iPerf3

iPerf3

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When you release an ip connectivity the most last important step is TEST, STRESS and TRY-OUT the new line based on customer requirements. There are many tools and blackboxes on the market especially if you need to test 1,10, 40 or 100 Gbps links. We use iPerf3 a great tool for active measurements with a various set of parameters like:

  • TCP bandwidth
    Measure bandwidth, report MSS/MTU size and observed read sizes, Support for TCP window size via socket buffers, multi-thread.
  • UDP bandwidth
    Measure packet loss, delay jitter, multicast capable.
  • Packet loss
  • Jitter
  • MTU monitor

In addition to the CLI version there is a graphic GUI for iPerf3. It is written in Java and allows to select all the measurement parameters provided by the console. It also produces a graphic output useful to be attached to the test reports.

Let’s do some examples with a Linux CLI:

# Start server side:
iperf3 -s 

# Start client DOWNLOAD test:
iperf3 -c [server.ip] -t 100

# Start client UPLOAD test:
iperf3 -c [server.ip] -t 100 -R

# Start client UDP test:
iperf3 -c [server.ip] -u

# Start client JUMBO-FRAMES test:
iperf3 -c [server.ip] -t 100 -M 9000

Output:

iperf3 -c iperf3.glitchlist.com
Connecting to host iperf3.glitchlist.com, port 5201
[  5] local 10.10.10.1 port 58870 connected to iperf3.glitchlist.com port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  64.5 MBytes   541 Mbits/sec   20    200 KBytes       
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  76.2 MBytes   639 Mbits/sec   10    290 KBytes       
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  73.3 MBytes   615 Mbits/sec   31    203 KBytes       
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  75.4 MBytes   633 Mbits/sec    7    270 KBytes       
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  70.8 MBytes   594 Mbits/sec    6    341 KBytes       
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  82.0 MBytes   688 Mbits/sec    0    461 KBytes       
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  81.7 MBytes   685 Mbits/sec   37    442 KBytes       
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  82.2 MBytes   689 Mbits/sec    0    518 KBytes       
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  78.4 MBytes   658 Mbits/sec   36    397 KBytes       
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  80.0 MBytes   671 Mbits/sec    4    286 KBytes       
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   764 MBytes   641 Mbits/sec  151             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   763 MBytes   640 Mbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.


iperf3 -c iperf3.glitchlist.com -R
Connecting to host iperf3.glitchlist.com, port 5201
Reverse mode, remote host iperf3.glitchlist.com is sending
[  5] local 10.10.10.1 port 59270 connected to iperf3.glitchlist.com port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  71.3 MBytes   598 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  56.4 MBytes   473 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  49.9 MBytes   418 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  54.7 MBytes   459 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  49.5 MBytes   415 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  58.6 MBytes   492 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  56.1 MBytes   470 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  64.8 MBytes   544 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  81.3 MBytes   682 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  78.8 MBytes   661 Mbits/sec                  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   623 MBytes   523 Mbits/sec  969             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   621 MBytes   521 Mbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.

Note the -R parameter which is very useful during testing and troubleshooting phases. It allows you to measure the remote download (upstream) without acting directly on the server where the iPerf3 daemon is running but only adding the -R client-side option iperf3 -c iperf3.glitchlist.com -R

Of course you can also reach 1G or 10G public iPerf servers at this link.

.glitchlist crew

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