Windows Server 2003 provides native support for IPv6, but Windows 2000 does not. To install the IPv6 stack for Windows 2000, you need to first download it from here.

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Using a command-line interface

The Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit includes a new tool called linkspeed, which measures the connectivity between two hosts. You run the command from one system and target a remote system:

> linkspeed /s \\<ServerName>

> linkspeed /s <ServerDNSName>

Alternatively, you can specify the /dc switch to have it test the machine’s current domain controller:

> linkspeed /dc

I’ve tested linkspeed on Windows 2000. While it runs without fatal errors, it doesn’t produce consistent results. It works best when the target system is another Windows Server 2003 machine.

Finding the link speed between two hosts is often useful when troubleshooting network connectivity problems. For example, if a client is having problems authenticating to Active Directory, you should learn the link speed between the client and the domain controller with which it is authenticating. A slow speed, perhaps due to congestion, could be the cause. If you want to determine the average link speed between two hosts, you should run the linkspeed command several times over multiple days. The results for any particular run of linkspeed could vary significantly depending on what is happening in the network at that time.

This filtering is applied to inbound traffic and does not affect outbound traffic.

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This is useful when you need to troubleshoot or debug application problems or system communications failures. Particularly when you are having problems with a particular protocol, such as LDAP or DNS, looking at the associated network traffic can be helpful to see what is being transmitted and received.

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First, make sure your network adapter is working. Generally there should be a flashing green light to indicate the adapter is connected and transmitting data.

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