the geniuses here at [H]..

Is there a network speed reader kinda like a voltmeter would tell me things about electrical connections, a device for ethernet? I realize there are plenty of software solutions for this but is there a device out there that would read the speed of network? For example at a giant office complex where router access is not easy to get to and I would rather not hook up a laptop to the network.

also, not asking about internet speeds are but what intrAnet speeds is at or can be.

 

[diizzy]

uhmm..... Yes? Have a look at let's say Grafana, use something to output your logged stats to a screen/monitor.
Grafana - Graphite and InfluxDB Dashboard and graph composer

 

[badcookies]

uhmm..... Yes? Have a look at let's say Grafana, use something to output your logged stats to a screen/monitor.
Grafana - Graphite and InfluxDB Dashboard and graph composer

Is this not still a software solution? The closest I can find is an auto sensing switch that tells between 10Mbps, 100Mbps and 1Gbps but what I need is something more realtime and roughly exactly the speed

 

[diizzy]

I have no idea what you actually want then, a device will always use software. It's not like leds are blinking correspondingly to speed. Only a network switch (if capable) or a device inbetween can display speed and you still need software for doing so.

 

[naota]

You would be looking for Cable Certification tools such as the Flux Networks CableIQ . They are able to check to make sure the cabling is rated for the particular media. They are expensive though but if you do many network installs they are worth it.

 

[Nicklebon]

Why am I reading this and thinking that you are confusing link speed with throughput? Which are looking for?

 

[Raekwon]

On managed switches you can generally tell the current throughput of any port.

 

[EricGRIT]

On managed switches you can generally tell the current throughput of any port.

You would see the speed, not necessarily the throughput. That's the question here... are we looking for a device that will test actual throughput (which is a better real-world test of performance and would require actual traffic going over the interface and physical medium) or just a current established link speed?

 

[Raekwon]

You would see the speed, not necessarily the throughput. That's the question here... are we looking for a device that will test actual throughput (which is a better real-world test of performance and would require actual traffic going over the interface and physical medium) or just a current established link speed?

I'm referring to the link tx and rx bps and load statistics, which is readily available on any Cisco switch in my environment. It's an average but a good indicator.