WiFiMon measures the performance of WiFi networks, as experienced by WiFiMon Software Probes, i.e. End Users (crowdsourced measurements) and/or WiFiMon Hardware Probes (deterministic measurements), by embedding JavaScript code in frequently visited websites. Performance tests are triggered when End Users visit these websites and, in particular, after a web page is loaded so that browsing experience is not impacted by WiFiMon.
The aforementioned JavaScript code scripts along with the files, i.e. images that are required to perform the tests are contained in the WiFiMon Test Server (WTS). Performance
WiFiMon uses JavaScript in frequently-visited websites to trigger the tests. In Section 1, we provide the instructions to embed the scripts in your website downloading Images and scripts from our Apache Server, i.e. fl-5-205.unil.cloud.switch.ch that is located in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Notably, measurement results, i.e. Download/Upload Rates and Round Trip Times (RTTs) are relative to the WiFiMon Test Server. In case of the Apache Server located in Lausanne, results are relative to this server. For more accurate results, you may setup your own Apache Server to host the images and scripts that enabled the performance test from your server. The instructions to achieve that are presented in Section 2.
1. Embed Scripts in your Website
depend on the connectivity between the monitored WiFi network and the WTS location. Thus, for accurate results, the WTS should be located as close as possible to the monitored Subnets. In contrast, there is no requirement for the WiFiMon Analysis Server (WAS) to be placed close to the monitored networks. Note that the WAS and the WTS are not necessarily separate components and could be installed within the same machine. In the following, we consider the WAS and the WTS as two separate machines with FQDNs WAS_FQDN and WTS_FQDN respectively.
WiFiMon is currently using 3 JavaScript-based testtools to measure the performance of WiFi networks. These are (i) NetTest, (ii) boomerang and (iii) speedtest/HTML5.
In the reminder of this page we provide the details on:
- WiFiMon Test Server (WTS) installation: installing a web server, the testtools used by WiFiMon and the images that are used for monitoring
- The JavaScript code that is required to be embedded in the frequently visited websites.
This guide presents the commands required to install the WTS in a Debian-based distribution (Debian, Ubuntu, etc.). Other distributions may also be considered by adjusting the included commands appropriately.
Anchor WTS WTS
1. WiFiMon Test Server (WTS) Installation
| WTS | |
| WTS |
In the following, we detail the steps that are required to install the WiFiMon Test Server (WTS). Our installation was tested in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. Notably, WiFiMon currently uses the Apache2 web server. However, readers could adjust the following setup to their preferred web server.
First, Apache2 web server should be installed using the following commands:
| Code Block |
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sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y apache2
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart |
Then,Apache2 mod_headers should be enabled with the following commands:
| Code Block |
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a2enmod headers
sudo service apache2 restart |
WiFiMon also requires enabling CORS. The following lines should be added in the /etc/apache2/apache2.conf file and Apache2 should then be restarted:
| Code Block |
|---|
<Files ~ "\.(htm|html|css|dat|js|php|gif|jpg|png|swf)$">
Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*"
Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Methods "POST, GET, OPTIONS, DELETE, PUT"
Header always set Access-Control-Max-Age "1000"
Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Headers "x-requested-with, Content-Type, origin, authorization, accept, client-security-token"
</Files> |
Finally, the required scripts and images should be uploaded to the root directory of the Apache2 web server, i.e. directly under /var/www/html. The contents of the "testtools" directory which are available from the WiFiMon code repository (https://bitbucket.software.geant.org/projects/WFMON/repos/agent/browse/testtools) should be copied in the root directory of Apache2.
NOTE: This directory must be renamed from "testtools" to "wifimon".
A single modification is required in file "wifimon/js/nettest/nettest-swfobject.js". The variable "NetTest.FlashPath" should be configured to match the FQDN of the WiFiMon Test Server, i.e. WTS_FQDN.
Anchor website website
2. Embed Scripts in your Website
| website | |
| website |
WiFiMon is currently using 3 different JavaScript-based test tools to measure the performance of WiFi networks: NetTest, boomerang and speedtest/HTML5. The following paragraphs show the lines that should be included in the HTML code of these websites for each test tool.
