Using Iperf3 for bandwidth and througput test on Linux

At my current client we had to test the network speed between Azure and a local site.
Initially we used Rsync to copy files back and forth and although it gives an ok indication, it does not show the full line speed as Rsync encrypts data during transfer (among other things).

Iperf3 is a really easy to use and simple tool to test the bandwidth or line speed between to machines. This can be either Windows or Linux.

Below shows how to install and run Iperf3:

The test was done on RHEL 7.5 VMs:

1) Install Iperf3 on both the "client" and the "server":

# sudo yum install iperf3

2) Ensure that TCP traffic is allowed inbound on the "server":

# sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=5201/tcp --permanent

# sudo firewall-cmd --reload

If you want to run test with UDP, then the following commands should be run:

# sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=5201/udp --permanent

# sudo firewall-cmd --reload

3) Start Iperf3 on the "server" and put it in listen mode:

# iperf3 -s

4) Start Iperf3 on the "client" with -c and specify the IP of the server:

# iperf3 -c 192.168.1.25

(replace above IP with IP of your server)

That's it. This will run the test within around a minute and show the result, see screen dumps below.

When we ran the test, we could not max out the 1 Gbit line with TCP. So we changed to UDP and increased the packet size with the following command:

# iperf3 -c 192.168.1.26 --bandwidth 10G  --length 8900 --udp -R -t 180

-c specifies to run command as client

--bandwidth emulates or assumes a 10 Gbit line (even if we just have 1 Gbit)

--length is the packet size

--udp

-R specifies to run the test in reverse. So instead of sending data, you are retrieving data. This is useful in that you can test both ways without changing the setup

-t is amount of seconds. We specified 180 seconds to let it run a bit longer.

Run Iperf3 --help for more options

Below shows a standard test between two VMs in Azure. Results are shown both on the client and on the server.