424 lines
19 KiB
ReStructuredText
424 lines
19 KiB
ReStructuredText
Invoking iperf3
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===============
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iperf3 includes a manual page listing all of the command-line options.
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The manual page is the most up-to-date reference to the various flags and parameters.
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For sample command line usage, see:
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https://fasterdata.es.net/performance-testing/network-troubleshooting-tools/iperf/
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Using the default options, iperf3 is meant to show typical well
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designed application performance. "Typical well designed application"
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means avoiding artificial enhancements that work only for testing
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(such as ``splice()``-ing the data to ``/dev/null``). iperf3 does
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also have flags for "extreme best case" optimizations but they must be
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explicitly activated. These flags include the ``-Z`` (``--zerocopy``)
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and ``-A`` (``--affinity``) options.
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iperf3 Manual Page
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------------------
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This section contains a plaintext rendering of the iperf3 manual page.
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It is presented here only for convenience; the text here might not
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correspond to the current version of iperf3. The authoritative iperf3
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manual page is included in the source tree and installed along with
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the executable.
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::
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IPERF3(1) User Manuals IPERF3(1)
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NAME
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iperf3 - perform network throughput tests
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SYNOPSIS
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iperf3 -s [ options ]
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iperf3 -c server [ options ]
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DESCRIPTION
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iperf3 is a tool for performing network throughput measurements. It
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can test TCP, UDP, or SCTP throughput. To perform an iperf3 test the
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user must establish both a server and a client.
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The iperf3 executable contains both client and server functionality.
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An iperf3 server can be started using either of the -s or --server com-
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mand-line parameters, for example:
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iperf3 -s
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iperf3 --server
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Note that many iperf3 parameters have both short (-s) and long
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(--server) forms. In this section we will generally use the short form
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of command-line flags, unless only the long form of a flag is avail-
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able.
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By default, the iperf3 server listens on TCP port 5201 for connections
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from an iperf3 client. A custom port can be specified by using the -p
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flag, for example:
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iperf3 -s -p 5002
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After the server is started, it will listen for connections from iperf3
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clients (in other words, the iperf3 program run in client mode). The
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client mode can be started using the -c command-line option, which also
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requires a host to which iperf3 should connect. The host can by speci-
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fied by hostname, IPv4 literal, or IPv6 literal:
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iperf3 -c iperf3.example.com
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iperf3 -c 192.0.2.1
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iperf3 -c 2001:db8::1
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If the iperf3 server is running on a non-default TCP port, that port
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number needs to be specified on the client as well:
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iperf3 -c iperf3.example.com -p 5002
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The initial TCP connection is used to exchange test parameters, control
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the start and end of the test, and to exchange test results. This is
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sometimes referred to as the "control connection". The actual test
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data is sent over a separate TCP connection, as a separate flow of UDP
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packets, or as an independent SCTP connection, depending on what proto-
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col was specified by the client.
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Normally, the test data is sent from the client to the server, and mea-
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sures the upload speed of the client. Measuring the download speed
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from the server can be done by specifying the -R flag on the client.
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This causes data to be sent from the server to the client.
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iperf3 -c iperf3.example.com -p 5202 -R
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Results are displayed on both the client and server. There will be at
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least one line of output per measurement interval (by default a mea-
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surement interval lasts for one second, but this can be changed by the
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-i option). Each line of output includes (at least) the time since the
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start of the test, amount of data transfered during the interval, and
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the average bitrate over that interval. Note that the values for each
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measurement interval are taken from the point of view of the endpoint
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process emitting that output (in other words, the output on the client
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shows the measurement interval data for the client.
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At the end of the test is a set of statistics that shows (at least as
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much as possible) a summary of the test as seen by both the sender and
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the receiver, with lines tagged accordingly. Recall that by default
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the client is the sender and the server is the receiver, although as
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indicated above, use of the -R flag will reverse these roles.
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The client can be made to retrieve the server-side output for a given
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test by specifying the --get-server-output flag.
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Either the client or the server can produce its output in a JSON struc-
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ture, useful for integration with other programs, by passing it the -J
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flag. Because the contents of the JSON structure are only competely
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known after the test has finished, no JSON output will be emitted until
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the end of the test.
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iperf3 has a (overly) large set of command-line options that can be
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used to set the parameters of a test. They are given in the "GENERAL
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OPTIONS" section of the manual page below, as well as summarized in
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iperf3's help output, which can be viewed by running iperf3 with the -h
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flag.
