Benchmark Network Throughput with Iperf

Have you recently upgraded your network with a faster switch? Want to see if your onboard GigE NIC is performing up to spec? Network testing and bottleneck snuffing is a time consuming process that usually involves the use of many diagnostic tools and sometimes small animal sacrifices. If you’ve spent the money to upgrade your network, you want to ensure you are getting the performance you’d expect. The tools are plentiful but I have a personal favorite that does the job well.

Iperf is such a tool, in that it is useful in pushing your network configuration to the max. As is often the case, the server/client architecture is used – so need access to both ends of the connection. Iperf is available for Windows, Linux, and OS X, for free of course. Being just a single binary, installation and execution are straightforward. In production, I have Iperf installed on nodes throughout our WAN, configured to run as a system daemon. With a few clicks it’s simple to determine where the network may be screeching to a halt.