Iperf

Iperf is a tool to measure the bandwidth and the quality of a network link.
Jperf can be associated with Iperf

to provide a graphical frontend written in Java.
The network link is delimited by two hosts running Iperf.
The quality of a link can be tested as follows:

- Latency (response time or RTT): can be measured with the Ping command.
- Jitter (latency variation): can be measured with an Iperf UDP test.
- Datagram loss: can be measured with an Iperf UDP test.
The bandwidth is measured through TCP tests.
To be clear, the difference between TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is
that TCP use processes to check that the packets are correctly sent to the receiver whereas with UDP the
packets are sent without any checks but with the advantage of being quicker than TCP.
Iperf uses the different capacities of TCP and UDP to provide statistics about network links.
Finally, Iperf can be installed very easily on any UNIX/Linux or Microsoft Windows system. One host must be
set as client, the other one as server.
Here is a diagram where Iperf is installed on a Linux and Microsoft Windows machine.
Linux is used as the Iperf client and Windows as the Iperf server. Of course, it is also possible to use two
Linux boxes.
Iperf tests:
no arg. Default settings -p, -t, -i Port, timing and interval

-b Data format -u, -b UDP tests, bandwidth settings
-r Bi-directional bandwidth -m Maximum Segment Size display
-d Simultaneous bi-directional bandwidth -M Maximum Segment Size settings
-w TCP Window size -P Parallel tests
-h help
Jperf:
no arg. Default settings

-d Simultaneous bi-directional bandwidth
-u, -b UDP tests, bandwidth settings
Default Iperf settings:

Also check "Jperf section.
By default, the Iperf client connects to the Iperf server on the TCP port 5001 and the bandwidth displayed by
Iperf is the bandwidth from the client to the server.
If you want to use UDP tests, use the -u argument.
The -d and -r Iperf client arguments measure the bi-directional bandwidths. (See further on this tutorial)
Client side:
#iperf -c 10.1.1.1
------------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to 10.1.1.1, TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 16384 Byte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
[ 3] local 10.6.2.5 port 33453 connected with 10.1.1.1 port 5001
[ 3] 0.0-10.2 sec 1.26 MBytes 1.05 Mbits/sec
Server side:
#iperf -s
------------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 8.00 KByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
[852] local 10.1.1.1 port 5001 connected with 10.6.2.5 port 33453
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[852] 0.0-10.6 sec 1.26 MBytes 1.03 Mbits/sec
Data formatting: (-f argument)
The -f argument can display the results in the desired format: bits(b), bytes(B), kilobits(k), kilobytes(K),
megabits(m), megabytes(M), gigabits(g) or gigabytes(G).
Generally the bandwidth measures are displayed in bits (or Kilobits, etc ...) and an amount of data is
displayed in bytes (or Kilobytes, etc ...).
As a reminder, 1 byte is equal to 8 bits and, in the computer science world, 1 kilo is equal to 1024 (2^10).
For example: 100'000'000 bytes is not equal to 100 Mbytes but to 100'000'000/1024/1024 = 95.37 Mbytes.
Client side:
#iperf -c 10.1.1.1 -f b
------------------------------------------------------------
TCP window size: 16384 Byte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
[ 3] 0.0-10.2 sec 1359872 Bytes 1064272 bits/sec
Server side:
#iperf -s
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
[852] 0.0-10.6 sec 920 KBytes 711 Kbits/sec
Top of the page
Bi-directional bandwidth measurement: (-r argument)
The Iperf server connects back to the client allowing the bi-directional bandwidth measurement. By default,
only the bandwidth from the client to the server is measured.
If you want to measure the bi-directional bandwidth simultaneously, use the -d keyword. (See next test.)
Client side:
#iperf -c 10.1.1.1 -r
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
[ 5] 0.0-10.0 sec 1.12 MBytes 936 Kbits/sec
Server side:
#iperf -s
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
[852] 0.0-10.1 sec 1.15 MBytes 956 Kbits/sec
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
Simultaneous bi-directional bandwidth measurement: (-d argument)

