Looking Glass
Looking Glass is a web page hosted inside an INTROSERV data center. It runs network tests from that data center to an IP address or hostname you specify, so you can see how traffic is routed from the data center to your computer, your office, or your users.
Use Looking Glass before ordering a dedicated server or VPS to compare locations, or later to check a connectivity problem with a server you already have. No account or login is required.
What you can check
Each Looking Glass page shows basic information about its location: the city, the facility, the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses of the Looking Glass server, and your own IP address.
The following tests are available:
pingshows the round-trip time (latency) between the data center and the target.tracerouteshows the route traffic takes, hop by hop, from the data center to the target.mtrcombines ping and traceroute: it tests every hop repeatedly and shows latency and packet loss for each one.- Test files (100 MB, 500 MB, 1 GB) let you measure download speed from the data center through your browser.
- iperf3 commands let you measure throughput in both directions between your machine and the data center.
Most locations also offer IPv6 versions of the tests (ping6, traceroute6, mtr6).
The set of tests can differ between locations. For example, the Hillsboro (USA) page offers ping, traceroute, mtr and host lookup, but no iperf3 and no IPv6 tests.
INTROSERV Looking Glass locations
Europe
| Country | Location | Looking Glass |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | Frankfurt | lg.de.introserv.com |
| Germany | Limburg | lg2.de.introserv.com |
| France | Strasbourg | lg.fr.introserv.com |
| France | Gravelines | lg2.fr.introserv.com |
| Netherlands | Amsterdam | lg2.nl.introserv.com |
| Netherlands | Naaldwijk | lg.nl.introserv.com |
| Poland | Warsaw | lg.pl.introserv.com |
| United Kingdom | London | lg.uk.introserv.com |
North America
| Country | Location | Looking Glass |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | Beauharnois | lg.ca.introserv.com |
Asia-Pacific
| Country | Location. | Looking Glass |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Sydney | lg.au.introserv.com |
| Singapore | Singapore | lg.sg.introserv.com |
How to run a test
Open the Looking Glass page for the location you want to check. To test the connection to your own computer, copy the address from the Your IP field. To test the connection to your users, enter the IP address or hostname of a server or website in their region.
Paste the address into the Target field, select a test in the Method list, and click Execute. The result appears on the same page after a few seconds. For mtr, wait until the test finishes, because it sends several rounds of packets.
To check download speed, click one of the test file buttons. Your browser downloads the file and shows the speed. The 100 MB file is enough for most connections; use the larger files for fast links. This test measures download speed only, from the data center to your browser.
To test throughput with iperf3, install iperf3 on your machine and copy one of the commands from the Speedtest block. The command without the -R option sends data from your machine to the data center. The command with -R reverses the direction and sends data from the data center to your machine.
For details, see Checking connection speed with iperf.
Before running iperf3, check that the host in the command matches the location you opened.
How to read the results
Latency is shown in milliseconds. Lower values mean faster responses, which matters most for games, VoIP, remote desktops and interactive applications. Physical distance is one factor, but the route and the connections between networks matter as well, so a nearby data center does not always give the best numbers.
Packet loss is the share of packets that did not reach the target. Loss shown only on an intermediate hop is usually harmless: many routers limit or deprioritize replies to test packets while forwarding normal traffic without problems. Loss that starts at one hop and continues to the final hop is more likely to indicate a problem affecting the route.
The route shows which networks carry your traffic. A route that takes a long detour, for example through another continent, can explain unexpectedly high latency.
To check the route from your side as well, run mtr or WinMTR on your own computer.
See Checking the WinMTR channel and MTR test on macOS.
Choosing a data center
Test the location from where your users are, not only from where you are. If most of your users are in Eastern Europe, run tests from Warsaw, Frankfurt and Amsterdam to a server or website in their region and compare latency and packet loss. Repeat the tests at different times of day to see how stable the connection is.
When you have chosen a location, you can order a dedicated server or a VPS there.
If you already have a server with INTROSERV and see network problems, collect the results from Looking Glass and from your side, then contact support. In the request, include the location you tested, the target address, and the mtr output from both sides.
