Measuring Latency
When mtping receives a response, it displays the time between when the request was sent and when that response was received. It also includes a count of how many times the request was repeated. For example:
host-16: mtping dataexpedition.com ACT_IDSTR dataexpedition.com:8080 (45.26.246.161:8080) Response 0 of 235 bytes after 0 repeats in 63ms (Version 2/0): servedat - 1.20.0 November 2021 - DEI, DOC-2.3.7 MTP-osx-4.4.0 3920 00000001: ExpeDat-1.20A Data Expedition Inc., DataExpedition.com Server Statistics (11903): Name: servedat Version: 1.20.0 Platform: osx Clock: Mon Nov 22 10:42:02 2021 Clock Skew: 0 seconds Load: Current: 1, MaxConfig: 4, MaxStart: 4, TotalStart: 107 Capacity: Limit: 10, Exceeded: 0 Up Time: 4.04 days Config Time: 4.04 days Idle Time: 0 seconds Errors: Errors: 0, Failures: 3, Warnings: 21, Denials: 1 Data: In: 5.75 gigabytes, Out: 12.5 gigabytes Bandwidth: In: 0 bits/sec, Out: 251 megabits/sec Drops: Bad Checksums: 0, Bad Headers: 53
The above output indicates a latency of 63 milliseconds.
To repeatedly check latency, use the "-c" option to specify the number of repeats:
host-17: mtping -c 3 DataExpedition.com:8080 ACT_PING dataexpedition.com (45.26.246.161:8080) 0 bytes from 45.26.246.161: count=0 repeats=0 time=60 ms 0 bytes from 45.26.246.161: count=1 repeats=0 time=17 ms 0 bytes from 45.26.246.161: count=2 repeats=0 time=15 ms 0 bytes from 45.26.246.161: count=3 repeats=0 time=17 ms --- dataexpedition.com mtping statistics --- 4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 15/27.250/60 ms
For continuous monitoring, use the "-m":
host-17: mtping -m DataExpedition.com:8080 ACT_PING dataexpedition.com (45.26.246.161:8080) 20211122 10:33:01.192 0 bytes from 45.26.246.161: count=0 repeats=0 time=62 ms 20211122 10:33:02.197 0 bytes from 45.26.246.161: count=1 repeats=0 time=20 ms 20211122 10:33:03.195 0 bytes from 45.26.246.161: count=2 repeats=0 time=21 ms 20211122 10:33:04.201 0 bytes from 45.26.246.161: count=3 repeats=0 time=19 ms 20211122 10:33:05.201 0 bytes from 45.26.246.161: count=4 repeats=0 time=20 ms 20211122 10:33:06.192 0 bytes from 45.26.246.161: count=5 repeats=0 time=20 ms 20211122 10:33:07.192 0 bytes from 45.26.246.161: count=6 repeats=0 time=21 ms ...
Latency versus Round Trip Time
The latency measured by mtping may be significantly higher than the network round-trip-time due to the following factors:
- Lost packets, indicated by non-zero "repeats".
- Operating system swap time, which may occur on the first ping after the server has been idle for a long time.
- Server load, indicated by a non-zero "rspn". See Load Monitoring.
- Routing and packet priority may be different for UDP packets than for ICMP or TCP packets.
- Network delay and packet priority may vary depending on the size of the packets.
For a more accurate assessment of latency, continuously monitor over a significant period of time. Also see Tech Note 0021 for a detailed discussion of factors affecting latency, loss, and speed.