Network Capacity
 

Hello,
how can i determine the network capacity of my LAN?
KR,
Stephen

You don't make it clear what you mean by "capacity"

If you mean the link speed then on a linux host you may be able to use ethtool devname to get the link speed of your particular connection. However, this doesn't necessarily tell you the underlying capacity. For example if you've a 1Gb NIC on a 10Gb switch you'll only see what the NIC is supporting.

On a larger network your "capacity" may be a function of the maximum numbers of packets per second your switches/routers can process and for that you'll need to read the specs of your switchgear.

I wanted the maximum capacity of my network to convey data from one location in the network to another

So basically your network speed, at its simplest it'll be as fast as the slowest link in your network chain.

Ok...so what part of the reply that TenTenths gave you didn't you understand? What you're asking is sort of like asking "how high is up?" You may be using gigabit ethernet on your PC, but if it's running through a 10MB/s hub further upstream...that's your bottleneck.

"how can i determine the network capacity of my LAN?"

There are two basic ways to answer this.

One is to make tests that are modeled after or using your data types.

Two is to make calculations based on the sum of the parts. For example a switch can be rated by some means but then needs to be de-rated for many factors. Some use 70% of rated but the switch settings affect this. Physical lines could be test with some tool to determine the maximum possible speeds or use the line type and length and interference to come up with a value. Then there is the endpoints to calculate. Then you may have to factor in lan configuration. Then the type of data and size of data.