NDT is designed to work well as a component of a LAN support structure. Carlson says he envisions NDT "being integrated into the [network operations center] help desk so when a trouble call is received, the first thing the NOC staff does is point the user to their local NDT server and say, 'Run a test and send us the results.'"

Using NDT

While NDT is designed to be installed on a server, I realized the potential of installing it on a laptop to allow for mobility. With this configuration, an NDT-enabled laptop can easily be inserted on the network at locations to maximize testing. In other words, by eliminating the location constraints of the NDT server, I could test throughput without the added variables of router hops and additional intermediate switches.

The following examples illustrate cases where NDT was an indispensable aid for determining the cause of network performance problems.

Case 1: The LAN