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the frequently-visited websites for each testtool. The FQDN of the WiFiMon Test Server (WTS) is denoted as WTS_FQDN, the FQDN of the WiFiMon Analysis Server (WAS) is denoted as WAS_FQDN and the name of the utilized testtool should be included in the testtool attribute.
Example pages for each testtool are available in the "measurements" folder of the "testtools" directory in the WiFiMon code repository (https://bitbucket.software.geant.org/projects/WFMON/repos/agent/browse/testtools).
2.1. NetTest
Triggering NetTest measurements requires require embedding the following lines of code in your website:
<script
| Code Block | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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<html> <head> <script type="text/javascript" src="https:// |
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WTS_FQDN/wifimon/js/nettest/jquery-3.5.1.min.js" |
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></script> |
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<script type="text/javascript" src="https:// |
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WTS_FQDN/wifimon/js/nettest/nettest-swfobject.js" |
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></script> |
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<script type="text/javascript" src="https://www.google.com/jsapi" |
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></script> |
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<script type="text/javascript" id="settings" hostingWebsite="https" agentIp="WAS_FQDN" agentPort=" |
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8443" testtool="NetTest" |
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imagesLocation="https:// |
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WTS_FQDN/wifimon/images/" cookieTimeInMinutes=" |
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0.01" src="https:// |
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WTS_FQDN/wifimon/js/nettest/runtests.js" defer></script> |
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<!--meta http-equiv="refresh" content="30" -->
</head>
</html> |
- agentIP (required): Replace "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"WAS_FQDN" with the IP address (or domain name) of the WiFiMon Analysis Server.
- Replace "WTS_FQDN" with the IP address (or domain name) of the WiFiMon Analysis Test Server.
- imagesLocation (required): Public link to the folder where the images are downloaded to perform the NetTest measurements.
- testtool (required): With this attribute, you specify a name for the testtool. WiFiMon Analysis Server relies on the value of this attribute to visualize measurements received from WiFiMon Hardware Probes. Thus, if number x is assigned to a WiFiMon Hardware Probe, you should specify the value of this attribute . The following assumptions are made: (i) for websites visited by WiFiMon Software Probes the value of the testtool attribute should be specified as "NetTest", while (ii) for websites visited by WiFiMon Hardware Probes the testtool attribute should be specified as "NetTest-x" where x is the number assigned to a particular WiFiMon Hardware Probe. Note that you must use separate websites for WiFiMon Software Probes and WiFiMon Hardware Probes.
- cookieTimeInMinutes (optional): Duration time (in minutes) to set the cookie in order to prevent repeated measurements and overload the WiFiMon Analysis Server. If empty, "1.5" is assumed, i.e. 90 seconds.
- If your website already included the jquery.min.js, you have to delete the first line.
With the above JavaScript lines, the images (that NetTest is using) and scripts are downloaded from the WiFiMon Test Server located in Lausanne, Switzerland. For more accurate results you can setup your own Apache Server to host the images and scripts. Detailed instructions are provided in paragraph 2. - If the above scripts are will be embedded only to HTTP websites, the attribute hostingWebsite =should have the value "http" should be added at the last script after the id attribute. This will direct the measurements to the Non-Secure WiFiMon Agent running on port 9000.
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- " instead of "https". The value "https" is used for scripts that will be embedded in HTTPS websites.
- If the WiFiMon Analysis Server is configured to use the WiFiMon Non-Secure Processor, the attribute agentPort should have the value "9000" instead of "8443". The value "8443" is used if the WiFiMon Analysis Server is configured to use the WiFiMon Secure Processor.
NOTE: Except for the 4th bullet, the rest of the bullets apply for both subsections 2.2 and 2.3. Thus, they will not be included in the following subsections.
2.2. boomerang
Triggering boomerang measurements requires embedding the following lines of code in your website:
<script
| Code Block | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
<html> <head> <script type="text/javascript" src="https:// |
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WTS_FQDN/wifimon/js/boomerang/jquery-3.5.1.min.js" |
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></script> |
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<script type="text/javascript" src="https://www.google.com/jsapi" |
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></script> <script src="https:// |
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WTS_FQDN/wifimon/js/boomerang/boomerang.js" |
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type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="https:// |
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WTS_FQDN/wifimon/js/boomerang/bw.js" |
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type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="https:// |
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WTS_FQDN/wifimon/js/boomerang/rt.js" |
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type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" id="settings" hostingWebsite="https" agentIp="WAS_FQDN" agentPort=" |
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8443" testtool="boomerang" |
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imagesLocation="https:// |
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WTS_FQDN/wifimon/images/" cookieTimeInMinutes="" |
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src="https:// |
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WTS_FQDN/wifimon/js/boomerang/boomerang-trigger.js" defer></script> |
...
