Analysing network characteristics with JavaScript

• Philip Tellis

• .com• philip@lognormal.com

• @bluesmoon• geek paranoid speedfreak• http://bluesmoon.info/

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I <3 JavaScript

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So much that I wore Mustache socks to my wedding

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I’m also a Web Speedfreak

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We measure real user website performance

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This talk is (mostly) about how we abuse JavaScript to do it

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Messing with JS & the DOM to analyse theNetwork

Philip Tellis / philip@lognormal.com

Web-5 / 2012-04-04

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1Latency

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1 Blinking Lights

It takes about 18ms for light to get from Béziers to Boston(30ms through fibre)

Image from http://cablemap.info

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1 HTTP

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So to measure latency, we need to send 1 packet each way, andtime it

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Note about the code

Note that in the code,+ new Date

is equivalent tonew Date().getTime()

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1 Network latency in JavaScript

var ts, rtt, img = new Image;img.onload=function() { rtt=(+new Date - ts) };ts = +new Date;img.src="/1x1.gif";

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2TCP handshake

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2 ACK-ACK-ACK

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2 Connection: keep-alive

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2 Network latency & TCP handshake in JavaScript

var t=[], tcp, rtt;var ld = function() {

t.push(+new Date);if(t.length > 2) // run 2 times

done();else {var img = new Image;img.onload = ld;img.src="/1x1.gif?" + Math.random()

+ ’=’ + new Date;}

};var done = function() {

rtt=t[2]-t[1];tcp=t[1]-t[0]-rtt;

};ld();

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Notice that we’ve ignored DNS lookup time here... how wouldyou measure it?

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1 Notes

• 1x1 gif is 35 bytes• including HTTP headers, is smaller than a TCP packet• Fires onload on all browsers• 0 byte image fires onerror• which is indistinguishable from network error

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3Network Throughput

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3 Measuring Network Throughput

data_lengthdownload_time

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Should you fly a 747 or a 737?

• A 747 seats 400+ passengers• A 737 seats about 150• Both take about the same time to fly from CDG to MPL• A 747 takes longer to load and unload

The best selling aircraft to date is the 737

This analogy would have been much cooler if the Concorde still flew

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Low Latency, Low Bandwidth

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3 Network Throughput in JavaScript

// Assume global object// image={ url: ..., size: ... }var ts, rtt, bw, img = new Image;img.onload=function() {

rtt=(+new Date - ts);bw = image.size*1000/rtt; // rtt is in ms

};ts = +new Date;img.src=image.url;

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3 Measuring Network Throughput

If it were that simple, I wouldn’t be doing a talk at @web-5

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3 TCP Slow Start

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3 Measuring Network Throughput

So to make the best use of bandwidth, we need resources that fitin a TCP window

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3 There is no single size that will tax all available networks

http://www.yuiblog.com/blog/2010/04/08/analyzing-bandwidth-and-latency/

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3 Network Throughput in JavaScript – Take 2

// image object is now an array of multiple imagesvar i=0;var ld = function() {

if(i>0)image[i-1].end = +new Date;

if(i >= image.length)done();

else {var img = new Image;img.onload = ld;image[i].start = +new Date;img.src=image[i].url;

}i++;

};

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3 Measuring Network Throughput

Slow network connection, meet really huge image

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3 Network Throughput in JavaScript – Take 3

var img = new Image;img.onload = ld;image[i].start = +new Date;image[i].timer =

setTimeout(function() {image[i].expired=true

},image[i].timeout);

img.src=image[i].url;

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3 Network Throughput in JavaScript – Take 3

if(i>0) {image[i-1].end = +new Date;clearTimeout(image[i-1].timer);

}

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3 Network Throughput in JavaScript – Take 3

if(i >= image.length|| (i > 0 && image[i-1].expired)) {

done();}

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3 Measuring Network Throughput

Are we done yet?

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3 Measuring Network Throughput

Are we done yet?sure...

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3 Measuring Network Throughput

Except network throughput is different every time you test it

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Statistics to the Rescue

flickr/sophistechate/4264466015/

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3 Measuring Network Throughput

The code for that is NOT gonna fit on a slide

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But this is sort of what we see world-wide

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4DNS

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4 Measuring DNS

time_with_dns − time_without_dns

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4 Measuring DNS in JavaScript

var t=[], dns, ip, hosts=[’http://hostname.com/’,’http://ip.ad.dr.ess/’];

var ld = function() {t.push(+new Date);if(t.length > hosts.length)done();

else {var img = new Image;img.onload = ld;img.src=hosts[t.length-1] + "/1x1.gif";

}};var done = function() {

ip=t[2]-t[1];dns=t[1]-t[0]-ip;

};ld();

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4 Measuring DNS

What if DNS were already cached?

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4 Measuring DNS

What if DNS were already cached?Use a wildcard DNS entry

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4 Measuring DNS

What if you map DNS based on geo location?

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4 Measuring DNS

What if you map DNS based on geo location?A little more complicated, but doable

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4 Measuring DNS

Full code in boomerang’s DNS plugin

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5IPv6

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5 Measuring IPv6 support and latency

1 Try to load image from IPv6 host• If timeout or error, then no IPv6 support• If successful, then calculate latency and proceed

2 Try to load image from hostname that resolves only to IPv6host

• If timeout or error, then DNS server doesn’t support IPv6• If successful, calculate latency

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5 Measuring IPv6 support and latency

Full code in boomerang’s IPv6 plugin

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6Private Network Scanning

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6 Private Network Scanning

JavaScript in the browser runs with the User’s SecurityPrivileges

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6 Private Network Scanning

This means you can see the user’s private LAN

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6 Private Network Scanning – Gateways

1 Look at common gateway IPs: 192.168.1.1, 10.0.0.1, etc.2 When found, look for common image URLs assuming

various routers/DSL modems3 When found, try to log in with default username/password

if you’re lucky, the user is already logged in

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6 Private Network Scanning – Services

1 Scan host range on private network for common ports (80,22, 3306, etc.)

2 Measure how long it takes to onerror• Short timeout: connection refused• Long timeout: something listening, but it isn’t HTTP• Longer timeout: probably HTTP, but not an image

3 Try an iframe instead of an image

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–.done()

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Code/References

• http://github.com/bluesmoon/boomerang

• http://samy.pl/mapxss/

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• Philip Tellis

• .com• philip@lognormal.com

• @bluesmoon• geek paranoid speedfreak• http://bluesmoon.info/

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Thank you

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