Getting Started with MySpeed Server

The dialog below represents the main MySpeed Server panel which appears when the applications is started. This single panel provides important information on the running of the MySpeed Server and provides links and options to configure the server preferences and provide help information.

When you first start MySpeed Server there are a few important preferences to be configured for optimal running of the application. These are listed below.

Configuring the Web Server

The following documentation is designed as a 'getting started guide' and only references those options you should need to ensure MySpeed Server will run. Some of the more advanced options such as 'Running as a Windows Service" are covered in the Advanced section.

MySpeed contains a built-in web server to provide a quick and easy implementation without the need to use more complex web server applications such as IIS and Apache. Apache and IIS are also supported.

To configure the web server simply involves selecting the desired IP address and port you wish to use plus some additional security options. This is done by clicking the Server Options link at the bottom of the MySpeed Server panel.

NOTE: When you have configured the server you should see a blue link (as shown above) 'click here to view your server'. Clicking this link is a quick way to launch a browser to test that the MySpeed server is functioning correctly. If you have configured your server and you do not see the link click the 'start server' option in the lower left corner of the MySpeed application panel.

IP Address/Port. Select the IP Address and Port number desired using the drop list box provided (top).

Recommend: You should always use port 80 for web server HTTP applications, as use of ports other than port 80 may be blocked by firewalls which will prevent the user from accessing the server.

If the server has more than one IP address it is always advisable to select one rather than defaulting to any/all                  

Port not available check box only check this if you want MySpeed Server to automatically allocate a port if the port you have selected is not free.
Recommend:  unchecked, otherwise a port other than port 80 may be allocated.

Throttle Delay: Checking the throttle delay check box enables an automated resource management process that ensures MySpeed maintains a comfortable workload.
Recommend:  The average test time can vary but is normally around 20 seconds. Decide on how many concurrent speed tests you require and set the delay value to  (average test time/concurrent tests)x1000.

Security requirements

Set up reporting / Admin accounts It is advisable to set a access username and password for both reporting and admin users. This is done by clicking the blue link "set up reporting / admin accounts" (see dialog below)

Enable Reporting Account. You must check the Enable Reporting check box to enable reporting.

Recommend: Check, if this is not checked then test reporting is disabled and no database reports are available

Username and Password: Enter the desired username and password or leave blank
Recommend: Leave blank if you want any and all users to have access to the MySpeed reports. Enter a value if you want users to enter a usercode/password to review reports.

Allow IP Address/DNS names: Check this option if you would like report users to see the testing IP addresses and domain names.

Recommend: If MySpeed is provided as a public service then it is advisable to uncheck this option for security reasons as this restricts the visibility to users private IP addresses.

Enable Admin Account. You must check the Enable Admin check box to enable Admin reporting which includes resource reports and usage reports to better manage MySpeed as well as test reporting.

Recommend: Check, if this is not checked then Admin reporting is disabled and no usage reports are available

Username and Password: Enter the desired username and password or leave blank
Recommend:  Enter a value if you want to restrict server admin reports to a limited number of users

Allow IP Address/DNS names: Check this option if you would like admin users to see the testing IP addresses and domain names.

Recommend: Check this option as it allows server administration people to see all the data.

OK/Cancel: Clicking the OK button saves any changes made. Clicking CANCEL discards any changes made.

MySpeed Server NOC Edition

Set up NOC RTA password. This additional security option appears in the MySpeed preferences Dialog if you are running a MySpeed Server NOC Edition.

The Remote Testing Agent (RTA) provides the means to support automated speed testing from a number of predefined remote locations which are unattended i.e continual on an interval basis (See RTA Agent). The RTA password is needed by the RTA for secure authentication when connecting to the MySpeed server. If authentication fails no speed test is accepted by the server.

Recommend: Change the NOC RTA password to a value other than the default of "hello".

Entering a License Key

A license key is not required for the 15-day evaluation of MySpeed Server. To use MySpeed Server beyond the 15-day trial period a purchased license key is required.

There are two ways to enter a license key into MySpeed Server:

1. The first is to manually add the text from the speedkey.bin file (sent to you on registration of your domain). To do this start MySpeed Server and locate the following section of the main GUI Click on the Enter Key link to bring up the screen below.

