In this example, if I had not performed an NDT bandwidth test prior to cutover, I may have agreed with the service provider that the circuit was good to go. This would have resulted in performance problems the next business day when the circuit was under operational loads. Realizing the problem prior to this was indispensable.

The future

Carlson reports that some planned enhances to NDT include IPv6 support and some firewall testing features. In addition, the NDT as well as other components of the PIPES suite are now available as an ISO image, thereby reducing the download and installation steps.

While I consider NDT to be an indispensable tool for the network administrator, I have found other components of PIPES very useful as well. Development is ongoing, and each tool can provide measurement statistics previously unavailable. In today's complex network environments of interoperability, filtering, firewalling and bandwidth management, these tools can aid in pointing out issues missed by the traditional methods.