Show HN: Probe API – Utilities for distributed network testing

github.com

8 points·forcer··3 comments

Hey Everyone, The github project has full source code of our command line utilities which allow you to run tests from different networks. This can be useful if you want to find out ping times from different locations , or run reverse traceroute.

Also, I welcome any developer to use our API to run any sort of network tests such as testing latencies (ping/http/dns), speed (http throughput), running traceroutes and figuring out how the internet is wired. Our background is in internet speed testing, we have been measuring internet connection quality since 2007 and helping millions of users each month with accurate speed testing tools. The API is free for non-commercial use, after few requests you will need to sign up for the free API key (this is to prevent abuse).

My knee-jerk reaction was, "oh great, distributed ping... that won't ever be misused." I've never been happier to be wrong.

The range of tests available is quite impressive and rivals services like Pingdom and ThousandEyes. Granted, you'd have to write your own dashboard, but we're all coders here right? (I know we're not, but it's still fun to generalize at times)

One thing that is not immediately clear is how to get a free API key. You say "sign up" so I'm led to believe there's a link for me to click on and a form to fill out, but I'm not seeing any, on your site or mashape. Makes me sad.

Thanks for the feedback. Definitely the Free sign up could be more obvious. At the moment its below the fold on the homepage.

If anyone is interested here is the direct link to sign up for API key: https://market.mashape.com/optimalsoftware/freeprobeapi

(also that's where the documentation is and ability to query API without coding)

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