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- Committer: Bazaar Package Importer
- Author(s): Camm Maguire
- Date: 2004-10-26 20:28:24 UTC
- mfrom: (1.1.1 upstream)
- Revision ID: james.westby@ubuntu.com-20041026202824-fdmack9iksv54eqe
Tags: 3.6.2-1
New upstream release
- files added:
- bin
- dox
- hosts
- src
- files removed:
- COPYING
- files modified:
- debian/changelog
added
removed
netpipe.1
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.\" -*- nroff -*-
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.\"
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.\" NetPIPE -- Network Protocol Independent Performance Evaluator.
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.\" Copyright 1997, 1998 Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc.
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.\"
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.\" This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
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.\" it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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.\" the Free Software Foundation. You should have received a copy of the
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.\" GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the
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.\" Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
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.\"
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.\" netpipe.1
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.\" Created: Mon Jun 15 1998 by Guy Helmer
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.\"
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.\" $Id: netpipe.1,v 1.3 1998/09/24 16:23:59 ghelmer Exp $
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.\"
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.TH netpipe 1 "June 15, 1998" "NetPIPE" "netpipe"
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.SH NAME
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NetPIPE \- network protocol independent performance evaluator
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.SH SYNOPSIS
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.B NPtcp
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[\c
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.BI \-A \ buffer_alignment\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BR \-a \c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-b \ TCP_buffer_size\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-h \ host_name\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-i \ increment\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-l \ starting_msg_size\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-O \ buffer_offset\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-o \ output_filename\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BR \-P \c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-p \ port\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BR \-r \c
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]
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[\c
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.BR \-s \c
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]
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[\c
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.BR \-t \c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-u \ ending_msg_size\fR\c
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]
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.PP
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.B NPmpi
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[\c
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.BI \-A \ buffer_alignment\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BR \-a \c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-i \ increment\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-l \ starting_msg_size\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-O \ buffer_offset\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-o \ output_filename\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BR \-P \c
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]
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[\c
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.BR \-s \c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-u \ ending_msg_size\fR\c
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]
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.PP
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.B NPpvm
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[\c
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.BI \-A \ buffer_alignment\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BR \-a \c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-i \ increment\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-l \ starting_msg_size\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-O \ buffer_offset\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-o \ output_filename\fR\c
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]
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[\c
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.BR \-P \c
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]
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[\c
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.BR \-r \c
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]
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[\c
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.BR \-s \c
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]
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[\c
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.BR \-t \c
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]
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[\c
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.BI \-u \ ending_msg_size\fR\c
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]
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.SH DESCRIPTION
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.PP
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.B NetPIPE
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is a protocol independent performance tool that encapsulates
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the best of ttcp and netperf and visually represents the network
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performance under a variety of conditions. By taking the end-to-end
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application view of a network,
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.B NetPIPE
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clearly shows the overhead
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associated with different protocol layers.
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.B NetPIPE
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answers such questions as:
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.RS
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How soon will a given data block of size k arrive at its destination?
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.PP
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Which network and protocol will transmit size k blocks the fastest?
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.PP
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What is a given network's effective maximum throughput and saturation
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level?
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.PP
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Does there exist a block size k for which the throughput is maximized?
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.PP
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How much communication overhead is due to the network communication
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protocol layer(s)?
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.PP
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How quickly will a small (< 1 kbyte) control message arrive, and which
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network and protocol are best for this purpose?
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.RE
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.PP
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.B NetPIPE
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is provided with interfaces for TCP, MPI, and PVM, but TCP is the most
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commonly used interface for general network testing purposes. It
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should be easy to write new interfaces for other reliable protocols based
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on the examples provided by the TCP, MPI and PVM interfaces.
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.SH TESTING TCP
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.PP
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Typical use for TCP involves running the TCP NetPIPE receiver on one
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system with the command
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.PP
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.Ex
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NPtcp \-r
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.Ee
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.PP
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and running the TCP NetPIPE transmitter on another system with the
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command
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.PP
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.Ex
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NPtcp \-h receiver_hostname \-o output_filename \-P \-t
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.Ee
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.PP
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If any options are used that modify the test protocol, including \-i,
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\-l, \-p, \-s, and \-u, those parameters
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.B must
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be used on both the transmitter and the receiver, or the test
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will not run properly.
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.SH TESTING PVM
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.PP
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Typical use for PVM first requires starting PVM with the command
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.PP
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.Ex
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pvm
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.Ee
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.PP
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and adding a second machine with the PVM command
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.PP
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.Ex
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add othermachine
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.Ee
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.PP
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(then exit the PVM command line interface). Then run the PVM NetPIPE
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receiver on one system with the command
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.PP
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.Ex
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NPpvm \-r
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.Ee
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.PP
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and run the TCP NetPIPE transmitter on the other system with the
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command
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.PP
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.Ex
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NPpvm \-t \-o output_filename \-P
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.Ee
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.PP
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If any options are used that modify the test protocol, including \-i,
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\-l, \-p, \-s, and \-u, those parameters
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.B must
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be used on both the transmitter and the receiver, or the test
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will not run properly.