</head>
</html> |
- agentIP (required): Replace "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" with the IP address (or domain name) of the WiFiMon Analysis Server.
imagesLocation (required): Public link to the folder where the images are downloaded to perform the boomerang measurements.
testtool (required): With this attribute, you specify a name for the testtool. WiFiMon Analysis Server relies on the value of this attribute to visualize measurements received from WiFiMon Hardware Probes. Thus, if number x is assigned to a WiFiMon Hardware Probe, you should specify the value of this attribute as "boomerang-x".
cookieTimeInMinutes (optional): Duration time (in minutes) to set the cookie in order to prevent repeated measurements and overload the WiFiMon Analysis Server. If empty, "1.5" is assumed, i.e. 90 seconds.
If your website already included the jquery.min.js, you have to delete the first line.
With the above JavaScript lines, the images (that boomerang is using) and scripts are downloaded from the WiFiMon Test Server located in Lausanne, Switzerland. For more accurate results you can setup your own Apache Server to host the images and scripts. Detailed instructions are provided in paragraph 2. - If the above scripts are embedded only to HTTP websites, the attribute hostingWebsite="http" should be added at the last script after the id attribute. This will direct the measurements to the Non-Secure WiFiMon Agent running on port 9000.
1.3. Speedtest/HTML5
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- . The following assumptions are made: (i) for websites visited by WiFiMon Software Probes the value of the testtool attribute should be specified as "boomerang", while (ii) for websites visited by WiFiMon Hardware Probes the testtool attribute should be specified as "boomerang-x" where x is the number assigned to a particular WiFiMon Hardware Probe. Note that you must use separate websites for WiFiMon Software Probes and WiFiMon Hardware Probes.
2.3. Speedtest/HTML5
Speedtest requires two steps.
Step 1: Create the following proxy HTML page in the "measurements" folder of the "testtools" directory in the WiFiMon code repository (https://bitbucket.software.geant.org/projects/WFMON/repos/agent/browse/testtools):
| Code Block | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<iframe src="https://WTS_FQDN/wifimon/js/speedtest/speedworker.html" style="visibility: hidden;"></iframe>
<body/>
</html> |
Step 2: Create the following HTML page with name "speedworker.html" in the "js/speedworker" folder of the "testtools" directory in the WiFiMon code repository(https://bitbucket.software.geant.org/projects/WFMON/repos/agent/browse/testtools):
| Code Block | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Speed worker</title>
<script |
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type="text/javascript" src=" |
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jquery-3.5.1.min.js" |
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></script> |
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<script type="text/javascript" src="https://www.google.com/jsapi" |
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></script> |
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<script type="text/javascript" id="settings" hostingWebsite="https" agentIp= |
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"WAS_FQDN" agentPort="8443" testtool="speedtest" cookieTimeInMinutes="0.01" src=" |
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speedworker-post.js" |
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></script> |
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</head> |
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</html> |
...
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<Files ~ "\.(htm|html|css|dat|js|php|gif|jpg|png|swf)$">
Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*"
Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Methods "POST, GET, OPTIONS, DELETE, PUT"
Header always set Access-Control-Max-Age "1000"
Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Headers "x-requested-with, Content-Type, origin, authorization, accept, client-security-token"
...
- Step 4: Scripts and Images: Get the images and scripts related to WiFiMon testtools from https://fl-5-205.unil.cloud.switch.ch/testtools/. Place wifimon directory inside the root directory of Apache2 and make the following change: Embed in your website the scripts provided, after specifying the new URL in their src attribute and imagesLocation attribute (see Section 1).
2.3. Speedtest/HTML5
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<Files ~ "\.(htm|html|css|dat|js|php|gif|jpg|png|swf)$">
Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*"
Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Methods "POST, GET, OPTIONS, DELETE, PUT"
Header always set Access-Control-Max-Age "1000"
Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Headers "x-requested-with, Content-Type, origin, authorization, accept, client-security-token"
...
