NAME
kttcp —
kernel support for testing
network throughput
SYNOPSIS
pseudo-device kttcp
DESCRIPTION
This driver provides kernel support for testing network throughput from the
perspective of the kernel. It is similar in spirit to the classic ttcp network
benchmark program, the main difference being that with kttcp, the kernel is
the source and sink of the data.
Testing like this is useful for a few reasons:
- This allows us to know what kind of performance we can
expect from network applications that run in the kernel space, such as the
NFS server or the NFS client. These applications don't have to move the
data to/from userspace, and so benchmark programs which run in userspace
don't give us an accurate model.
- Since data received is just thrown away, the receiver is
very fast. This can provide better exercise for the sender at the other
end.
- Since the NetBSD kernel currently
uses a run-to-completion scheduling model, kttcp provides a benchmark
model where preemption of the benchmark program is not an issue.
SEE ALSO
pkgsrc/benchmarks/kttcp,
pkgsrc/benchmarks/ttcp