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network-programmingload-testinggrinder

Simulating high latency / intermittent network connections

I'm load testing a network application using The Grinder (on a Windows PC) and I wish to simulate imperfect network conditions in order to see what effect is has on the application load, in particular I'd like to see the effect of:

  • Variable network latency, so not only do different clients have different latency, but also latency may vary during the test for a single client.
  • Dropped network connections - I wish to simulate what happens when a network connection is abruptly / randomly dropped.

What's the easiest way of doing this?

Solution
    1. Setup a Linux box as the default router for this machine.
    2. Install 'netem' on the linux box: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/networking/netem