Debug Network issues from the outside using NLNOG Ring

Having CLI access to remote servers from external operators to run commands like ping, traceroute, mtr, etc., makes the troubleshooting proccess easier. A point of view outside your network is essential when trying identify latency, packet loss or connectivity issues between your IPs and the Internet. Thanks Job Snijders and the NLNOG community for making the ring possible.

What is NLNOG Ring?

NLNOG Ring is a community of network operators that share a virtual linux machine within their network. All members have access to all the servers that are part of the project and you can run commands from multiple servers at the same time. Some examples of what you can do in the ring:

Run a traceroute from 10 remote servers to a specific IP and paste the output to pastebin in jpg format
Ping an IP from N remote servers and see the latency per server
Run DNS queries from remote servers
Send http requests from remote servers to a specific IP
Validate AS-PATH and BGP routing information from web based looking glass

NLNOG Ring in numbers

416 organizations
496 servers
426 ASNs
Members from 56 countries

Participation

The requirements to participate are:

Your organisation has its own ASN, IPv4 and IPv6 prefix(es).
You are a network operator
The organisation you work for has BGP routers connected to the ”Default Free Zone” and maybe even IXP’s.
You have enable or configure rights on those routers.
You are involved in the networkers community.
You have permission from your organisation to become involved in the NLNOG RING.