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GENERAL OPTIONS
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-p, --port n
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set server port to listen on/connect to to n (default 5201)
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-f, --format
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[kmgtKMGT] format to report: Kbits/Mbits/Gbits/Tbits
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-i, --interval n
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pause n seconds between periodic throughput reports; default is
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1, use 0 to disable
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-F, --file name
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Use a file as the source (on the sender) or sink (on the
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receiver) of data, rather than just generating random data or
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throwing it away. This feature is used for finding whether or
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not the storage subsystem is the bottleneck for file transfers.
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It does not turn iperf3 into a file transfer tool. The length,
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attributes, and in some cases contents of the received file may
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not match those of the original file.
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-A, --affinity n/n,m
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Set the CPU affinity, if possible (Linux and FreeBSD only). On
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both the client and server you can set the local affinity by
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using the n form of this argument (where n is a CPU number). In
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addition, on the client side you can override the server's
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affinity for just that one test, using the n,m form of argument.
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Note that when using this feature, a process will only be bound
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to a single CPU (as opposed to a set containing potentialy mul-
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tiple CPUs).
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-B, --bind host
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bind to a specific interface. If the host has multiple inter-
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faces, it will use the first interface by default.
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-V, --verbose
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give more detailed output
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-J, --json
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output in JSON format
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--logfile file
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send output to a log file.
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--forceflush
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force flushing output at every interval. Used to avoid buffer-
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ing when sending output to pipe.
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-d, --debug
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emit debugging output. Primarily (perhaps exclusively) of use
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to developers.
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-v, --version
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show version information and quit
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-h, --help
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show a help synopsis
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SERVER SPECIFIC OPTIONS
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-s, --server
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run in server mode
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-D, --daemon
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run the server in background as a daemon
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-I, --pidfile file
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write a file with the process ID, most useful when running as a
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daemon.
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-1, --one-off
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handle one client connection, then exit.
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--rsa-private-key-path file
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path to the RSA private key (not password-protected) used to
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decrypt authentication credentials from the client (if built
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with OpenSSL support).
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--authorized-users-path file
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path to the configuration file containing authorized users cre-
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dentials to run iperf tests (if built with OpenSSL support).
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The file is a comma separated list of usernames and password
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hashes; more information on the structure of the file can be
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found in the EXAMPLES section.
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CLIENT SPECIFIC OPTIONS
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-c, --client host
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run in client mode, connecting to the specified server. By
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default, a test consists of sending data from the client to the
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server, unless the -R flag is specified.
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--sctp use SCTP rather than TCP (FreeBSD and Linux)
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-u, --udp
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use UDP rather than TCP
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--connect-timeout n
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set timeout for establishing the initial control connection to
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the server, in milliseconds. The default behavior is the oper-
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ating system's timeout for TCP connection establishment. Pro-
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viding a shorter value may speed up detection of a down iperf3
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server.
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-b, --bitrate n[KM]
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set target bitrate to n bits/sec (default 1 Mbit/sec for UDP,
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unlimited for TCP/SCTP). If there are multiple streams (-P
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flag), the throughput limit is applied separately to each
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stream. You can also add a '/' and a number to the bitrate
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specifier. This is called "burst mode". It will send the given
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number of packets without pausing, even if that temporarily
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exceeds the specified throughput limit. Setting the target
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bitrate to 0 will disable bitrate limits (particularly useful
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for UDP tests). This throughput limit is implemented internally
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inside iperf3, and is available on all platforms. Compare with
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the --fq-rate flag. This option replaces the --bandwidth flag,
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which is now deprecated but (at least for now) still accepted.
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--pacing-timer n[KMG]
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set pacing timer interval in microseconds (default 1000
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microseconds, or 1 ms). This controls iperf3's internal pacing
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timer for the -b/--bitrate option. The timer fires at the
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interval set by this parameter. Smaller values of the pacing
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timer parameter smooth out the traffic emitted by iperf3, but
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potentially at the cost of performance due to more frequent
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timer processing.
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--fq-rate n[KM]
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Set a rate to be used with fair-queueing based socket-level pac-
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ing, in bits per second. This pacing (if specified) will be in
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addition to any pacing due to iperf3's internal throughput pac-
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ing (-b/--bitrate flag), and both can be specified for the same
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test. Only available on platforms supporting the SO_MAX_PAC-
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ING_RATE socket option (currently only Linux). The default is
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no fair-queueing based pacing.
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--no-fq-socket-pacing
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This option is deprecated and will be removed. It is equivalent
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to specifying --fq-rate=0.
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-t, --time n
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time in seconds to transmit for (default 10 secs)
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-n, --bytes n[KM]
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number of bytes to transmit (instead of -t)
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-k, --blockcount n[KM]
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number of blocks (packets) to transmit (instead of -t or -n)
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-l, --length n[KM]
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length of buffer to read or write. For TCP tests, the default
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value is 128KB. In the case of UDP, iperf3 tries to dynamically
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determine a reasonable sending size based on the path MTU; if
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that cannot be determined it uses 1460 bytes as a sending size.
