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Re: Stress Testing LAN/WAN

  • From: Brad Fleming
  • Date: Thu Dec 04 18:38:14 2008
With iperf, you can use the -d option to initiate a "real-time parallel" test (my term). You can also use the -r option to run a "trade-off parallel" test (again, my term).

To see the other options iperf offers:
http://pirlwww.lpl.arizona.edu/resources/guide/software/iperf/

Sounds like you might also be interested in the -B option. When coupled with multiple interfaces, you can pretty easily test QoS configs by sourcing from different interfaces / IPs (if that's your identifying characteristic).

KanREN uses iperf on Mac Minis running OSX 10.5 with great results. The newer Minis can pretty easily push 950+Mbps if you run 4 or more streams (-n option). Or at least that has been our experience.

I would also suggest doing some TCP buffer tuning if you anticipate round-trip latency to be >20ms. Here are some general guidelines for various platforms:
http://fasterdata.es.net/TCP-tuning//

On Dec 4, 2008, at 5:08 PM, Holmes,David A wrote:

I have used Solarwinds Wan Killer, but have yet to discover a method of
initiating round-trip traffic from a single generator, but Solarwinds
can stress a GiGE MAN link using a desktop PC with a GiGE card as the
generator. 



--
Brad Fleming
Network Engineer
Kansas Research and Education Network
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