Netperf - A Timeless tool for benchmarking Network Performance

As a network engineer, I'm always looking for the best tools to help me measure network performance. Recently, I discovered a timeless network benchmark tool called Netperf. It was written by a brilliant HP engineer way back in the 1990s, but it's still relevant and functional today.

Netperf is a performance benchmark tool that focuses on TCP/IP networking performance. It also supports various other types of tests and protocols, including unique domain sockets, STTP benchmarking, and more.

The tool is based on a client-server model, with two components: NetServer and Netperf. NetServer runs on the target system and Netperf runs on the client. Before the actual test is run, a control channel is established between the client and server on port 1285. This is where configuration data is passed, including what type of test to run, how frequently to run it, and what to measure. During the actual benchmarking period, no communication occurs on the control connection, so it doesn't interfere with the results.

Netperf also has nice reporting capability, including CPU utilization,local and remote flows, and many more. It can generate several types of traffic, including bulk data transfer traffic and request-response type traffic.

One of the challenges was to find the RPM,?because the community isn't very active and the web page isn't maintained well. I eventually found it on RPMfind.net. I downloaded it and installed it locally.There's also a GitHub IO page and a static Netperf Training page with the man page.

?To install it, I used "Yum local install" or "dnf", depending on your operating system. On the server side, I used the command NetServer with some flags. On the client side, I used the command Netperf with the -e flag to specify the remote server address, -t for the test name (TCP Stream), -l for the test length, -c for CPU utilization of local and remote endpoints, -I for the confidence level (99.5), and -m for readability (in megabytes).

?Netperf is a great tool for network engineers and I'm glad I discovered it. It's easy to use and provides accurate results.

Checkout the complete demo here - NetPerf@SDNTech