Reporting on average and peak bandwidth utilization is a snap. Anyone who can download and install Solarwinds Orion NPM can do it in a matter of minutes. The problem becomes how to determine whether or not a service provider is throttling bandwidth below the committed line rate. For example, a business class circuit for a small business client might be guaranteed at 10Mbps down and 1.5Mbps up. If the service provider is artificially capping the site at 8/1 is there a reliable way to tell without running periodic bandwidth tests?
The challenge, as far as I can tell, is determining whether the issue is an end-user device send issue (can you push or pull that much data?) or an ISP issue. Regardless of the source, I'm still challenged with determining if there are the following:
1) Bandwidth capping issues (current and historical)
2) Peak bandwidth utilization. (I'd love to find a great way to compare bandwidth and response times in one alert and/or graph)
Any and all input is appreciated. I am sure that at least *one* other person out there has wondered how to monitor for under-provisioned circuits.
Thanks,
Josh