Now open the speedkey.bin file and copy and paste everything exactly as it appears into the dialog box shown above. Once this has been done click on the Ok button. The key will then be verified and, if correct, accepted.

2. The second way to register MySpeed Server is to simply put the speedkey.bin file into the www folder in the MySpeed Server root directory. Then click the refresh link in the top right hand corner of the first screenshot in this section and the product will register.

Advanced Usage

Preferences

This documentation covers the less frequently used options provided in the MySpeed Server preferences dialog.

Running as a Windows Service

To configure MySpeed Server to run automatically if the server computer is rebooted requires that MySpeed runs as a Windows Service.

Installing
Running as a Windows service simply requires the 'install' button to be clicked as shown in the example dialog above. Once the service is installed the button is changed to reflect 'uninstall'

When installed as a Windows service MySpeed Server is configured as listed below. If you want to change these settings then you must use the Windows Services control panel.

Name: Visualware MySpeed Server
Description: MySpeed ISP connection and voice-over-IP simulation software
Startup: Automatic
Logon: Local System
Interact with Desktop: Yes

Uninstalling
It is important when uninstalling MySpeed Server to uninstall the service beforehand. Simply click the 'Uninstall' button in the 'Windows Service' section of the 'Preferences' dialog box. Once you have done this MySpeed will not be running as a service and can now be uninstalled.

Note: If MySpeed has been uninstalled without the service being uninstalled first, MySpeed will continue to run when the machine is rebooted. When this happens, reinstall MySpeed server exactly as it was installed before. Now follow the instructions above to unisntall the service, then unisntall the product.

Speed Testing Configuration Options

Socket connection configuration Professional and NOC Edition ONLY

MySpeed Server can run speed tests in two distinct modes. Socket and HTTP. Socket mode is provided as one of the additional features of the MySpeed Server Professional and NOC Editions. Socket mode allows MySpeed Server to operate a test at the fastest possible speed the hardware/software can support using a raw socket-to-socket connection. This is the most accurate method for measuring the maximum speed a connection can handle.

Allow Socket-to-socket: Check this option if you want to enable accurate socket speed testing and select the TCP port number to use for both upload and download. If the port is unavailable for a specific test because of firewall or other similar restrictions then MySpeed Server will automatically fail-over to doing an HTTP speed test. Assuming Port 80 is being used for HTTP this is highly unlikely to fail.

Recommend: Check box and leave default port number setting of 20000 and 20001 respectively.

Throttling

The throttling options are chosen by clicking the 'Throttling' tab in the main preferences dialog box.

The throttling option allows the time between speedtests to be limited and also the number of tests allowed per IP address per day.

The first part of the dialog box above is where the delay between start times is specified. Simply check the box under the 'Global Throttling' title and choose how many milliseconds to delay by. With this enforced every user will have to wait the amount of time selected between tests. This feature is useful when trying to limit the amount of usage on the MySpeed server to try and save resources.

The individual limitations section of the above dialog box simply allows a test limit per day to be set.

MySpeed Server NOC Edition

MySpeed NOC Edition supports the use of a Remote Testing Agent (RTA) to support unattended automated Speed and Quality testing. The Remote Testing Agent (RTA) provides the means to support automated speed testing from a number of predefined remote locations which operate on a continual interval basis.

For security reasons MySpeed Server will only allow authorized RTAs  to access and use the server to conduct tests. This security option is available in the 'Server Options' preferences  dialog ("Set up NOC RTA Password') as shown below.

NOTE: This additional security option appears in the MySpeed preferences dialog only if you are running a MySpeed Server NOC Edition (bottom of the permissions tab)

Clicking 'Set up NOC RTA Password' displays the NOC RTA Password dialog. If the default password is configured ('hello') it is shown in red.

Best Practices

IMPORTANT: To prevent non-authorized RTA agents testing against your server it is important that you change the default password of 'hello' to a stronger password. It is recommended that you use 8 or more alphanumeric characters although MySpeed Server does not enforce this rule.

Running MySpeed Server on an IIS/Apache Server

Best Practices

MySpeed Server is a self contained web server which negates the need to use a commercial web server such as IIS or Apache. However it is expected that well established web sites will have the mandatory requirement to serve MySpeed from existing IIS and/or Apache web servers. In other words the MySpeed web pages are served directly from an IIS or Apache server and not from the MySpeed server.

