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The networkQuality tool on macOS

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Re: The networkQuality tool on macOS

#51

Post by wtallis »

jorvi wrote: post #44
CrLf wrote: post #42

Apple's "networkQuality" tool (or the open source alternative that you can run in other operating systems: https://github.com/network-quality/goresponsiveness ) is very useful to understand how your connection behaves under extreme conditions, but extreme conditions is not something home connections see regularly, so make sure to use a combination of tools if you want to understand how your home connection behaves un…

> Of course, this only makes sense if you, for example, have your own router running OpenWRT where you can enable active queue management (SQM/AQM) You actually rarely if ever can make use of this, because you need flow offloading past ~175Mbps, which completely bypasses SQM.

> because you need flow offloading past ~175Mbps,

That's approximately correct if your router is using an 880MHz MIPS CPU core, but the industry has actually mostly moved on from those.

Re: The networkQuality tool on macOS

#52

Post by yborg »

Looks like it's been upgraded in Ventura, here is the output from Monterey:

==== SUMMARY ==== Upload capacity: 5.983 Mbps Download capacity: 116.813 Mbps Upload flows: 20 Download flows: 16 Responsiveness: Medium (274 RPM) Base RTT: 42 Start: 5/14/23, 12:15:20 PM End: 5/14/23, 12:15:36 PM OS Version: Version 12.6.5 (Build 21G531)

and it doesn't support the Private Relay option.

Re: The networkQuality tool on macOS

#55

Post by ruph123 »

Is there a good tool for Limux that can assess network quality as a whole? It would be nice to have something that can do a few tests all in one run and give me an idea of what is going on (besides tools like ping for latency, iperf for local bandwidth and packet loss).

Re: The networkQuality tool on macOS

#56

Post by meinheld111 »

ghotli wrote: post #36
ajb wrote: post #15

Nice that it gives "responsiveness under working conditions" and defines latency as "idle latency". So this tool makes faults like buffer bloat clear to the user rather than just giving the max bandwidth like most tools.

Speedtest shows loaded latency information now too. Agreed, sometimes latency is more important than max bandwidth

> sometimes latency is more important than max bandwidth

we probably could have stuck with sneakernet if it wasn‘t more important most of the time

Re: The networkQuality tool on macOS

#57

Post by meinheld111 »

wtallis wrote: post #51
jorvi wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Of course, this only makes sense if you, for example, have your own router running OpenWRT where you can enable active queue management (SQM/AQM) You actually rarely if ever can make use of this, because you need flow offloading past ~175Mbps, which completely bypasses SQM.

> because you need flow offloading past ~175Mbps, That's approximately correct if your router is using an 880MHz MIPS CPU core, but the industry has actually mostly moved on from those.

Unfortunately most ARM‘s are also too weak

Re: The networkQuality tool on macOS

#58

Post by Alifatisk »

jfarmer wrote: post #45
Alifatisk wrote: post #11

Very cool finding! Made me want to explore what other tools my mac has pre-installed in /usr/bin

One nice thing about macOS is that many of the system GUI tools are graphical wrappers around a command-line tool that does the real work. Most of them live in /usr/sbin I keep a list for my students. Here are some: diskutil mdfind mdutil plutil networksetup softwareupdate screencapture pmset hdiutil pkgutil caffeinate osascript defaults launchctl For example, mdfind lets you use Spotlight search on the command line.…

What a goldmine, thanks!

Re: The networkQuality tool on macOS

#59

Post by BrianHutch »

meinheld111 wrote: post #56
ghotli wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speedtest shows loaded latency information now too. Agreed, sometimes latency is more important than max bandwidth

> sometimes latency is more important than max bandwidth we probably could have stuck with sneakernet if it wasn‘t more important most of the time

"never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes" as the old saying goes.

Re: The networkQuality tool on macOS

#60

Post by wtallis »

meinheld111 wrote: post #57
wtallis wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because you need flow offloading past ~175Mbps, That's approximately correct if your router is using an 880MHz MIPS CPU core, but the industry has actually mostly moved on from those.

Unfortunately most ARM‘s are also too weak

Too weak for a full symmetric 1Gb fibre connection, yes. But ARM-based routers with twice the clock speed of those MIPS cores and significantly better performance per clock and much bigger caches have been around for years, and are pretty good at handling SQM for the DOCSIS-based connections that need it most.
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