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.SH TESTING MPI
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.PP
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Use of the MPI interface for NetPIPE depends on the MPI implementation
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used. For the Argonne MPICH implementation using the p4 device (for a
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cluster of individual systems interconnected using TCP/IP), create a
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file that contains the hostnames of the two systems you want to
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include in the test, with one hostname on each line of the file
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(assume the file is named "machines.p4"). Then, use the command
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.PP
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.Ex
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mpirun \-machinefile machines.p4 \-np 2 NPmpi \-o output_filename \-P
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.Ee
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.PP
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to start the test. MPICH will start an NPmpi process on each of the
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two selected machines and the test will begin.
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.SH TESTING METHODOLOGY
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.PP
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.B NetPIPE
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tests network performance by sending a number of messages at each
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block size, starting from the lower bound on message size.
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.B NetPIPE
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increments the message size until the upper bound on message size is
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reached or the time to transmit a block exceeds one second, which ever
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occurs first.
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.PP
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.B NetPIPE\c
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\'s output file may be graphed with a program such as
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.B gnuplot(1)
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to view the results of the test.
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.B NetPIPE\c
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\'s
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output file contains five columns: time to transfer the block, bits
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per second, bits in block, bytes in block, and variance. These
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columns may be graphed to represent and compare the network's
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performance. For example, the
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.B network signature graph
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can be created by graphing time versus bits per second. Sample
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.B gnuplot(1)
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commands for such a graph would be
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.PP
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.Ex
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set logscale x
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.Ee
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.PP
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.Ex
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plot "NetPIPE.out" using 1:2
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.Ee
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.PP
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The more traditional
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.B throughput versus block size
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graph can be created by graphing bytes versus bits per second.
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Sample
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.B gnuplot(1)
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commands for such a graph would be
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.PP
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.Ex
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set logscale x
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.Ee
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.PP
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.Ex
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plot "NetPIPE.out" using 4:2
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.Ee
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.ne 5
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.SH OPTIONS
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.TP
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.B \-A \ \fIalignment\fR
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Align buffers to the given boundary. For example, a value of 4 would
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align buffers to 4-byte (word) boundaries.
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.ne 3
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.TP
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.B \-a
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Specify asynchronous receive (a.k.a. preposted receive), if the
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underlying protocol supports it.
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.ne 3
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.TP
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.BI \-b \ \fIbuffer_size\fR
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[TCP only] Set send and receive TCP buffer sizes.
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.ne 3
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.TP
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.BI \-h \ \fIhostname\fR
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[TCP transmitter only] Specify name of host to which to connect.
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.ne 3
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.TP
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.BI \-i \ \fIincrement\fR
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Specify increment step size (default is an exponentially increasing
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increment).
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.ne 3
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.TP
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.BI \-l \ \fIstart_msg_size\fR
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Specify the starting message size. The test will start with messages
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of this size and increment, either exponentially or with an increment
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specified by the
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.B \-i
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flag, until a block requires more than one second to transmit or the
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ending message size specified by the
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.B \-u
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flag is reached, which ever occurs first.
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.ne 3
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.TP
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.BI \-O \ \fIbuffer_offset\fR
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Specify offset of buffers from alignment. For example, specifying an
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alignment of 4 (with \-A) and an offset of 1 would align buffers to
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the first byte after a word boundary.
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.ne 3
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.TP
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.BI \-o \ \fIoutput_filename\fR
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Specify output filename. By default, the output filename is
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.IR NetPIPE.out .
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.ne 3
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.TP
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.B \-P
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Print results on screen during execution of the test. By default,
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NetPIPE is silent during execution of the test.
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.ne 3
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.TP
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.BI \-p \ \fIport_number\fR
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[TCP only] Specify TCP port number to which to connect (for the
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transmitter) or the port on which to listen for connections (for the
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receiver).
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.ne 3
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.TP
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.B \-r
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[TCP only] This process is a TCP receiver.
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.ne 3
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.TP
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.B \-s
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Set streaming mode: data is only transmitted in one direction. By
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default, the transmitter measures the time taken as each data block is
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sent from the transmitter to the receiver and back, then divides the
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round-trip time by two to obtain the time taken by the message to
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travel in each direction. In streaming mode, the receiver measures
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the time required to receive the message and sends the measured time
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back to the transmitter for posting to the output file.
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.ne 3
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.TP
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.B \-t
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[TCP only] This process is a TCP transmitter.
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.ne 3
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.TP
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.BI \-u \ \fIending_msg_size\fR
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Specify the ending message size. By default, the test will end when
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the time to transmit a block exceeds one second. If
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.B \-u
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is specified, the test will end when either the test time exceeds one
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second or the ending message size is reached, which ever occurs first.
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.ne 3
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.SH FILES
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.TP
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.I NetPIPE.out
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Default output file for
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.BR NetPIPE .
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Overridden by the
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.B \-o
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option.
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.SH AUTHOR
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.PP
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Quinn Snell <snell@cs.byu.edu>, Guy Helmer <ghelmer@scl.ameslab.gov>,
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and others.
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.PP
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Clark Dorman <dorman@s3i.com> contributed the PVM interface.
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.PP
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Information about
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.B NetPIPE
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can be found on the World Wide Web at
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http://www.scl.ameslab.gov/netpipe/.
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.SH BUGS
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By nature,
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.B NetPIPE
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will use as much of the network bandwidth as possible. Other users of
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the network may notice the effect.
Loggerhead is a web-based interface for Breezy
Version: 2.0.1