WCIX.Net, Inc. Stress Tests Video Download Servers

Company Profile

WCIX.Net, Inc. provides a broad range of business connectivity, Internet bandwidth, IP transit, and secure online backup services to clients throughout the U.S. The WCIX.Net team has provided large-scale Internet connectivity since 1995. The bandwidth infrastructure for WCIX.Net includes multiple cross-connects to Tier-1 providers in major POPs through-out the US, and London.

Challenge

WCIX.Net’s IT team was called on to host a large volume of downloadable video files for a conference led by one of its clients and needed to find a web server test application to ensure the files were accessible.

WCIX.Net’s client indicated that the WCIX.Net web servers needed to handle 8,000 simultaneous users downloading 100 MB to 1,200 MB video files that were encoded at 1 mbps bit rate. 

Dennis Nugent, president WCIX.Net, and his colleagues were confident that their network could support the high-volume traffic.  However, Nugent said, the team thought they would perhaps encounter an “issue” with the performance of their hard drives and web server software.

Nugent added that, in the past, WCIX.Net’s IT team had tried using two freeware packages as web server test applications and found that neither of them provided the full-scale analysis WCIX.Net required.

Solution

Nugent and his colleagues selected Paessler’s Web Server Stress Tool as their web server test application to simulate high-volume usage and identify critical performance problems on their web servers as they supported the heavy conference-related traffic.

The WCIX.Net team had already been using Paessler’s PRTG Traffic Grapher and was “quite happy” with its performance before selecting Paessler’s web server test solution.

The IT team proceeded to evaluate various web server test applications on the market, including Paessler’s Web Server Stress Tool.  WCIX.Net selected the Paessler solution, in part, because of its competitive pricing and the “ease of installation” and “operation of the demo software,” Nugent said.

The “overriding factor,” however, in the team’s decision to select Paessler’s web server test application was its ability to “quickly test” all of WCIX.Net’s servers, Nugent said.

WCIX.Net’s team members then implemented Paessler’s Web Server Stress Tool into its robust production environment.

Specifically, Nugent and his colleagues installed Paessler’s web stress tool software on a dual Xeon server with 2 GB Ram, Windows 2003 Enterprise operating system, fiber Gigabit card and connected the server via fiber to a Cisco router that was connected to the Internet with multiple gigabit connections.   The web servers to be tested were in various data centers -- connected to the Internet via Cisco routers -- and also with multiple gigabit connections.  Team members tested web server performance over the Internet at speeds of up to 500 mbps prior to going into production.  They also tested servers in Dallas and San Jose, Calif., from their main data center in San Jose and servers in London, Atlanta, New York, and Chicago from their main data center in Ashburn, Virginia.

Benefits

The WCIX.Net IT team used Paessler’s Web Server Stress Tool to both efficiently and effectively test 18 servers in eight locations over the Internet at speeds of up to 500 mbps in less than eight hours. The solution allowed the team to prepare for 8,000 simultaneous users downloading 100 MB to 1,200 MB video files for their client’s conference.

Prior to the conference being held, WCIX.Net’s IT team was “confident” that its network and web servers could satisfy the client’s performance requirements with the hardware available for the event, Nugent said.

WCIX.Net has also “already picked up one major new client” for a similar high-volume application, Nugent said. Moving forward, WCIX.Net now plans to “expand” into the video-download market with the help of Paessler’s web server test solution.

Nugent added that he would “certainly” recommend Paessler’s Web Server Stress Tool to his friends and colleagues.