Also check the "Jperf" section.
To measure the bi-directional bandwidths simultaneousely, use the -d argument. If you want to test the
bandwidths sequentially, use the -r argument (see previous test).
By default (ie: without the -r or -d arguments), only the bandwidth from the client to the server is
measured.
Client side:
#iperf -c 10.1.1.1 -d
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
Server side:
#iperf -s
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
TCP Window size: (-w argument)
The TCP window size is the amount of data that can be buffered during a connection without a validation from
the receiver.
It can be between 2 and 65,535 bytes.
On Linux systems, when specifying a TCP buffer size with the -w argument, the kernel allocates double as
much as indicated.
Client side:
#iperf -c 10.1.1.1 -w 2000
WARNING: TCP window size set to 2000 bytes. A small window size
will give poor performance. See the Iperf documentation.
------------------------------------------------------------
TCP window size: 3.91 KByte (WARNING: requested 1.95 KByte)
------------------------------------------------------------
[ 3] 0.0-10.1 sec 704 KBytes 572 Kbits/sec
Server side:
#iperf -s -w 4000
------------------------------------------------------------
TCP window size: 3.91 KByte
------------------------------------------------------------
[852] 0.0-10.1 sec 704 KBytes 570 Kbits/sec
Communication port (-p), timing (-t) and interval (-i):
The Iperf server communication port can be changed with the -p argument. It must be configured on the
client and the server with the same value, default is TCP port 5001.
The -t argument specifies the test duration time in seconds, default is 10 secs.
The -i argument indicates the interval in seconds between periodic bandwidth reports.
Client side:
#iperf -c 10.1.1.1 -p 12000 -t 20 -i 2
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
[ 3] 0.0- 2.0 sec 224 KBytes 918 Kbits/sec
[ 3] 2.0- 4.0 sec 368 KBytes 1.51 Mbits/sec
[ 3] 10.0-12.0 sec 344 KBytes 1.41 Mbits/sec
[ 3] 18.0-20.0 sec 264 KBytes 1.08 Mbits/sec
Server side:
#iperf -s -p 12000
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
UDP tests: (-u), bandwidth settings (-b)

Also check the "Jperf" section.
The UDP tests with the -u argument will give invaluable information about the jitter and the packet loss. If
you don't specify the -u argument, Iperf uses TCP.
To keep a good link quality, the packet loss should not go over 1 %. A high packet loss rate will generate a
lot of TCP segment retransmissions which will affect the bandwidth.
The jitter is basically the latency variation and does not depend on the latency. You can have high response
times and a very low jitter. The jitter value is particularly important on network links supporting voice over IP
(VoIP) because a high jitter can break a call.
The -b argument allows the allocation if the desired bandwidth.
Client side:
#iperf -c 10.1.1.1 -u -b 10m
------------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to 10.1.1.1, UDP port 5001
Sending 1470 byte datagrams
UDP buffer size: 108 KByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
[ 3] Sent 8409 datagrams
[ 3] Server Report:
[ 3] 0.0-10.0 sec 11.8 MBytes 9.86 Mbits/sec 2.617 ms 9/ 8409 (0.11%)
Server side:
#iperf -s -u -i 1
------------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on UDP port 5001
Receiving 1470 byte datagrams
UDP buffer size: 8.00 KByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth Jitter Lost/Total Datagrams
[904] 0.0- 1.0 sec 1.17 MBytes 9.84 Mbits/sec 1.830 ms 0/ 837 (0%)
[904] 1.0- 2.0 sec 1.18 MBytes 9.94 Mbits/sec 1.846 ms 5/ 850 (0.59%)
[904] 9.0-10.0 sec 1.19 MBytes 10.0 Mbits/sec 1.801 ms 0/ 851 (0%)
[904] 0.0-10.0 sec 11.8 MBytes 9.86 Mbits/sec 2.618 ms 9/ 8409 (0.11%)
Maximum Segment Size (-m argument) display:
The Maximum Segment Size (MSS) is the largest amount of data, in bytes, that a computer can support in a
single, unfragmented TCP segment.
It can be calculated as follows:
MSS = MTU - TCP & IP headers
The TCP & IP headers are equal to 40 bytes.
The MTU or Maximum Transmission Unit is the greatest amount of data that can be transferred in a frame.
Here are some default MTU size for different network topology:
Ethernet - 1500 bytes: used in a LAN.
PPPoE - 1492 bytes: used on ADSL links.
Token Ring (16Mb/sec) - 17914 bytes: old technology developed by IBM.
Dial-up - 576 bytes
Generally, a higher MTU (and MSS) brings higher bandwidth efficiency
Client side:
#iperf -c 10.1.1.1 -m
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
[ 3] MSS size 1448 bytes (MTU 1500 bytes, ethernet)
Here the MSS is not equal to 1500 - 40 but to 1500 - 40 - 12 (Timestamps option) = 1448
Server side:
#iperf -s
Maximum Segment Size (-M argument) settings:
Use the -M argument to change the MSS. (See the previous test for more explanations about the MSS)
#iperf -c 10.1.1.1 -M 1300 -m
WARNING: attempt to set TCP maximum segment size to 1300, but got 536
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
[ 3] MSS size 1288 bytes (MTU 1328 bytes, unknown interface)
Server side:
#iperf -s
Parallel tests (-P argument):

