netselect
determines the fastest network servers from a list of hosts by measuring
TLDR
SYNOPSIS
netselect [options] hosts...
DESCRIPTION
netselect determines the fastest network servers from a list of hosts by measuring packet round-trip time and routing hops. It sends probe packets and ranks hosts based on a combined score of latency and hop count.The output score is calculated as latency multiplied by (number of hops)^3, favoring nearby servers with low latency. Lower scores indicate better servers.Commonly used to select the fastest Debian mirror or DNS server. The companion tool netselect-apt automates mirror selection for Debian systems.
PARAMETERS
-v
Verbose mode; show resolution and stats (use -vv for more detail)-m _ttl_
Maximum TTL (time to live) for probe packets-s _n_
Print the n fastest servers instead of just the fastest-t _n_
Number of packets to send per host-I
Use ICMP echo instead of UDP
INSTALL
CAVEATS
Requires root privileges to send raw packets. Results may vary based on network conditions at test time. ICMP packets may be blocked by some firewalls, affecting results. The scoring algorithm favors fewer hops, which isn't always optimal.
SEE ALSO
netselect-apt(1), ping(8), traceroute(8)
