After installing a new D-Link Gigabit Ethernet Switch, I wanted to check the throughput to see if I was actually getting gigabit speeds – particularly because the house is wired with CAT-5e cable (and not the recommended CAT-6).

There are many ways to measure network throughput.  In the past I have usually copied a file across the network and used a stopwatch to get a relative sense of speed.  However, due to file sharing protocol overhead I always got disappointing results and never knew maximum capability of my network.

This time, based on the advice of a more network-savvy friend, I decided to use a command-line tool called iperf.

iperf is a command-line tool to measure network performance.  It is very powerful, but also easy to use for simple tests.  For a more complete overview of what iperf is and what it can be used for, check out this tutorial or the iperf page on Wikipedia.  iperf has a lot of options, and I won’t cover the majority of them here.  For more usage information, consult the iperf manual.

If you run Debian or Ubuntu (Linux), iperf can be installed by executing

sudo apt-get install iperf

I did these tests with OS X on the Mac since both of my Macs have gigabit ethernet ports and my older PCs don’t.  A package for iperf is conveniently available from Macports.  It can be installed via the graphical package manager Porticus or opening a Terminal window and typing

sudo port install iperf

In my case, all I wanted was a quick test of TCP/IP network performance.  This is easy to do, but it requires two computers, a client and a server, both connected to the network under test.  Ideally, there should be no other network traffic during the test, as this will affect the results.

On the first computer, launch the iperf server by executing

iperf -s

You should see something like this:

------------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 64.0 KByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------

On the 2nd computer (the client), open a Terminal window and run

iperf -c <IP address or hostname of server> -i 1

Within a few seconds, you should start to see reports coming in on both the client and server terminal windows:

------------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to mini.home, TCP port 5001
TCP window size:   129 KByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
[  3] local 192.168.24.135 port 65142 connected with 192.168.24.77 port 5001
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  3]  0.0- 1.0 sec    110 MBytes    924 Mbits/sec
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  3]  1.0- 2.0 sec    101 MBytes    850 Mbits/sec
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  3]  2.0- 3.0 sec    109 MBytes    914 Mbits/sec
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  3]  3.0- 4.0 sec    100 MBytes    841 Mbits/sec
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  3]  4.0- 5.0 sec    111 MBytes    927 Mbits/sec
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  3]  5.0- 6.0 sec    102 MBytes    853 Mbits/sec
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  3]  6.0- 7.0 sec    110 MBytes    923 Mbits/sec
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  3]  7.0- 8.0 sec    102 MBytes    858 Mbits/sec
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  3]  8.0- 9.0 sec  79.4 MBytes    666 Mbits/sec
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  3]  9.0-10.0 sec  93.6 MBytes    785 Mbits/sec
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  3]  0.0-10.0 sec  1018 MBytes    854 Mbits/sec

The last report (for the interval 0.0-10.0 sec) is the average throughput for the entire test.  I’m more than happy with 854 Mbits (927 Mbits/sec peak!) given my fairly long runs of CAT-5e cable and other machines using the network.   Contrast this with my results over 802.11g wireless:

[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  3]  0.0-10.0 sec  24.9 MBytes  20.9 Mbits/sec

Microchip Technology, makers of the PIC microcontroller, have released a demo board for the 8-bit PIC18F67J60 that is pre-programmed to function as an internet radio receiver.

Anyone familiar with the blog knows that I have a special love for internet streaming radio, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that this demo board immediate caught my eye.

The demo board’s features include ethernet, a dedicated MP3 decoder IC, pushbutton user interface, and a cool OLED matrix display.  The PIC18F67J60 includes an ethernet PHY on-chip,  which makes for a very simple way to add network connectivity to the microcontroller.  Sadly, unlike my usual hacking platform, there isn’t any wireless on-board, but given the extremely small size and downloadable source code, I am really tempted to get one of these to play with.

Here’s a short video about the board by MicrochipTechnology on YouTube:

Internet Radio Demonstration Board.