The MySpeed Sever supports the indirect deployment model where the IIS/Apache server is responsible for serving the MySpeed to the requesting user at the front end and MySpeed Server is responsible for the application at the backend. To conform to the security model that governs applications running on a desktop in this way the MySpeed applet must use the standard HTML codebase options on the IIS/Apache server. For security reasons MySpeed Server has to be configured to allow front-end  servers permission to access and serve the MySpeed applet. If permission is not granted MySpeed Server will decline the request and the applet will not function.

Once you have setup and deployed the web pages you want to serve MySpeed on you must then add the necessary codebase options the applet definitions on any and all pages hosted by IIS and/or apache.

NOTE: A problem with IIS often causes it to grab port 80 on all IP addresses, not just the ones assigned to websites. For information on how to resolve this, see Microsoft support, info for IISv6, info for IISv5.

Hosting MySpeed Applet (Standalone)

MySpeed Standard Edition only supports running in the client browser and does not use the MySpeed Server. In Standard mode the MySpeed applet is restricted to initiating HTTP tests only as there is no server component available to manage the socket connection. This is test provides more of an application level speed test than a socket level speed test and is accurate only up to 10mb. Please review speed test results FAQ. Note, when running MySpeed without the support of the MySpeed Server the following files need to be copied from the installed MySpeed Server www directory to the web server directory where the web page is hosted:

- data.bin
- speedkey.bin
- upload.bin
- <webpage title>.html
- myspeed.bin
- myspeed.jar

MySpeed Professional and MySpeed NOC editions also support this model if desired and allow the MySpeed applet to be deployed as documented above.

MySpeed Professional and NOC Editions support the additional ability to invoke an HTTP test while still using the MySpeed Server. This provides the added advantage of recording the test results into the MySpeed Server database which allows the data to be compared with other MySpeed test results including socket versus HTTP.

Setup Applet Codebase Options

To run MySpeed connection tests from your own web server such as Apache, you will need to enable the codebase option and then insert it in the HTML of the MySpeed web page. The codebase option allows you to serve the MySpeed test applet from a web server other than the MySpeed web server, even from a different system from where MySpeed Server is installed. (See implementation options.)

STEP 1

The first step in this process is to open the Server Options dialog and select the Codebasing tab. Then add the IP address or domain name used to access the front end server. For example, if the URL is http://speedtest.mydomain.com/speedtest.html you would need to add speedtest.mydomain.com as an authorized site.

To add a permitted domain type the domain name required and click Add. Note the standard MySpeed license supports only one codebase domain to be used. If you have added more than one domain the first domain is the one that will be allowed. If you want to upgrade a license to serve MySpeed from additional domains please contact us.

STEP 2

Modify the HTML code of the speedtest.html web page to add a codebase option in the APPLET tags, as shown below. Once the page has been modified copy it to your webserver.

<applet name="myspeed" code="myspeed.class" archive="myspeed.jar" width=600 height=400 codebase=http://myspeedserver:port></applet>

In the above HTML, myspeedserver is the domain (such as www.visualware.com) or IP address of your MySpeed Server. If MySpeed Server is using port 80 (recommended, see note below), it is not necessary to indicate the port number.

Once the codebase option is declared in the server preferences and enabled in the web page, you should be able to view the VoIP test applet on your web server by going to http://<yourserver>/speedtest.html.

IMPORTANT: The codebase URL declared in the server preferences must always match the IP address and/or domain name used to access the Apache/IIS web page, otherwise a ‘not authorized’ error is generated. If the MySpeed Server and the front-end IIS/Apache web server are on the same physical computer it is advisable to allocate at least 2 IP addresses to that computer server so each web server (IIS/Apache or MySpeed) can use the default port 80. Otherwise, one of the server engines will be forced to use a port other than 80 which may cause firewall access issues for users that block the allocated port number.

The speed test is always conducted from the server where the MySpeed applet is served from, not the server the web page is served from. This is important because using the codebase option allows you to configure the installation so the front-end web servers (Apache or IIS) are not responsible for conducting the actual speed tests themselves; instead the codebase redirects the traffic to a designated back-end server(s).

MyVoIPSpeed Server Control Panel

Control Panel View

The MySpeed Server Main Menu Control Panel is provided only as an example page to provide ideas on how you can configure and present the MySpeed service to your users.

