Bwping
Encyclopedia
bwping is a tool to measure bandwidth and response times between two hosts using Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP
) echo request/echo reply mechanism. It does not require any special software on the remote host. The only requirement is the ability to respond on ICMP
echo request messages.
Available options are:
echo request messages), there are some special requirements to network infrastructure, local and remote host performance:
If some of these requirements are not satisfied then the measurement results will be inadequate or fail completely. In general, for testing bandwidth where QoS is implemented, always test with traffic that matches the QoS class to be tested.
Internet Control Message Protocol
The Internet Control Message Protocol is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. It is chiefly used by the operating systems of networked computers to send error messages indicating, for example, that a requested service is not available or that a host or router could not be...
) echo request/echo reply mechanism. It does not require any special software on the remote host. The only requirement is the ability to respond on ICMP
Internet Control Message Protocol
The Internet Control Message Protocol is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. It is chiefly used by the operating systems of networked computers to send error messages indicating, for example, that a requested service is not available or that a host or router could not be...
echo request messages.
Command syntax
bwping [-t timeout] [-u bufsize] [-r reporting_period] [-T tos] -b kbps -s pktsize -v volume target
Available options are:
- -t - Sets the response timeout in seconds. Default value is one second.
- -u - Sets the send/receive buffer size in bytes. Default value will be automatically calculated based on transfer speed, packet size and host timer accuracy.
- -r - Sets the interval time in seconds between periodic bandwidth, RTT, and loss reports. If zero, there will be no periodic reports (default).
- -T - Sets the TOSType of ServiceThe type of service field in the IPv4 header has had various purposes over the years, and has been defined in different ways by five RFCs...
value of outgoing ip packet. Default value is zero. - -b - Sets the transfer speed in kilobits per second.
- -s - Sets the packet size in bytes.
- -v - Sets the volume to transfer in bytes.
Problems and issues
Although bwping does not require any special software on the remote host (only the ability to respond on ICMPInternet Control Message Protocol
The Internet Control Message Protocol is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. It is chiefly used by the operating systems of networked computers to send error messages indicating, for example, that a requested service is not available or that a host or router could not be...
echo request messages), there are some special requirements to network infrastructure, local and remote host performance:
- There should be no ICMPInternet Control Message ProtocolThe Internet Control Message Protocol is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. It is chiefly used by the operating systems of networked computers to send error messages indicating, for example, that a requested service is not available or that a host or router could not be...
echo request/reply filtering on the network; this includes Quality of ServiceQuality of serviceThe quality of service refers to several related aspects of telephony and computer networks that allow the transport of traffic with special requirements...
(QoS) mechanisms (which often affects ICMPInternet Control Message ProtocolThe Internet Control Message Protocol is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. It is chiefly used by the operating systems of networked computers to send error messages indicating, for example, that a requested service is not available or that a host or router could not be...
) at any point in the testing path. - Local host should have enough CPU resources to send ICMPInternet Control Message ProtocolThe Internet Control Message Protocol is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. It is chiefly used by the operating systems of networked computers to send error messages indicating, for example, that a requested service is not available or that a host or router could not be...
echo request messages with given rate, and remote host should quickly respond on these messages and should have no ICMPInternet Control Message ProtocolThe Internet Control Message Protocol is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. It is chiefly used by the operating systems of networked computers to send error messages indicating, for example, that a requested service is not available or that a host or router could not be...
bandwidth limiting turned on.
If some of these requirements are not satisfied then the measurement results will be inadequate or fail completely. In general, for testing bandwidth where QoS is implemented, always test with traffic that matches the QoS class to be tested.
See also
- iperfIperfIperf is a commonly used network testing tool that can create TCP and UDP data streams and measure the throughput of a network that is carrying them. Iperf is a modern tool for network performance measurement written in C++....
: A tool for TCPTransmission Control ProtocolThe Transmission Control Protocol is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. TCP is one of the two original components of the suite, complementing the Internet Protocol , and therefore the entire suite is commonly referred to as TCP/IP...
/UDPUser Datagram ProtocolThe User Datagram Protocol is one of the core members of the Internet Protocol Suite, the set of network protocols used for the Internet. With UDP, computer applications can send messages, in this case referred to as datagrams, to other hosts on an Internet Protocol network without requiring...
bandwidth measurement. - ttcpTtcpTTCP may refer to:*ttcp, a computer utility program for measuring network throughput*The Technical Cooperation Program, an international organisation concerned with cooperation on defence science and technology matters...
: Another tool for network bandwidth measurement. - Measuring network throughputMeasuring network throughputThroughput of a network can be measured using various tools available on different platforms. This page explains the theory behind what these tools set out to measure and the issues regarding these measurements.-Reasons for measuring throughput in networks:...