Quick Start with Conntester: Installation to First Test in 5 MinutesConntester is a lightweight, user-friendly tool designed to quickly diagnose and validate network connections, APIs, and service endpoints. This guide walks you through everything needed to get Conntester installed and run your first test within five minutes — no prior experience required. We’ll cover system requirements, installation options (binary, package manager, and Docker), a quick configuration, running common tests, interpreting results, and basic troubleshooting.
What Conntester does (short overview)
Conntester helps you:
- Verify endpoint reachability and response times.
- Validate API behavior (status codes, headers, basic content checks).
- Simulate simple load by running multiple quick concurrent checks.
- Log and export results for further analysis.
System requirements
- Operating system: Linux, macOS, or Windows (WSL supported)
- CPU: Any modern x86_64 or ARM64 processor
- Memory: Minimum 128 MB free RAM
- Disk: ~20 MB for the binary and logs
- Network: Outbound HTTP/HTTPS access to targets you plan to test
Installation options
Choose the method that fits your environment. The commands below assume a Unix-like shell unless otherwise noted.
1) Download precompiled binary (recommended for quick start)
- Visit the Conntester releases page (or use your direct download link).
- Download the appropriate binary for your OS/architecture.
- Make it executable and move to a directory in your PATH:
# Example for Linux x86_64 wget https://example.com/conntester-v1.2.3-linux-amd64.tar.gz tar -xzf conntester-v1.2.3-linux-amd64.tar.gz chmod +x conntester sudo mv conntester /usr/local/bin/ - Verify installation:
conntester --version You should see something like: Conntester v1.2.3
2) Package manager (Homebrew for macOS/Linux)
brew install conntester Verify with:
conntester --version 3) Docker (isolated environment)
docker run --rm --network host ghcr.io/example/conntester:latest conntester --version Or run a quick test via Docker:
docker run --rm ghcr.io/example/conntester:latest conntester test https://example.com Configuration — quickest path
Conntester works out of the box with command-line flags. For repeated tests you can create a simple YAML config (~/.conntester.yaml):
targets: - name: example url: https://example.com method: GET expected_status: 200 timeout_ms: 3000 concurrency: 5 output: json Run with:
conntester run --config ~/.conntester.yaml Run your first test in under 5 minutes
Step-by-step (fastest route):
- Install the binary as shown above. (1–2 minutes)
- From your shell, run a quick single-request test:
conntester test https://example.com - Example output (succinct):
- OK — 200 in 120 ms
- Headers: Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
- Body snippet: “<!doctype html>…”
If you want a JSON result:
conntester test https://example.com --output json To test an API endpoint with a POST and JSON body:
conntester test https://api.example.com/v1/login --method POST --header "Content-Type: application/json" --body '{"username":"user","password":"pass"}' --expected_status 200 Common test patterns
-
Healthcheck endpoints: conntester test https://service.internal/health –expected_status 200
-
Multiple targets at once (using a file):
# targets.txt https://a.example.com https://b.example.com conntester batch --input targets.txt --concurrency 10 --output csv -
Simple load-ish test:
conntester run --target https://example.com --concurrency 50 --duration 30s(Note: Conntester is for light diagnostics, not heavy load testing.)
Interpreting results
- Status 2xx + low latency: success
- 4xx: client error — check request data or auth
- 5xx: server error — server-side issue
- Timeouts: network, DNS, firewall, or target overload
- Increased variance in latency: network instability or throttling
Logging and exporting
Conntester supports output formats: text, json, csv. Use –output to choose. Example:
conntester run --config ~/.conntester.yaml --output csv > results.csv Basic troubleshooting
- “command not found”: ensure the binary is in PATH and executable.
- Permission denied on network: check firewall, VPN, or proxy settings.
- TLS errors: update CA bundle or use –insecure for quick testing only.
- Unexpected ⁄403: include auth headers or tokens.
Security and responsible testing
- Only test systems you own or have permission to test.
- Avoid running high-concurrency tests against public services without consent.
- Protect any stored credentials (use environment variables or secrets manager).
Next steps and learning resources
- Create reusable YAML configs for regular checks.
- Integrate Conntester into CI to run lightweight health checks.
- Export CSV/JSON to visualization tools or dashboards.
Conntester gets you from zero to a verified connection in minutes. Follow the quick install and single-command test above to confirm connectivity, then expand with configs and batch tests as needed.
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