Methods, systems and computer program products for scheduled network performance testing

Abstract

Methods, systems and computer program products are provided which test network performance by defining test schedules including test protocols to be implemented and when the protocols should be executed for a plurality of defined connections on a network. A connection may be defined between two endpoint nodes on the network. At times specified in the test schedule, the endpoint node pair executes the test protocol and measures the performance of the network connection between the two nodes without requiring any involvement of application software which may or may not be installed on the computer hardware supporting the endpoint node. The test protocol may define the type of network layer protocol to utilize (for example, TCP), and the test script or scripts to be communicated using the appropriate stack on the computer hardware supporting the endpoint node. The schedule may be provided with an expiration date and a console node is provided for distribution of test schedules, monitoring of availability of endpoint nodes and receipt of measured performance measurements for reporting to a network manager. In further aspects of the present invention, auto-thresholding and coordination of interrelated but asynchronous tasks executing at the console node are provided.