: Test two different web hosts for speed, latency, etc My site is currently hosted on an LA server. My target audience is Beijing, so I am moving to a server in Hong Kong (close enough without

@Alves908

In addition to the other answers here recommending third-party services, I would recommend testing from your own machine there in Beijing. The advantage is that you are physically present at the location you wish to serve.

The simplest way is to use ab the Apache HTTP server benchmarking tool. I have Apache installed on my Linux desktop so for me to perform a simple test on example.com I would enter in terminal:

ab -n 10 -c 5 "http://www.example.com/"


This runs ten benchmark tests, five at a time, and gives detailed results with averages. Change the variables around to perform more stressful tests if you like, but this example repeated over time will probably be good enough.

And don't worry if you have no Linux machines available as you can install Apache on different operating systems, dual-boot or even make a 'live' Linux instance to use for testing from a USB stick.

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@Sarah324

As previusly mentioned, Pingdom is one good option but I personally prefer www.webpagetest.org/. I would register a free account before running tests. That way you can compare results visually. After you run a test, video of your median run gets recorded. You can then go and compare two separate test runs side by side. You can also choose different browsers, locations and etc. WebPageTest in my opinion gives much more accurate results.

Other option would be to use something like JMeter. It will allow you to do some stress testing.

Lastly, remember that location of the server is not the only thing that effects performance. If a site is poorly coded, too many database requests or cache is not configured properly you will still run into trouble.

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@Murphy175

You can try the Ping and Traceroute tools found here: tools.pingdom.com/fpt/
They work well.
www.site24x7.com allows you to see the server response times over a period of time, you can also sign up for a free account. If you set this up a few days or a week before your move, they would be able to show you the effect it had on speed once your move was complete for a few days. This tools checks your server at a specified frequency, like you were looking for.

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