Network Performance Tools

ESnet plays a key role in two widely used network performance tools.

perfSONAR: Comprehensive monitoring and measuring of network resources

perfSONAR (for performance Service-Oriented Network monitoring ARchitecture) is a platform for end-to-end network performance measurement and monitoring. ESnet is a key founding member of the highly successful perfSONAR partnership, along with Internet2, Indiana University, GÉANT, the University of Michigan, and Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa (RNP) in Brazil. Each partner contributes a minimum of 1.5 full-time employees, computing and network resources, and other support. 

There are thousands of perfSONAR instances deployed worldwide, many of which are available for open testing of key measures of network performance. This global infrastructure helps to identify and isolate problems as they happen, making the role of supporting network users easier for engineering teams and increasing productivity when utilizing network resources.

perfSONAR provides a uniform interface that allows for the scheduling of measurements, storage of data in uniform formats, and scalable methods to retrieve data and generate visualizations. This extensible system can be modified to support new metrics, and there are endless possibilities for data presentation.

ESnet has deployed perfSONAR services at over 30 locations, and recommends that all sites deploy at least one perfSONAR host as well. For help using perfSONAR at your ESnet site, head to ESnet's knowledge base, Fasterdata. 

More information about perfSONAR and the collaboration that supports it can be found at perfsonar.net.

iperf3: ESnet’s open-source network throughput tester

iperf3 is ESnet’s tool for performing active measurements of the maximum achievable bandwidth on IP networks. It supports TCP, UDP, and SCTP tests on both IPv4 and IPv6 and allows tuning of various parameters related to timing and buffers. For each test, it reports the measured throughput, loss, and other metrics. iperf3 can take advantage of multiple CPU cores to drive high-speed networks; it has run tests in excess of 150Gbps on 200Gbps network paths.

Screenshot of an iperf3 test

iperf3 was designed as the throughput tester for the perfSONAR network measurement suite (see above). It is also widely used as a standalone tool. Versions are available for various open-source operating systems, including most common Linux distributions and BSD variants. iperf3 also ships as part of commercial products such as Apple’s macOS and Ubiquiti Networks’ UniFi system; a number of network service providers such as Comcast and SpaceX run iperf3 internally. 

iperf3 is available under the Berkeley Lab version of the BSD license. The source code is available on GitHub at https://github.com/esnet/iperf/