1. Main Menu
   The Main Menu provides access to the three core components namely 'New speed test', 'Database reporting' and 'administration reporting' these are documented below.

   New Speed Test - Serves the MySpeed applet and allows the user to initiate a speed test
   Database Reporting - Serves the Report Selection page and allows the user to search and report on previously conducted speed tests. Some predefined reports are provided.
   Administration - Serves the MySpeed administrators menu to report on resource and resource usage.

2. Last Hour - Reports a list of speed tests performed in the last hour
3. Last Day - Reports a list of speed tests performed in the last day
4. Last 30 days - Reports a list of speed tests performed in the last 30 days
5. Advanced Log Search- Take you to the database reporting view where you can specify your own criteria for a search.
6. Perform new test - Takes you to the MySpeed Applet page so the user can perform a test
7. Administration - Take you to the Server Administration Menu (requires admin username and password if configured)

Perform New Test

A number of example configurations for MySpeed server are provided in the default example page. Furthermore MySpeed Server provides a number of powerful JavaScript features that allow the user to have considerable control over how the applet performs and interacts when doing a test.

A number of example configurations for MySpeed server are provided in the default example page. Furthermore MySpeed Server provides a number of powerful JavaScript features that allow the user to have considerable control over how the applet performs and interacts when doing a test.

Perform a new test

The options below (1 thru 6) are different types of test you can do. To perform one of these tests click the link in the server windows, as seen in the image above.

1. Continuous - Professional version only. Selecting this option will initiate a continuous test. The test will restart 10 seconds after the current test has finished and keep doing so until 5 tests have been completed. The results of the 5 tests are display as a table on the web page and all data is recorded to the reporting database and can be viewed in the reporting section.
   
2. Email Results - Selecting this option will display an 'email results' link on the web page. This provides the means email the results of the test to your service provider or system administrator depending on the reasons for doing the test. Clicking the 'email results' link will initiate the default email client and open a new email message window. At this point you can add and extra wording as explanation to the result information.
   
3. Session ID - Professional version only. Selecting this example option allows the user to enter a session ID (a name or something unique to identify the test). The test when complete will be tagged with this session ID. When you view the reports this session ID will appear to easily identify specific groups of tests. The session ID can also be used as a search parameter.
   
   NOTE: The session ID feature can be used to set a session ID that the user cannot change. This is useful when the session ID is allocated by a user log-on process and works well with the Auto Start (see below) option to automate testing without user interaction but still being able to record the user identification.
   
4. Branding - Professional version only. Selecting this option shows an example of how the MySpeed applet can be customized and branded to provide an new look and feel.
   
5. Scripting - Selecting this option will demonstrate the use of the JavaScript feature. The
   demonstration uses the JavaScript call to display the results of the test in an HTML table on the web page for the user to read. This is a very powerful feature which allows the user to interact with the results to derive value beyond the simple test numbers. For example you can calculate the time it would take to transfer a file and describe that in a language that makes sense to the user.
   
6. Auto Start - Professional version only. Selecting this option demonstrates the ability to make the MySpeed test start automatically, i.e. does not require the user to click a 'start test' button.

Connection Test

MySpeed Server accomplishes the test process as one distinct phase. This phase undertakes a  bandwidth throughput speed test for both upload and download so this can be measured and compared with service providers to underwrite service level performance and quality of that performance.

Phase 1

Click the start button to begin the test. When you start a test you will get a screen like the one below, when it has finished it will move onto the advanced tab automatically.

Speed Test

This tab shows you the upload and download speed for your current connection. It is displayed on a sloping graph as you can see in the image above, and once again the green to red shading indicated good to bad speed.

Results

The next tab is the advance tab (only available in MySpeed Server Professional)

Advanced tab

This tab just gives you a run down of all your results, like download/upload speed, QoS. It also gives you the Server ID # for your test.

