What is best tool to measure network latency?

Question

How do you measure network latency in Windows ?

I know ping as one of the tool. Can Windows Performance monitor do it ?

Any ideas which counters should I add to measure it.

This is for SharePoint specific where we have a requirement that web server and database server have latency less than 1ms.

Less than 1ms latency? Who came up with that requirement? Did they have any justification for it or did they pick that number at random? — joeqwerty, Feb 13 '11 at 17:35
Joe's on the right path here, less than 1ms latency is usually only going to happen on the same switch. — SpacemanSpiff, Feb 13 '11 at 19:40
even on the same switch this can get to be a tall order with kits of traffic. That's a crack-smokin requirement! — voretaq7, Feb 14 '11 at 00:56
In addition, is the requirement strictly regarding the network latency or is it for end to end application latency? — joeqwerty, Feb 14 '11 at 16:00
In 2011 I worked for a financial exchange where the expected RTT was <1ms from when the FIX packet entered our system, was processed by 5 servers, and FIX response packet left our system. We were able to achieve this using proper servers, software, network architecture, and coding techniques. You shouldn't tell someone there requirements are impossible unless it defies a law of the universe. Until you find a truly impossible requirement, help however you can even if the requirement will use more resources than available, otherwise don't comment. — 8239pascoe, Jan 17 '14 at 18:36

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 13 '11 at 19:01

7

You could try tcping to measure latency to port 80 of the sharepoint server.

tcping.exe is a small console application that operates similarly to 'ping', however it works over a tcp port.

answered Feb 13 '11 at 19:01

jftuga

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 13 '11 at 17:30

I suspect you're not really interested in ICMP latency. These waterfall graphs are probably better for diagnosing where your sharepoint setup is ailing.
In general for public facing: http://www.webpagetest.org/
With FF: http://www.getfirebug.com
With IE: http://www.httpwatch.com/

2 Answers2