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For SCTP tests, the default size is 64KB.
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--cport port
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bind data streams to a specific client port (for TCP and UDP
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only, default is to use an ephemeral port)
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-P, --parallel n
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number of parallel client streams to run. Note that iperf3 is
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single threaded, so if you are CPU bound, this will not yield
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higher throughput.
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-R, --reverse
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reverse the direction of a test, so that the server sends data
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to the client
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-w, --window n[KM]
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window size / socket buffer size (this gets sent to the server
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and used on that side too)
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-M, --set-mss n
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set TCP/SCTP maximum segment size (MTU - 40 bytes)
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-N, --no-delay
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set TCP/SCTP no delay, disabling Nagle's Algorithm
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-4, --version4
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only use IPv4
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-6, --version6
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only use IPv6
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-S, --tos n
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set the IP type of service
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--dscp dscp
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set the IP DSCP bits. Both numeric and symbolic values are
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accepted.
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-L, --flowlabel n
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set the IPv6 flow label (currently only supported on Linux)
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-X, --xbind name
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Bind SCTP associations to a specific subset of links using
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sctp_bindx(3). The --B flag will be ignored if this flag is
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specified. Normally SCTP will include the protocol addresses of
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all active links on the local host when setting up an associa-
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tion. Specifying at least one --X name will disable this
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behaviour. This flag must be specified for each link to be
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included in the association, and is supported for both iperf
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servers and clients (the latter are supported by passing the
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first --X argument to bind(2)). Hostnames are accepted as argu-
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ments and are resolved using getaddrinfo(3). If the --4 or --6
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flags are specified, names which do not resolve to addresses
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within the specified protocol family will be ignored.
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--nstreams n
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Set number of SCTP streams.
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-Z, --zerocopy
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Use a "zero copy" method of sending data, such as sendfile(2),
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instead of the usual write(2).
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-O, --omit n
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Omit the first n seconds of the test, to skip past the TCP slow-
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start period.
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-T, --title str
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Prefix every output line with this string.
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-C, --congestion algo
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Set the congestion control algorithm (Linux and FreeBSD only).
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An older --linux-congestion synonym for this flag is accepted
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but is deprecated.
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--get-server-output
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Get the output from the server. The output format is determined
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by the server (in particular, if the server was invoked with the
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--json flag, the output will be in JSON format, otherwise it
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will be in human-readable format). If the client is run with
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--json, the server output is included in a JSON object; other-
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wise it is appended at the bottom of the human-readable output.
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--username username
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username to use for authentication to the iperf server (if built
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with OpenSSL support). The password will be prompted for inter-
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actively when the test is run.
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--rsa-public-key-path file
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path to the RSA public key used to encrypt authentication cre-
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dentials (if built with OpenSSL support)
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EXAMPLES
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Authentication - RSA Keypair
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The authentication feature of requires an RSA public keypair. The pub-
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lic key is used to encrypt the authentication token containing the user
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credentials, while the private key is used to decrypt the authentica-
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tion token. An example of a set of UNIX/Linux commands to generate
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correct keypair follows:
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> openssl genrsa -des3 -out private.pem 2048
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> openssl rsa -in private.pem -outform PEM -pubout -out public.pem
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> openssl rsa -in private.pem -out private_not_protected.pem -out-
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form PEM
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After these commands, the public key will be contained in the file pub-
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lic.pem and the private key will be contained in the file pri-
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vate_not_protected.pem.
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Authentication - Authorized users configuration file
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A simple plaintext file must be provided to the iperf3 server in order
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to specify the authorized user credentials. The file is a simple list
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of comma-separated pairs of a username and a corresponding password
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hash. The password hash is a SHA256 hash of the string "{$user}$pass-
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word". The file can also contain commented lines (starting with the #
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character). An example of commands to generate the password hash on a
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UNIX/Linux system is given below:
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> S_USER=mario S_PASSWD=rossi
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> echo -n "{$S_USER}$S_PASSWD" | sha256sum | awk '{ print $1 }'
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An example of a password file (with an entry corresponding to the above
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username and password) is given below:
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> cat credentials.csv
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# file format: username,sha256
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mario,bf7a49a846d44b454a5d11e7acfaf13d138bbe0b7483aa3e050879700572709b
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AUTHORS
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A list of the contributors to iperf3 can be found within the documenta-
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tion located at http://software.es.net/iperf/dev.html#authors.
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SEE ALSO
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libiperf(3), http://software.es.net/iperf
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ESnet June 2017 IPERF3(1)
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The iperf3 manual page will typically be installed in manual
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section 1.
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