Database Reports

Reporting Options

MySpeed Server Professional and NOC Editions support a test results database. This provides the network and customer support groups access to the Speed and Quality results both in summary and detail form. This data is stored in a database and is made available for selection, review and reporting in a number of different ways. Choosing any of the predefined report types presented in the main server view presents the user with the standard report selection page as shown below:

The first section is the Search Parameters combined with the output choices. This panel allows the user to select:

What Data
    -     is extracted based on a start-time and an end-time
    -     is selected based on filters namely IP (IP address), DNS (Domain name assigned to IP address) and SID (session ID) recorded for the speed test

What Format
    -     is used for output of the selected data

What field elements
    -     are included in the report body

1. What Data

1. From - Simply choose the date and time range you want to search between (Note this time is time zone neutral)
2. IP - Enter a particular IP for the report selection (Supports the use of wild carding with the * character). This is the IP address that initiated the test. Note: If the security option to suppress the IP address is used then the IP address is not available for reporting. This security option can defined for Reporting and Administrative users separately.
3. DNS - Enter the DNS name for report selection (Supports the use of wild carding with the * character). This is the name of the workstation or server that initiated the test.
4. SID - Enter the particular session ID for the report selection (Supports the use of wild carding with the * character). The session ID is available only in the Professional and NOC editions and provides the means to assign user defined data  to the test. For NOC edition this is normally used for identifying the location of the automated Remote Testing Agent (RTA)

2. What format

1. Table / Graph - Selecting this option will report the results in table or graph format
2. Spreadsheet / Text - Selecting either Spreadsheet or Text provides the means to export the MySpeed report data for use in an external application such as Microsoft Excel

3. What Field elements
The second section defines what field elements are required to be included in the report, simply check or uncheck and click 'search' to run the report selection. Note these options are not available for the graph selection. This is because the graph legend allows the user to select or deselect what is included in the graph.

Database Search Examples

MySpeed Server Professional and NOC Editions support a test results database. This provides the network and customer support groups access to the Speed and Quality results both in summary and detail form.

Table Example

Below is an example of a table of results when using the search feature. Note the IP address filter is using the generic '*' to match all IP addresses starting with 192.168. The use of the matching '*' can be used on all the filter options. The table is self explanatory in that it lays all the data out from all the tests that have occurred for the selection the parameters you have used. You can view the detail log for each test by clicking the 'detail' id number link at the end of each row.

Graph Example

Below is an example of a report where the output type has been switched from 'table' to 'graph'. Note that 'Display fields' selection is disabled for selection when you choose the graph output. This is because the graph view allows you to quickly enable or disable the individual graph elements (lines) by clicking the legend colors shown on the right hand side of the graph. In the example below the plotting of 'Round Trip Time' has been disabled.

The vertical red line shown below is the automatic scope tool, this line moves as you scroll the mouse from left to right. The light blue box slightly to the right of the red vertical line display the graph measures for the point where the red line is shown.  Clicking the left mouse button allows the plot data time window to be scrolled also. This is useful for graphs that contain a wide range of data over a long period of time. The vertical scope tool can be disabled if not required by clicking the 'hide' option in the lower left corner of the blue legend panel.

Export Example

Selecting either of the output types 'Spreadsheet' or 'Text' provides the means to export selected MySpeed Server data into an external application such as a spreadsheet or report document. Selecting Spreadsheet will allow the selection of 'save' or 'open' depending on whether you want to have a spread sheet view within the MySpeed report as shown below or whether you want to open the Spreadsheet application as a separate window. Selecting the text option provide the data as a simple tab delimited file in an open text window for the user to cut/paste/print as required.

Server Administration

The administration menu provides access to MySpeed server reports that document the running and the resource usage of the MySpeed Server application. If enabled in the preferences security settings only users that know the correct username and password can access the administrative reports.

Clicking the 'Administration' link in the main menu (item 1 above) or the Administration Icon (item 7 above) will open the MySpeed Server Administration Menu

The server administration menu currently provides three server reporting options.

The menu option provided for administrative users is as follows:

1. System information - displays all the information about the system you are running MySpeed server on. This provides a number of important server statistics that help ensure that MySpeed Server is running efficiently. In the event of problems this information may be requested for support analysis.
2. Thread Monitor - display all the threads that are being used by MySpeed server and if they are working correctly. This sort of information is not normally needed unless requested by support because of problem issues.
3. Report Server Usage Information - this option allows you to view how much your server is being used. The usage reports are divided into 5 minute group intervals and documents the mumber of speed tests conducted and the resulting network consumption.

System Information Example

Thread Monitor Example

Report Server Usage Information Example

Getting Started for Linux / Unix

Speed Test Options - Managing speed test options & myspeed.bin parameters