Use the -P argument to run parallel tests.
Client side:
#iperf -c 10.1.1.1 -P 2
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
[SUM] 0.0-10.1 sec 2.70 MBytes 2.24 Mbits/sec
Server side:
#iperf -s
Iperf help:
#iperf -h
Usage: iperf [-s|-c host] [options]

iperf [-h|--help] [-v|--version]
Client/Server:
-f --format [kmKM] format to report: Kbits, Mbits, KBytes, MBytes

-i --interval # seconds between periodic bandwidth reports
-l --len #[KM] length of buffer to read or write (default 8 KB)
-m --print_mss print TCP maximum segment size (MTU - TCP/IP header)
-p --port # server port to listen on/connect to
-u --udp use UDP rather than TCP
-w --window #[KM] TCP window size (socket buffer size)
-B --bind "host" bind to "host", an interface or multicast address
-C --compatibility for use with older versions does not sent extra msgs
-M --mss # set TCP maximum segment size (MTU - 40 bytes)
-N --nodelay set TCP no delay, disabling Nagle's Algorithm
-V --IPv6Version Set the domain to IPv6
Server specific:
-s --server run in server mode

-U --single_udp run in single threaded UDP mode
-D --daemon run the server as a daemon
Client specific:
-b --bandwidth #[KM] for UDP, bandwidth to send at in bits/sec (default 1 Mbit/sec, implies -u)
-c --client "host" run in client mode, connecting to "host"
-d --dualtest Do a bidirectional test simultaneously
-n --num #[KM] number of bytes to transmit (instead of -t)
-r --tradeoff Do a bidirectional test individually
-t --time # time in seconds to transmit for (default 10 secs)
-F --fileinput "name" input the data to be transmitted from a file
-I --stdin input the data to be transmitted from stdin
-L --listenport # port to recieve bidirectional tests back on
-P --parallel # number of parallel client threads to run
-T --ttl # time-to-live, for multicast (default 1)
Miscellaneous:
-h --help print this message and quit
-v --version print version information and quit
Top of the page
JPERF
Jperf is a graphical frontend for Iperf written in Java.

1. Installation:
Download Jperf.
Linux
Uncompress the downloaded file:
#tar -xvf jperf2.0.0.zip
Launch Jperf.
#cd jperf2.0.0
#./jperf.sh
If you have the following message, it means that you need to install Iperf with: "apt-get install iperf"
Iperf is probably not in your Path!

Please download it here 'http://dast.nlanr.net/Projects/Iperf/'
and put the executable in your PATH environment variable.
Microsoft Windows
Uncompress the downloaded file with your favorite program.

Access the uncompressed folder called by default "jperf2.0.0" and double-click on "jperf.bat".
Note that the iperf utility is already present in the /bin folder.
2. Examples:
Default settings, bandwidth measurement:

Also check "Iperf" section for more details.
- Linux client:
- Windows server:
Simultaneous bi-directional bandwidth measurement:
- Linux client:
- Windows server:
Top of the page Jperf
Jitter measurement:
- Linux client:
- Windows server:
Iperf Tool
Definition
Iperf is the network tool which is used to verify the wired and wireless link bandwidth and throughput. The
tool is helpful to check the health of the link, common thing people do is blame service providers when they
face any issue but it’s possible that problem could be at customer premises. End-to-end status can be
checked for both TCP and UDP will be discussed shortly in the below section.
Iperf is available for windows and Linux and can be easily available on internet for free of cost. It is an
executable file not requires any installation just directly run it as a server and client means two systems are
necessary for the process with the iperf running as a server in one machine and client on second machine.
Wikipedia Definition
Iperf is a commonly used network testing tool that can create TCP and UDP data streams and measure the
throughput of a network that is carrying them. Iperf is a modern tool for network performance measurement
written in C++.
Iperf allows the user to set various parameters that can be used for testing a network, or alternately for
optimizing or tuning a network. Iperf has a client and server functionality, and can measure the throughput
between the two ends, either unidirectonally or bi-directionally. It is open source software and runs on
various platforms including linux, unix and windows. It is supported by the National Laboratory for Applied
Network Research.
When used for testing udp capacity, Iperf allows the user to specify the datagram size and provides results
for the datagram throughput and the packet loss.
When used for testing tcp capacity, Iperf measures the throughput of the payload. One thing to note is that
Iperf uses 1024*1024 for Megabytes and 1000*1000 for Megabits. There is a GUI front end available called
jperf.
Typical Iperf output contains a timestamped report of the amount of data transferred and the throughput
measured.
Iperf is significant as it is a standardized tool that can be run over any network and output standardized
performance measurements. Thus it can be used for comparison of wired and wireless networking
equipment and technologies in an unbiased way. As it is open source, the measurement methodology can
be scrutinized by users.
Sequential flow
Figure-1 Infrastructure of the network
1. Connect host A and Host B with an Ethernet Cross cable (100 Mbps).
2. Assign IP addresses to host A and Host B.
Figure-2 Assigning IP to Host A and Host B
CHECK BANDWIDTH OF LINK
Host A IP Configuration Host B IP Configuration
3. The location of Iperf.exe is C drive.
Figure-4 iperf.exe location