- agentIP (required): Replace "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" with the IP address (or domain name) of the WiFiMon Analysis Server.
testtool (required): With this attribute, you specify a name for the testtool. WiFiMon Analysis Server relies on the value of this attribute to visualize measurements received from WiFiMon Hardware Probes. Thus, if number x is assigned to a WiFiMon Hardware Probe, you should specify the value of this attribute as "speedtest-x".
cookieTimeInMinutes (optional): Duration time (in minutes) to set the cookie in order to prevent repeated measurements and overload the WiFiMon Analysis Server. If empty, "1.5" is assumed, i.e. 90 seconds.
If your website already included the jquery.min.js, you have to delete the first line.
With the above JavaScript lines, the images (that boomerang is using) and scripts are downloaded from the WiFiMon Test Server located in Lausanne, Switzerland. For more accurate results you can setup your own Apache Server to host the images and scripts. Detailed instructions are provided in paragraph 2. - If the above scripts are embedded only to HTTP websites, the attribute hostingWebsite="http" should be added at the last script after the id attribute. This will direct the measurements to the Non-Secure WiFiMon Agent running on port 9000.
2. Download Test Images from your Server
With the JavaScript lines of the previous section, the images and scripts are downloaded from our WiFiMon Test Server, i.e. fl-5-205.unil.cloud.switch.ch, that is located in Lausanne, Switzerland. Therefore, the performance results will be relative to this server.
2.1. NetTest
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<Files ~ "\.(htm|html|css|dat|js|php|gif|jpg|png|swf)$">
Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*"
Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Methods "POST, GET, OPTIONS, DELETE, PUT"
Header always set Access-Control-Max-Age "1000"
Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Headers "x-requested-with, Content-Type, origin, authorization, accept, client-security-token"
...
- Step 4: Scripts and Images: Get the images and scripts related to WiFiMon testtools from https://fl-5-205.unil.cloud.switch.ch/testtools/. Place wifimon directory inside the root directory of Apache2 and make the following changes:(i) wifimon/js/nettest/nettest-swfobject.js: Change the NetTest.FlashPath with the public link to nettest.swf.
(ii) Embed in your website the scripts provided, after specifying the new URL in their src attribute and imagesLocation attribute (see Section 1).
2.2. boomerang
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- Step 4: Scripts and Images: Get the images and scripts related to WiFiMon testtools from https://fl-5-205.unil.cloud.switch.ch/testtools/. Place wifimon directory inside the root directory of Apache2 and make the following change: If you have not created a proxy HTML page, you may use proxy.html (included in folder wifimon/js/speedtest) as the proxy HTML page. If this is the case, you will have to replace "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" in the agentIP attribute, with the IP address (or domain name) of the server where the WiFiMon Analysis Server is installed. In every case, you will also have to specify the new URLs for the scripts by changing their src attribute.. The following assumptions are made: (i) for websites visited by WiFiMon Software Probes the value of the testtool attribute should be specified as "speedtest", while (ii) for websites visited by WiFiMon Hardware Probes the testtool attribute should be specified as "speedtest-x" where x is the number assigned to a particular WiFiMon Hardware Probe. Note that you must use separate websites for WiFiMon Software Probes and WiFiMon Hardware Probes.
3. Combining Measurements in the Same Page
In case you want to include Including all three types of testtools (NetTest, boomerang, speedtest/HTML) in the same page, inject your measurements requires injecting the following HTML lines in the "head" section of your the website that is monitored by WiFiMon:
| Code Block | ||
|---|---|---|
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<iframe src="https:// |
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WTS_FQDN/wifimon/measurements/nettest.html" style="visibility: hidden;"></iframe> |
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<iframe src="https:// |
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WTS_FQDN/wifimon/ |
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measurements/ |
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boomerang.html" style="visibility: hidden;"></iframe> |
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<iframe src="https:// |
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WTS_FQDN/wifimon/js/ |
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speedtest/ |
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speedworker.html" style="visibility: hidden;"></iframe> |
where nettest.html, speedworker.html, boomerang.html include the Javascript JavaScript lines that trigger the necessary tests. These files were detailed above.