IPerf2 is a bandwidth performance measurement app for iOS and Mac OS. The app can operate as a client and/or server. IPerf2 can be used for Mac OS-to-Mac OS testing, Mac OS-to-iOS testing or iOS-to-Mac OS testing. IPerf2 should work with other operating systems that support iPerf2.x App has client mode and server mode. Mar 12, 2020. Download iperf 3.1.3 for Mac OS. Measure the speed of your internet protocol bandwidth with iperf. Aug 30, 2012.
You probably ended up on this page because you were searching for a way to test your network speed from one host to another. The best tool I have found for this job is
iperf .
What is iPerf?
Jul 08, 2019.
iperf is an open source network testing tool used to measure bandwidth from host to host. It is licensed under the BSD license.
It is available for most operating systems. Check the download page here to see if your OS is supported.
You can test TCP or UDP throughput using iperf.
Tests can run for a set amount of time or using a set amount of data.
iPerf uses a client/server model. The server can accept connections from multiple clients on different ports and can even run as a daemon.
I’ve used iPerf at for a couple of reasons. One reason was to verify that the connection between 2 hosts was as I expected over a VPN connection. This can be handy if you need to estimate the time it will take for a backup job to run from host to host.
My favorite use for iPerf is testing wifi. To do this I keep a hardwired host running in my homelab that runs an iPerf server in Daemon Mode. That means it is always running in the background and waiting for a client to connect to it.
If I am walking around using my laptop(or phone) wirelessly, I can generate traffic using the client and send it to the hardwired server to see what speeds I am getting.
This is helpful if you are trying to troubleshoot wifi dead zones.
Maybe you have a coworker or family member complaining that their wireless internet is too slow. You can bring your laptop to the dead zone and move your access point(s) around. Every time you move the access point, run another iPerf test with the laptop in the wifi dead zone. Continue this process until you see the connection improve.
If you are setting up a new wireless network for a client or at home, you can do the same to make sure you are happy with your coverage throughout the entire site. This can help you decide if you need to move an access point to another location or even get another access point for the site.
How to install iPerf on Mac, CentOS, and iOS
We will actually be using
iperf3 for this tutorial. iPerf3 is currently the newest version of iPerf.
It’s important to note that iPerf3 is not backwards compatible with other versions of iPerf.
Mac
To install
iperf3 on your Mac, you’ll want to have homebrew installed. You can do this by running the following command.
Now that we’ve installed Homebrew, we can run the next command to install
iperf3
CentOS
Run the following command to install
iperf3 using yum .
iOS
Download iPerf 3 Wifi Speed Test from the iOS App Store. I should note that is only useful as a client. You still need to have a host on the network running as a server to send data to.
How to Use iPerf
As mentioned before, iPerf needs to run a client and a server. That means you need 2 hosts. My server is always connected to my network with a wired connection. This allows me to only worry about the connection wireless from the client. It’s no fun troubleshooting the connection on 2 hosts at once.
I’ll run through some examples below. Marketscope 2.0 download mac.
For all of these demos,
some-host will always be running the server. Clients will be run from mac-mini and my iPhone.
iPerf TCP Client and Server
Run
iperf3 -s to start the iperf server.
You should see something similar to the snippet above. It is telling you that the server is listening and on what port. Per iPerf documentation, the default port for iPerf 3 is
5201 . iPerf 2 default port is 5001 . More on changing the port later.
Now we are going to move over to one of our clients.
Run the following command.
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.210
Replace that IP address with the IP of the iPerf server.
On the left you can see the iPerf 3 client is sending data to the iPerf 3 server on the right.
This screenshot is from the client running on my iPhone connecting to the iPerf 3 server. It shows that I am currently downloading from the server at 135 Mbits/s.
You can now walk around your house or office and find all the dead Wifi spots.
iPerf UDP Client and Server
When testing with UDP, no changes are required on the server side. Continue using
iperf3 -s to run the server.
Season pass games. On the client side we just need to add the
-u flag to start sending UDP packets instead of TCP packets. See below.
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.210 -u
As you can see, UDP was faster than TCP from the same 2 hosts. This is pretty normal. I’m not a network engineer but I’ll try to explain anyway so someone on internet can tell me I am wrong.
