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Spirent Customer Service Center: Improving download performance from the downloads section of the CSC

Objective/Summary

Offers tips and a free downloadable application that can often significantly improve performance and reliability of downloads

Environment/Versions
  • Spirent Customer Service Center (downloads section)

Spirent Download Manager 3.9.6 (more information below):

  • Runs on Microsoft Windows XP/2003/Vista/7/8/10 (32 or 64 bit versions)
  • Works with most browsers (Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome browser, Opera, Netscape)
    • However, the newest browsers may not work (for example, Firefox 30+ is incompatible as of May 2014)-- if you encounter this, we suggest going to the main window of SDM and clicking "Help > Check for update now" to look for an update, or temporarily using another browser
enlightenedNote that the folks that created this download manager have released a newer, more modern version as of September 2018. We recommend downloading and using that version (click the green download button in the Notes section below), but will continue to offer this legacy version, which has a few features currently missing from the new one (but none of which are relevant to downloading).
Procedure

With the new Spirent Downloads system, servers that handle downloads from the Spirent Customer Service Center (CSC) are distributed worldwide (a significant improvement from the legacy download site that offered all downloads from Southern California).

Many of the downloads on the CSC are hundreds of megabytes in size (some even larger), which can sometimes be difficult to download successfully in the first try. The connection speed might be slow, or the download can fail as you're almost complete, often requiring a restart of the entire file. Spirent offers a free Spirent Download Manager software as a solution to improve your downloads at Spirent and as a side benefit, throughout the rest of the Internet. The software accelerates downloads by splitting files into sections and downloading them simultaneously (tests have shown 10-12 connections). As a result, even though each connection may be slow, the aggregate download speed can sometimes increase dramatically (since the multiple connections can help saturate your connection to the Internet (in other words, helping to achieve the maximum possible speed your Internet connection can get). This software also resumes broken/interrupted downloads to prevent restarts after an interruption. Once installed, it works seamlessly with your browser, replacing the normal browser download interface. This software is released under GNU General Public License at sourceforge.net.

System requirements: In order to use Spirent Download Manager, you must have one of the following operating systems installed on your computer: Microsoft Windows 2003/XP/Vista/7/8/10 (32 or 64 bit versions).

Tips on using Spirent Download Manager:

  • SDM can handle multiple downloads-- just click on each download from your browser and they'll queue up in SDM to download. This can be a convenient way to setup a series of downloads to run overnight.
  • SDM is normally set to startup automatically. If you'd like to turn this off, right-click the SDM icon and deselect "Load on startup"-- see image below.
  • The organization that created SDM frequently releases updates (especially as new versions of browsers come out). It's helpful to periodically check for updates, especially if SDM starts behaving differently than expected.
  • SDM can also be toggled on and off to handle downloads from your browser. Right click on the SDM icon and choose "Browser monitoring". When Browser monitoring is off, the browser's normal built-in downloader will handle the download.
     
Notes

enlightenedPLEASE NOTE: This software is offered by Spirent Communications as a courtesy to our customers seeking improved download performance, but please note that we did not write it, and hence we are unable to support it. Each user is responsible to virus check any program downloaded from the site before installation. Spirent is not responsible for any loss or damage resulting from users' downloading or using this Spirent Download Manager. Support can be found at FDM Support or at The FDM Forums.

If you would like to get the public, non-Spirent branded version of the Download Manager or to read more details about this program, stop by the FDM site.

Free Download Manager
Free Download Manager

Attachments
Attachment Description
LEGACY Spirent Download Manager for Windows FDM version 3.9.6 (new download recommended-- see note under Environment/Versions for more info)


Product : CSC