NAME
netperfmeter - Network Performance Meter
SYNOPSIS
netperfmeter [Port]
netperfmeter [Destination:Port] -local=Address[,Address,...]
-runtime=Seconds -config=Name -scalar=Name -vector=Name
-activenodename=Description -passivenodename=Description
-quiet -verbose -verbosity=Level -tcp -udp -sctp -dccp
[FLOWSPEC] [...]
DESCRIPTION
netperfmeter is a network performance meter for the UDP, TCP, SCTP and
DCCP transport protocols. It simultaneously transmits bidirectional
flows to an endpoint and measures the resulting flow bandwidths. The
results are written as vector and scalar files.
ARGUMENTS
The following arguments have to be provided:
Port The port number for the passive side's data socket. The port
number of the control socket will be port+1. Specifying a port
number turns netperfmeter in passive mode, i.e. it will wait for
incoming connections.
Destination:Port
Specifies the destination endpoint to connect to. This will turn
netperfmeter in active mode, i.e. it will connect to the
specified remote endpoint.
local=Address[,Address,...]
Specifies address(es) of the local endpoint. For TCP, UDP and
DCCP, only the first address is used!
runtime
Specifies the measurement runtime in seconds. After the given
time span, netperfmeter will finish the measurement.
config=Name
Specifies the name of the configuration file to write. Default is
output.config.
vector=Name
Specifies the name pattern of the vector files to write. If the
suffix of this name is .bz2, the file will be BZip2-compressed on
the fly. The vector name is automatically extended to name the
flow vector files by adding
-<active|passive>-<flow_id>-<stream_id> before the suffix.
Default is vector.vec.bz2, hence the name of the vector file for
flow 5, stream 2 on the passive node will be vector-
passive-00000005-0002.vec.bz2.
scalar=Name
Specifies the name pattern of the scalar files to write. If the
suffix of this name is .bz2, the file will be BZip2-compressed on
the fly. The scalar name is automatically extended to name the
flow scalar files by adding
-<active|passive>-<flow_id>-<stream_id> before the suffix.
Default is scalar.vec.bz2, hence the name of the scalar file for
flow 5, stream 2 on the passive node will be scalar-
passive-00000005-0002.vec.bz2.
activenodename=Description
Sets a textual description of the active node (e.g. Client).
passivenodename=Description
Sets a textual description of the passive node (e.g. Server).
quiet Reduces verbosity of log output. May be specified multiple times.
verbose
Increases verbosity of log output. May be specified multiple
times.
verbosity=Level
Sets the verbosity of the log output to a given level, from 1
(lowest) to 6 (highest).
sctp Establish a new SCTP association. The streams of this association
must be specified by one or more FLOWSPEC specifications as
following parameters.
tcp Establish a new TCP connection. The flow of this connection must
be specified by a FLOWSPEC specification as following parameter.
udp Establish a new UDP connection. The flow of this connection must
be specified by a FLOWSPEC specification as following parameter.
dccp Establish a new DCCP connection. The flow of this connection must
be specified by a FLOWSPEC specification as following parameter.
Note, that DCCP is not available on all platforms yet.
FLOWSPEC
Specifies a new flow. The format is:
outgoing_frame_rate:outgoing_frame_size:incoming_frame_size:incoming_frame_rate:option:...
outgoing_frame_rate
The frame rate of the outgoing transfer (i.e. active node
to passive node). If set to const0, the sender will be
saturarted, i.e. it will try to send as much as possible.
outgoing_frame_size
The frame size of the outgoing transfer (i.e. active node
to passive node). If set to const0, there will be *no*
data transmission in this direction.
incoming_frame_rate
The frame rate of the incoming transfer (i.e. passive
node to active node). See outgoing_frame_rate for
details.
incoming_frame_size
The frame size of the incoming transfer (i.e. active node
to passive node). See outgoing_frame_size for details.
Possible options:
id=Flow Identifier
Sets an ID number for the flow. The IDs within a
measurement must be unique!
description=Description
Sets a textual description of the flow (e.g.
HTTP-Flow). Do not use spaces in the description!
maxmsgsize=Bytes
Splits frames into messages of at most the given
number of bytes. Messages may not exceed 65535
bytes.
defragtimeout=Milliseconds
Messages not received within this timeout after
the last successfully received message are
accounted as lost. NOTE: this also happens if the
transport protocol is reliable and the message is
actually received later!
unordered=Fraction
Specifies the fraction of the messages that will
be sent in unordered mode (SCTP only).
ordered=Fraction
Specifies the fraction of the messages that will
be sent in ordered mode (SCTP only).
reliable=Fraction
Specifies the fraction of the messages that will
be sent in reliable mode (SCTP only).
unreliable=Fraction
Specifies the fraction of the messages that will
be sent in unreliable mode (SCTP only).
rtx_timeout=Milliseconds
Sets the retransmission timeout for unreliable
messages (SCTP only; not available on all
platforms!)
rtx_trials=Trials
Sets the retransmission trials for unreliable
messages (SCTP only; not available on all
platforms!)
rcvbuf=Bytes
Sets the receiver buffer size to the given number
of bytes.
sndbuf=Bytes
Sets the sender buffer size to the given number
of bytes.
onoff=t1,t2,...
A list of time stamps when the flow should be
activated or deactivated. If onoff is given, the
flow is off at startup. At t1, it will be turned
on; at t2, it will be turned off, etc.. Time
stamps can be given as absolute values (e.g.
onoff=0,10,30 - to turn on at t=0, turn off at
t=10 and turn on again at t=30 until end of
measurement) or relative values (e.g.
on=10,+30,+60 - to turn on at t=10, turn off at
t=40 and turn on again at t=100 until end of
measurement).
EXAMPLES
Some netperfmeter usage examples:
netperfmeter 9000
Start in passive mode, i.e. accepting connections, on port 9000.
netperfmeter 172.16.255.254:9000 -vector=output.vec.bz2
-scalar=output.sca.bz2 -sctp
const5:exp1000:const3:exp500:description="Alpha":onoff=+10
const5:exp1000:const3:exp500:description="Beta":onoff=+30 -tcp
const5:exp1000:const3:exp500:description="Gamma":onoff=+60
-runtime=300
Start in active mode, i.e. establish connection to
172.16.255.254, port 9000. Frames will be segmented into
messages of up to 4096 bytes. Write vectors to output.vec.bz2
(BZip2-compressed). Write scalars to output.sca.bz2
(BZip2-compressed). Establish SCTP association. At t=10s, start
flow "Alpha" as first stream of this association, using a frame
rate of 5 (constant) and average frame size of 1000 bytes
(negative exponential distribution) for the outgoing data and a
frame rate of 3 (constant) and average frame size of 500 bytes
(negative exponential distribution) for the incoming data. At
t=30s, start flow "Beta" as second stream on the SCTP association
(same parameters as flow "Alpha"). Start TCP connection. At
t=60s, start flow "Gamma" over the TCP connection (same
parameters as flow "Alpha"). At t=300s, stop the measurement.
AUTHORS
Thomas Dreibholz
http://www.iem.uni-due.de/~dreibh/netperfmeter
mailto://dreibh@iem.uni-due.de