# How to stress test a router?



## Jiniix

I have a WRT1900AC I've gotten from work, for free. I work at an IT-distributor, and it was scheduled to be thrown out, as the RMA cause was that it restarts itself after a few hours of use.
It's still here at my work, and I don't want to take it home before I know it's good (_many_ of the products being thrown out is actually user error combined with RMA rules, where the product itself is fine (I once took home 16TB of WD Greens for free ))

My question is, and I can use either Ubuntu or Windows 7, how do I stress test it?
Ideally I would plug it into my laptop (my own Windows/Ubuntu installation, not limited like my workstation) without any other cables. I obviously can't make my own network, with the WRT1900AC as the first router. It can pretty much only operate as a switch.
I've done a factory reset, and then looked for how to upgrade the firmware by going in to the router at 192.168.1.1, but it seems like it's completely automated. Couldn't find an option to do it.

Any ideas are very much appreciated!

PS: Not sure if this should be posted here or in Computer Accessories.


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## Okedokey

Connect via ethernet to your machine, power the router and type linksyssmartwifi.com into your address bar of a browser.  It should give you the setup.  

If not go to command prompt as administrator

Type:  

ipconfig /all

Look for the default gateway address.  It is probably 192.168.1.1 however may be 192.168.1.2 or possibly even 10.1.1.1

The latest firmware can be downloaded here and is version 1.1.7.160582 which was released on the 2 May 2014 (release notes).


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## Jiniix

I found the firmware updating, and it already has the newest. 
I'm already in the router, that wasn't a problem. On Ubuntu I could just right click my internet icon, properties and it said my routers IP 
I'm more interested in a sort of Prime95 for routers.
Currently it's using PingPlotter to ping Twitter.com once a second, and measure the travel time, but that's about it. Been running good so far, but I wouldn't call it a stress test.


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## beers

It'd be kind of convoluted but ideally you would put a host on the WAN side and then another host on the LAN side while testing iperf between the two.

Since most home routers can't do line speed forwarding you'll see the CPU spike up to max.


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## Jiniix

CPU usage is not a problem. I have three work laptops I can pretty much do whatever with, in extension to my workstation.
How would I go about testing it?


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## beers

CPU as in the router's CPU..

I guess I'm curious what you are looking to gain?  Usually it's a bit of a wasted effort unless you're troubleshooting a particular problem.

Edit:
Maybe it helps if I actually read the OP lol.

You would need to do something similar like:
-WAN Interface Router IP 1.1.1.1/24
-WAN Interface Computer IP 1.1.1.10/24
-Port forward from WAN to LAN 192.168.1.10 on iperf port TCP 5001
-LAN Interface Router IP 192.168.1.0/24
-LAN Interface Computer IP 192.168.1.10/24
-Install iperf on both or use guide here : http://openmaniak.com/iperf.php
-Test iperf from WAN to LAN PC by using target IP 1.1.1.1
-Test iperf from LAN to WAN PC by using target 1.1.1.10


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## Cromewell

If you are dead set on stressing it out, just run a boatload of connections through it. Since you're using Ubuntu, grab a tool like curl-loader and configure 1000ish virtual IP addresses 9you could do more if you wanted).


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## Jiniix

It seems like it's okay, now the only thing left is to take it home and battle-test with 12 hours of continuous gaming 
Thanks for the help guys


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