Home > Ask the Networking Experts > Network administration Questions & Answers > What correlation does ping latency have with high server activity?
Ask The Networking Expert: Questions & Answers
EMAIL THIS

What correlation does ping latency have with high server activity?

Lindi Horton EXPERT RESPONSE FROM: Lindi Horton

Pose a Question
Other Networking Categories
Meet all Networking Experts
Become an Expert for this site


Routing and switching news, advice and technical information
Digg This!    StumbleUpon Toolbar StumbleUpon    Bookmark with Delicious Del.icio.us    Add to Google


>
QUESTION POSED ON: 13 September 2008
Some servers in our network (connected with GIGAswitch switches) sometimes have high latency peaks of more than 10 milliseconds (msec) that are usually at less than or equal to 1 msec latency. Those servers are intensive memory, CPU, and disk, and network at about 30 to 40% average usage. Do those components have any correlation with the fact that network monitoring shows high latency sometimes?


Digg This!    StumbleUpon Toolbar StumbleUpon    Bookmark with Delicious Del.icio.us    Add to Google



RELATED CONTENT
Network administration
Why is access denied to my Active Directory (AD) users and computers?
What network loss testing tools/methods calculate dropped packets from a PC?
Do I have to disable DHCP on my router to create a DHCP server?
What preventative maintenance procedures for network devices exist?
Is there VLAN software recommend for Realtek NICs?
How can I replicate the services of Active Directory (AD) in ADC?
Top 10 reasons why computers do not have network access to each other
Which configuration management tools map connected network devices?
How important are network infrastructure maps for engineers or admins?
How server virtualization improves efficiency in a client-server model

Network Performance Management
Web gateway helps Texas manufacturer develop network user management
Desktop virtualization network challenges: A primer
Green enterprise: Three networking investments that make a difference
Storage area networks change management primer
CA-NetQoS deal: Network management = application performance
Virtualization change and configuration management primer
Network change and configuration management primer
Distributed network management means no more hard NOCs
WLAN QoS and SLA monitoring with 7/24 Wireless Quality Assurance costs
Network management from a service-based perspective

Network Monitoring
University tackles large-scale 802.11n wireless network management
Meru reinvents wireless LAN troubleshooting and management
Green enterprise: Three networking investments that make a difference
Network device management overload: Engineers managing too many boxes
What preventative maintenance procedures for network devices exist?
WLAN QoS and SLA monitoring with 7/24 Wireless Quality Assurance costs
How important are network infrastructure maps for engineers or admins?
Understand Windows tracert output to troubleshoot network connectivity
Network management and monitoring market remains crowded, fragmented
When do applications suffer from poor network performance?
Network Monitoring Research

RELATED GLOSSARY TERMS
Terms from Whatis.com − the technology online dictionary
baseboard management controller  (SearchNetworking.com)
fault management  (SearchNetworking.com)
loose coupling  (SearchNetworking.com)
maximum segment size  (SearchNetworking.com)
maximum transmission unit  (SearchNetworking.com)
network coding  (SearchNetworking.com)
packet loss  (SearchNetworking.com)
phase-change cooling  (SearchNetworking.com)
round-trip time  (SearchNetworking.com)
throttled data transfer  (SearchNetworking.com)

RELATED RESOURCES
2020software.com, trial software downloads for accounting software, ERP software, CRM software and business software systems
Search Bitpipe.com for the latest white papers and business webcasts
Whatis.com, the online computer dictionary


Typically ICMP ping packets are processed on the NIC and don't tend to go through the upper levels of the OSI model for processing. So typically this is not the case. However it's possible that the NIC activity would impact its ability to respond to packets. If the NIC(s) are exceptionally busy they could create queuing and processing delay on the NIC which might result in higher ping response times. A much better way to understand what's going on with the servers is to monitor them using a passive response time monitoring solution. These types of solutions provide a way to passively understand what the real application traffic is like for the servers of interest, including traffic volumes/rates, response times from the server, session and load indicators. If you also monitor these servers with SNMP you would get greater visibility into discards, buffer queue depth, and error rates on the interfaces at the time utilization is high. These metrics tend to provide you greater visibility to understand what's going on at the time of peak activity levels for optimizing performance.




Search and Browse the Expert Answer Center
Search and browse more than 25,000 question and answer pairs from more than 250 TechTarget industry experts.
Browse our Expert Advice



Expert networking advice and tips for IT professionals
About Us  |  Contact Us  |  For Advertisers  |  For Business Partners  |  Site Index  |  RSS
SEARCH 
TechTarget provides technology professionals with the information they need to perform their jobs - from developing strategy, to making cost-effective purchase decisions and managing their organizations' technology projects - with its network of technology-specific websites, events and online magazines.

TechTarget Corporate Web Site  |  Media Kits  |  Site Map




All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2000 - 2009, TechTarget | Read our Privacy Policy 		  TechTarget - The IT Media ROI Experts