High-Capacity Bandwidth Testing Software?

An anonymous reader asks: "I work for an ISP which specializes in high bandwidth (100+ megabit) fiber-based delivery solutions. As with any other ISP we sometimes have to perform troubleshooting with customers who are reporting slow throughput. We currently have a home-grown bandwidth testing server in order to point-to-point test the throughput across our own network. Unfortunately (fortunately), customers have begun purchasing amounts of bandwidth that are capable of exceeding our testing capacity. Given a multi-gigabit network infrastructure and an on-net server with a gigabit Ethernet port, what software packages are available which can reliably test throughput approaching one gigabit? Cross-browser compatibility and 'click-here-to-test' usability should be considerations."

Easy

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Given a multi-gigabit network infrastructure and an on-net server with a gigabit Ethernet port, what software packages are available which can reliably test throughput approaching one gigabit?

You need a fast computer with a large hard-disk and a gigabit ethernet card, tcpdump, a shell, and 12000 monkeys to read the logs.

Really easy

[ceroklis]

Put a stash of porn at one end of your network and a slashdotter at the other. That should max out the link.

Cheap, easy solution...

[__aaclcg7560]

Cross-browser compatibility and 'click-here-to-test' usability should be considerations.

Clicking on an infected email attachment should saturate the bandwidth and test the infrastructure thoroughly. Cleaning up the post-testing mess can be painful.

Slashdot

[davidbrit2]

If you had included a link to one of your web sites with your submission, then you'd already be done.

Half Life!

[Res3000]

(Found somewhere on bash.org)
Oy! Maybe my job does rock.
Da Fluke network tester (a $6000 Gameboy wannabe) was broken today since someone took the lithium batteries out of it and neglected to put them back in the case.
We had to test out the connection between floors 2&4, going through floor 3 in the process.
so I tell da b0ss that the Network tester is dead... And I need to generate network traffic so I can see the stats on the switches and routers, make sure no packets are being killed prematurely.
So he sayz "How much is that tester worth?", I say "6K". He says "Great!".
he picks up his office phone, hits the global annoucement button, and says "Floors Two, Three, and Four, our IT Admin requires that you generate network traffic for equipment testing. Grab Half Life off my network share, I'll host". He hangs up and says "Happy?", I say "that works".
The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to a rather large Half Life MP game on Crossfire :).