UDP Speed Test on Linux LAN
To perform a UDP speed test on a Linux CLI within your LAN, a robust and widely-used tool is iperf3, which provides accurate measurements of bandwidth, jitter, and packet loss. Here's how you can do it:
Step-by-Step Guide Using iperf3:
1. Install iperf3
On Debian/Ubuntu-based systems:
sudo apt install iperf3
On Arch-based systems:
sudo pacman -S iperf3
On Fedora:
sudo dnf install iperf3
2. Run the iperf3 server on one Linux machine:
iperf3 -s
3. Perform the UDP speed test from another machine in the LAN:
Replace SERVER_IP with the IP address of your server.
Basic UDP speed test (default bandwidth 1Mbps):
iperf3 -c SERVER_IP -u
4. Customize bandwidth and duration:
To test a higher bandwidth (e.g., 100 Mbps for 30 seconds):
iperf3 -c SERVER_IP -u -b 100M -t 30
Explanation of Flags:
-u: Specifies UDP instead of the default TCP.-b: Sets target bandwidth (e.g.,100M= 100Mbps).-t: Duration of the test in seconds.
Example Output:
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth Total Datagrams
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 119 MBytes 100 Mbits/sec 15218
[ 5] Sent 15218 datagrams
[ 5] Server Report:
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 118 MBytes 99.1 Mbits/sec 0.092 ms 0/15218 (0%)
Interpreting Results:
Bandwidth: Actual measured speed achieved.
Packet Loss: UDP packet loss percentage.
Jitter: Variation in packet latency.
Best Practices:
Ensure no firewall is blocking UDP ports (default iperf3 port: 5201).
Use wired Ethernet connections to avoid Wi-Fi variability.
Run multiple tests to ensure consistency.
This approach will reliably measure your UDP throughput within a LAN environment using Linux CLI.