hello all i have been asked to calculate the RTT(Round trip time) of a network, i have created a program that sends a packet to a server program then the server program sends a packet back to the client. so far i have got it to calculate the time in milliseconds to send the packet to the server and calculate the difference here is a sample output from my program:

SERVER:
cookie@HAL ~$ mono server.exe
Server started...
port: 2555
Waiting for client input:

time: 469842688960
Client Time: 469842688960
Server Time: 469842933160
Time taken is: 244200 ( milliseconds )


CLIENT:
cookie@HAL ~$ mono client.exe 127.0.0.1
type help for information, exit or quit to close the application
Waiting for Message to send:
time
time: 469842688960
server: reply no0



so the chain of events are: i type time in my client program it takes 'tick' of the time of day: 469842688960 (in milliseconds)

it sends that in a packet to the server who finds out the 'tick' of that time of day: 469842688960

the server then takes the client time: 469842688960 and the server time 469842933160 and detects it to make the difference Time taken is: 244200 ( milliseconds )
.

so from this is it possible to find the RTT? cheers

Wow ! Use ping ! From the ping man page, option -U, it says:
So, the ping without the -U option prints the RTT in the time= field.

cheers for the reply, the problem is i have to write my own application to calculate it, its for part of my studies.

i just cant find much information on how to make the calculations i think that im in the right area just not sure. thanks again trscookie

I am a poor sys admin, not a programmer, but I think you could use the same ping aprouch: Sends a single packet to the target machine, and get back the reply. Than measure the time elapsed beetween two. Send several packets in a row and calculate the arithmetic mean. Each packet must have a label or something like that in the payload area, so you can track the order its arrives.

Anyone else has a better idea ?

ahr cheers, thats more what i was after, i thought that it was going to be some sort of hard core calculation!! so do i measure it in milliseconds or nanoseconds etc....does it matter? i think that im going to measure it in milliseconds unless someone suggests otherwise. cheers trscookie.

No hard core calculations, just plain math. milliseconds, nanoseconds, whatever ! Just keep a consistent unit.

Good luck !

nice! for those interested you can view the project here:


http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~ca5ae/

on the left hand side, i know there is no source available yet and its a little buggy, but it will be released in due time. (you need the .net arch to run it (or mono)) im quite proud of it as its my first c# project!