LACNIC Provides Internet Measurement Tools

07/05/2024

By Elisa Peirano, R&D Analyst at LACNIC

The promotion of a regional Internet Measurements group adds to LACNIC’s efforts with its measurements website, where we can find information on Internet statistics, DNS measurements, BGP routing, FORT Validator and Monitoring, LACNIC Inforedes, and measurement probes in the LAC region.

This measurements website is helpful for analyzing the information and, for example, determining why it is important to promote Internet Exchange Points (IXP) in the region. Measurements such as latency are useful in these cases, as we can observe that there is lower latency when traffic goes through a local IXP, and consequently Internet speed increases. These latency measurements should be used as motivation to encourage those who do not use an IXP.

The Options menu allows visualizing various measurements in a graphic and attractive way. Based on these visualizations, we can understand, for example, why IPv6 would be cheaper and would allow us greater speed.

Tools. We also want to share and exchange tools with the community. Measuring network traffic often involves paying for expensive tools. In our case, we can obtain free, open-source tools or recommend new ones.

The tools we promote, such as the FORT RPKI monitor, LACNIC IRR for BGP, and Atlas probes, can be used to make measurements both within and between any countries.

RIPE Atlas is a very helpful platform that can be used to make different types of measurements (DNS measurements, latency, traceroutes, http, etc.) from multiple locations to multiple locations at the same time. These measurements can be used to see what the Internet situation looks like in our country or region (e.g., high vs low latency). This type of data can drive decision-making.

The case of Panama. One of the best lessons learned through the use of measurement platforms is the case of Panama. LACNIC had conducted a measurements study in the country and the results were not very auspicious. As a result, they decided to do their own latency study in Panama using Atlas probes, deploying them throughout the country. Graphs of these measurements showed that latency was not as high as it had appeared to be, and that latency was only high where organizations were not part of an IXP.

LACNIC invites the community to experiment with our tools, as well as to contribute new ideas to measure things that have not been measured yet. This will help us advance towards the Internet of the future.