The TCP protocol checks each time to make sure the target recieved the packets that the origin sent.
UDP on the other hand, just sends packets like a crazy person. It doesn’t care or check to see if the packets are being received. UDP just wants to send packets quickly. UDP is most commonly used for video streaming services. There is no error correction with UDP. If you lose a frame of a video during transfer, it wouldn’t make much sense to show the frame later on in the movie.
Changing iPerf Port
You may run into a situation where you want to run iPerf on a different port. This is pretty easily done by adding the
-p flag. You will need to do this on both the client and the server.
Change iPerf Server PortIperf3 Windows Gui
This will change the port that the iPerf Server is listening on.
iperf3 -s -p 5202
Change iPerf Client Port
This will change the port that the iPerf Client connects to.
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.210 -p 5202
You can see that the client is connected to an iPerf server listening on port 5202.
Running iPerf Server in Daemon Mode
Daemon mode is used when you want to keep your iPerf Server up and running without having to SSH in each time to start it up.
It will run in the background just waiting for connections from iPerf Clients.
To do this, run the server command with the
-D flag from the server host.
iperf3 -s -D
You wont see anything after that. It should look something like this…
There are no changes to the client side when running in this configuration. Just connect as you normally would from the iPerf Client.
Check if iPerf is Running in Daemon Mode
At some point you will want to see if iPerf is running in the background.
The obvious solution is to use the
ps command.
However, iPerf 3.1 offers a new feature that creates a PID file when it starts.
We can
cat that file to get the iPerf PID.
Just to show you that it is the iPerf PID…
It also removes the PID file when the process dies.
Pretty useful feature if you are looking to automate iPerf or need a way for a monitoring check to see if iPerf is still running.
Stopping iPerf Server in Daemon Mode
Eventually you will probably want to stop the iPerf Server running in Daemon Mode. This is as simple as running
pkill iperf .
You could also use the PID file you just learned how to make. Here is a quick one-liner to kill iPerf if you are using a PID file.
kill $(cat /home/tynick/iperf.pid)
As you can see, iPerf is an extremely useful networking tool.
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If you’d like to do some more learning, here are the iPerf command line options in their entirety from the iPerf documentation page
iPerf General Options
iPerf Server Options
How To Use Iperf3 In Windows 10iPerf Client Options
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These advanced steps are primarily for system administrators and others who are familiar with the command line. You don't need a bootable installer to upgrade macOS or reinstall macOS, but it can be useful when you want to install on multiple computers without downloading the installer each time.
Download macOS
Find the appropriate download link in the upgrade instructions for each macOS version:
macOS Catalina, macOS Mojave, ormacOS High Sierra
Installers for each of these macOS versions download directly to your Applications folder as an app named Install macOS Catalina, Install macOS Mojave, or Install macOS High Sierra. If the installer opens after downloading, quit it without continuing installation. Important: To get the correct installer, download from a Mac that is using macOS Sierra 10.12.5 or later, or El Capitan 10.11.6. Enterprise administrators, please download from Apple, not a locally hosted software-update server.
OS X El Capitan
El Capitan downloads as a disk image. On a Mac that is compatible with El Capitan, open the disk image and run the installer within, named InstallMacOSX.pkg. It installs an app named Install OS X El Capitan into your Applications folder. You will create the bootable installer from this app, not from the disk image or .pkg installer. Use the 'createinstallmedia' command in Terminal
* If your Mac is using macOS Sierra or earlier, include the
--applicationpath argument, similar to the way this argument is used in the command for El Capitan.
Use the bootable installer
After creating the bootable installer, follow these steps to use it:
Learn moreDownload Iperf3 For Mac Os 10.10
https://dealerclever478.weebly.com/blog/crossfire-free-download-for-mac. For more information about the
createinstallmedia command and the arguments that you can use with it, make sure that the macOS installer is in your Applications folder, then enter this path in Terminal:
Iperf3 Affinity
Catalina:
Mojave:
Download Iperf3 For Mac Osx
High Sierra:
Iperf3 Client For Windows 10
El Capitan:
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