4. Run Iperf as a Server on Host A as shown in the figures below.
Figure-5 Open command prompt on Host A
Figure-6 Run server process of Iperf on Host A

5. Now Host A working as a Server.
Figure-7 Iperf Process running on Host A
IPERF PROCESS
6. Server is prepared to listen for client connection, which will be in that case is Host
B running the client process as shown in the figures below.
Figure-8 Iperf.exe location on Host B (Client)

IPERF.EXE
Figure-9 Check the status of server
RUN DIALOG
Figure-10 Open the command prompt on client
Figure-11 Running Iperf process on Host A to connect Iperf Server

NOTE: To connect client with server, Ip address should be provided in correct format, host A must running
the server iperf process to listen for the client connection or connections on port 5001 by default.
7. Figure-11 displaying the result of default file transfer from client machine (Host B) to server machine (Host
A). Client machine using port 1063 to connect on the listening port of server which is by default port 5001.
The link bandwidth is 94.4 Mbits/sec Client transfers 113 Mbytes file to server as shown in the figure.
Figure-11 Transferring word document from client to server
Figure-12 transferring audio Mp3 format file from client to server

Figure-13 transferring Video Avi format file from client to server
Figure-14 Transferring movie file by establishing parallel connection with server
Figure-15 Messages on the server machine
8. To check the summary of commands use help.

Figure-16 Summary of commands in Iperf
Packet analyzer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Please help improve
this article by introducing appropriate citations to additional sources. (November
2008)
A packet analyzer (also known as a network analyzer, protocol analyzer or sniffer, or for particular
types of networks, an Ethernet sniffer or wireless sniffer) is a computer program or a piece
of computer hardware that can intercept and log traffic passing over a digitalnetwork or part of a
network.[1] As data streams flow across the network, the sniffer captures each packet and, if
needed, decodes and analyzes its content according to the appropriate RFC or other specifications.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Capabilities
• 2 Uses
• 3 Notable free packet analyzers
• 4 Notable commercial packet analyzers
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 External links
[edit]Capabilities
On wired broadcast LANs, depending on the network structure (hub or switch), one can capture traffic
on all or just parts of the network from a single machine within the network; however, there are some
methods to avoid traffic narrowing by switches to gain access to traffic from other systems on the
network (e.g. ARP spoofing). For network monitoring purposes it may also be desirable to monitor all
data packets in a LAN by using a network switch with a so-called monitoring port, whose purpose is to
mirror all packets passing through all ports of the switch when systems (computers) are connected to a
switch port.
On wireless LANs, one can capture traffic on a particular channel.
On wired broadcast and wireless LANs, to capture traffic other than unicast traffic sent to the machine
running the sniffer software, multicasttraffic sent to a multicast group to which that machine is listening,
and broadcast traffic, the network adapter being used to capture the traffic must be put
into promiscuous mode; some sniffers support this, others don't. On wireless LANs, even if the adapter
is in promiscuous mode, packets not for the service set for which the adapter is configured will usually
be ignored. To see those packets, the adapter must be inmonitor mode.
The captured information is decoded from raw digital form into a human-readable format that permits
users of the protocol analyzer to easily review the exchanged information. Protocol analyzers vary in
their abilities to display data in multiple views, automatically detect errors, determine the root causes of
errors, generate timing diagrams, etc.
Some protocol analyzers can also generate traffic and thus act as the reference device; these can act
as protocol testers. Such testers generate protocol-correct traffic for functional testing, and may also
have the ability to deliberately introduce errors to test for the DUT's ability to deal with error conditions.
[edit]Uses
The versatility of packet sniffers means they can be used to:
 Analyze network problems
 Detect network intrusion attempts
 Detect network misuse by internal and external users
 Documenting regulatory compliance through logging all perimeter and endpoint traffic
 Gain information for effecting a network intrusion
 Isolate exploited systems
 Monitor WAN bandwidth utilization
 Monitor network usage (including internal and external users and systems)
 Monitor data-in-motion
 Monitor WAN and endpoint security status
 Gather and report network statistics
 Filter suspect content from network traffic
 Serve as primary data source for day-to-day network monitoring and management
 Spy on other network users and collect sensitive information such as passwords (depending
on any content encryption methods which may be in use)
 Reverse engineer proprietary protocols used over the network
 Debug client/server communications
 Debug network protocol implementations
 Verify adds, moves and changes
 Verify internal control system effectiveness (firewalls, access control, Web filter, Spam filter,
proxy)
[edit]Notable free packet analyzers
For a more comprehensive list, see Comparison of packet analyzers .
 Capsa Free
 Cain and Abel
 dSniff
 ettercap
 Microsoft Network Monitor
 ngrep Network Grep
 snoop
 tcpdump
 Wireshark (formerly known as Ethereal)
[edit]Notable commercial packet analyzers
 Capsa Enterprise
 Carnivore
 Clarified Analyzer
 CommView by TamoSoft
 Congruity Inspector Software
 Fluke Lanmeter
 NetScout Sniffer Global Analyzer
 NetScout Sniffer Portable Professional Analyzer
 Network Instruments Observer
 Niksun NetDetector
 OPNET Technologies ACE Analyst
 SkyGrabber
 WildPackets OmniPeek (old name AiroPeek, EtherPeek)

