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Using Ping Sweep to Find MTU Ceiling

Paul Stewart of PacketU comments:

Earlier this week I had breakfast with a very interesting group. One of those present had an extensive history with Cisco systems. We talked about his tenure and several of the projects that he had been involved in. For some reason, one that caught my attention was the sweep option that we find in the extended Ping utility. Although it is  hard to believe, there was a point in time that this gem didn’t exist.

I’ve written a few articles about the challenges of path MTU discovery and the issues that arise when it misbehaves. Today’s article looks specifically at using a ping sweep and how it can be used to quickly identifying the path MTU ceiling. The topology used for testing is simple and shown below. Notice that the two top routers are connected by a link with a lowered MTU (1492).

Paul’s idea to find MTU issues in the path is brilliant, especially if someone has turned off Path MTU Discovery.

Read more at: Using Ping Sweep to Find MTU Ceiling

About the author

Tom Hollingsworth

Tom Hollingsworth is a networking professional, blogger, and speaker on advanced technology topics. He is also an organizer for networking and wireless for Tech Field Day.  His blog can be found at https://networkingnerd.net/

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