CATNIX makes available to all users a node of M-Lab (Measurement Lab) distributed platform, which measures the connection, quality and neutrality of the network.

This node permits tests performed using M-Lab tools to be done locally against CSUC with a very low latency. The Network Diagnostic Tool (NDT), designed to measure the speed test and performance of tested networks, is one of the most outstanding tools users can find in CATNIX thanks to M-Lab.

All data collected by M-Lab nodes are public and available for download, allowing researchers to conduct research with their results. Tests have also been created with free code by researchers.

In addition to the NDT, the platform has other ways to measure speed, latency or instability. Check them out!

M-Lab is a project created by the Open Technology Institute (OTI) of New America, the PlanetLab Consortium, Google Inc. and academic researchers.

CATNIX puts at users’ disposal a RIPE Atlas probe to measure Internet connectivity and reachability. RIPE Atlas collects information, through pings and traceroutes, about latency, accessibility, the nearest root DNS server, or how long the round-trip for each hop took (RTT, Round-Trip Time).

RIPE Atlas facilitates the management and operation of the network thanks to the availability of continuous updated data and maps. The tool enables research and analysis, diagnostics and technical troubleshooting.

CATNIX has a RIPE Routing Information Service (RIS) node. This service collects and stores Internet routing data (BGP) from different IXPs around the world, CATNIX among them.

RIPE RIS data can be accessed from the RIPEstat interface, which allows:

• Identify routing modifications.
• View and download historical data.
• Detailed tracking of changes to solve routing problems.
• Draw connectivity maps.
• Monitor prefixes.

Data are open to the community and are being used for academic research.

CATNIX offers a tool to measure the quality of the internet connection in an easy way. The tool provides the upload and download speeds in megabits per second (Mbps) and latency in milliseconds (ms).

CATNIX speedtest is connected to the IXP infrastructure, allowing members to measure their network performance from an end-user experience. Entities connected to CATNIX can embed an iframe on their pages to include the CATNIX speedtest.

IXP members will access to the speedtest in the shortest time possible and without any congestion.

Want to check the quality of your internet connection?

CATNIX is continuously monitoring the traffic on layer 2 in the peering platform through broadcast and flooded traffic samples.

This is performed through the IXP-Watch tool, created by LINX. The tool generates alerts when one of the following conditions occurs: Excessive ARP, excessive traffic captured, Spanning Tree, absence of IP/IPv6 traffic (for example CDP), Multicast / Traffic directed to 255.255.255.255 – DHCP/OSPF/IGP, etc., Stray SNMP.

It also generates reports with the number of ARP queries, ARP per minute, IPv4 packets, IPv6 packets, ICMP packets, IP absence packets, ARPs Sponged and Dead BGP Peers.

The Looking Glass tool allows interactive queries of CATNIX routers. It is very useful for tracking routing problems from any device.

The interface allows users to run a series of commands, such as traceroute, to draw route maps (bgpmap) and to make ‘whois’ queries to provide information about routes and Autonomous Systems. It also has a history command.