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Iperf is a tool to measure the bandwidth and the quality of a network link.

Jperf can be associated with Iperf

The network link is delimited by two hosts running Iperf.

The quality of a link can be tested as follows:

The bandwidth is measured through TCP tests.

no arg. Default settings -p, -t, -i Port, timing and interval

no arg. Default settings

Default Iperf settings:

Data formatting: (-f argument)

Top of the page

Bi-directional bandwidth measurement: (-r argument)

Simultaneous bi-directional bandwidth measurement: (-d argument)

TCP Window size: (-w argument)

#iperf -c 10.1.1.1 -w 2000

Communication port (-p), timing (-t) and interval (-i):

#iperf -c 10.1.1.1 -p 12000 -t 20 -i 2

UDP tests: (-u), bandwidth settings (-b)

#iperf -c 10.1.1.1 -u -b 10m

Maximum Segment Size (-m argument) display:

Generally, a higher MTU (and MSS) brings higher bandwidth efficiency

Maximum Segment Size (-M argument) settings:

#iperf -c 10.1.1.1 -M 1300 -m

Parallel tests (-P argument):

Usage: iperf [-s|-c host] [options]

-f --format [kmKM] format to report: Kbits, Mbits, KBytes, MBytes

-s --server run in server mode

Top of the page

Jperf is a graphical frontend for Iperf written in Java.

Uncompress the downloaded file:

#tar -xvf jperf2.0.0.zip

Iperf is probably not in your Path!

Uncompress the downloaded file with your favorite program.

Default settings, bandwidth measurement:

for the datagram throughput and the packet loss.

Figure-1 Infrastructure of the network

2. Assign IP addresses to host A and Host B.

Figure-2 Assigning IP to Host A and Host B

CHECK BANDWIDTH OF LINK

Host A IP Configuration Host B IP Configuration

3. The location of Iperf.exe is C drive.

Figure-4 iperf.exe location

Figure-5 Open command prompt on Host A

Figure-6 Run server process of Iperf on Host A

Figure-7 Iperf Process running on Host A

B running the client process as shown in the figures below.

Figure-8 Iperf.exe location on Host B (Client)

Figure-9 Check the status of server

Figure-11 Running Iperf process on Host A to connect Iperf Server

Figure-11 Transferring word document from client to server

Figure-12 transferring audio Mp3 format file from client to server

Figure-15 Messages on the server machine

8. To check the summary of commands use help.

• 3 Notable free packet analyzers

• 4 Notable commercial packet analyzers

On wireless LANs, one can capture traffic on a particular channel.

The versatility of packet sniffers means they can be used to:

 Analyze network problems

 Detect network intrusion attempts

 Detect network misuse by internal and external users

 Gain information for effecting a network intrusion

 Isolate exploited systems

 Monitor WAN bandwidth utilization

 Monitor WAN and endpoint security status