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📦 Network Performance Testing Script (iperf3 + ping) — Syslog Style

A simple and reliable tool for network performance testing using iperf3 and ping, designed for automated logging, debug mode, and optional cleanup — suitable for Linux & macOS clients.

📖 What is iperf3?

iperf3 is a powerful network testing tool used to measure:

  • Bandwidth (throughput)
  • Jitter
  • Packet loss
  • Latency

It uses client-server architecture:

  • The server runs iperf3 -s and listens for incoming tests.
  • The client initiates the test using iperf3 -c <server-ip>.

💼 Learn more: https://iperf.fr

🧱 Setup Architecture

      +-------------+              +---------------+
      |   Client    | <=====>     |    Server     |
      | (runs this  |   test via  | (runs iperf3   |
      |  script)    |   iperf3    |   in server    |
      +-------------+              +---------------+

⚙️ Setup Instructions

🔧 Server Setup (receiver):

sudo apt install iperf3
iperf3 -s

➡ The server will listen on TCP/UDP port 5201 by default.

🖥 Client Setup (runs the script):

sudo apt install iperf3
chmod +x performance_test.py

🚀 How to Run the Script (IPv4)

python3 performance_test.py --server <server_ipv4_address> --duration 60 --port 5201 --udp-bandwidth 1000M --direction upload --os-mode Linux --debug

Script Parameters:

  • --server : IP address of iperf3 server (IPv4 only)
  • --duration : Duration in seconds (60, 300, 600)
  • --port : Optional, default 5201
  • --udp-bandwidth : Optional, default 1000M (used only for UDP test)
  • --direction : upload (default) or download for reverse test
  • --debug : Show raw result output in terminal
  • --clean-tmp : Remove all related /tmp/ test files after execution
  • --os-mode : Optional override for OS auto-detection (Linux or MacOS, case-insensitive)

📂 Output & Logging Structure

/tmp/
├── ping_<timestamp>.log         # Initial ping
├── ping_live_<timestamp>.log    # Ping during iperf
├── ping_post_<timestamp>.log    # Ping after iperf
├── iperf3_udp_<timestamp>.log   # Raw UDP test
├── iperf3_tcp_<timestamp>.log   # Raw TCP test

~/iperf_logs/ (or /var/log/iperf_tests if run as root)
└── iperf_summary.log            # Parsed single-line summary

Example Summary Log:

2025-06-13_16-05-29 STATUS=OK SERVER=10.184.0.2:5201 DURATION=60s LATENCY=32.415ms PING_LOSS=0% LIVE_LAT=35.2ms LIVE_LOSS=1% POST_LAT=30.5ms POST_LOSS=0% UDP_BW=88.8 Mbits/sec UDP_JITTER=0.200ms UDP_LOSS=90% TCP_BW=39.8 Mbits/sec

✅ Supported Use Cases

1. Basic Upload Bandwidth Test

python3 performance_test.py --server <server_ip>

2. Basic Download Bandwidth Test

python3 performance_test.py --server <server_ip> --direction download

3. Longer Duration Testing

python3 performance_test.py --server <server_ip> --duration 300

4. Custom UDP Bandwidth Test

python3 performance_test.py --server <server_ip> --udp-bandwidth 500M

5. Debug Mode for Investigations

python3 performance_test.py --server <server_ip> --debug

6. Manual OS Override

python3 performance_test.py --server <server_ip> --os-mode MacOS

7. Non-root Logging

python3 performance_test.py --server <server_ip>

(Logs will be written to ~/iperf_logs/ automatically.)

8. Full Upload Test with Custom Duration, Bandwidth, and Debug

python3 performance_test.py --server <server_ip> --duration 300 --udp-bandwidth 500M --direction upload --port 5201 --debug

9. Full Download Test with Custom Duration, Bandwidth, and Debug

python3 performance_test.py --server <server_ip> --duration 300 --udp-bandwidth 500M --direction download --port 5201 --debug

10. Upload Test with Cleanup After Completion

python3 performance_test.py --server <server_ip> --duration 60 --direction upload --clean-tmp

🌐 Use Case: Over VPN/IPsec Tunnel

Example:

MacBook → LAN → FortiGate → IPsec → GCP Instance

Useful for verifying advanced tunneling stability before deployment to clients.

🧪 How UDP vs TCP Metrics Differ

  • UDP Loss (%): Packet loss due to network congestion or MTU mismatch.
  • UDP Jitter (ms): Variability in packet delay; important for VoIP/Video.
  • UDP Bandwidth: Receiver-side bandwidth (may be limited by loss).
  • TCP Bandwidth: Effective throughput measured via TCP acknowledgments.

⏱ Automate with Cron (Optional)

Run 4 times a day:

crontab -e

Example:

0 0,6,12,18 * * * /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/performance_test.py --server 192.168.1.100 --duration 60 >> ~/iperf_logs/cron.log 2>&1

Optional daily cleanup:

0 4 * * * find /tmp -name "ping_*.log" -o -name "iperf3_*.log" -mtime +7 -delete

💡 Ideas for Future Enhancements

  • Export to CSV/JSON
  • Slack/email alerts
  • REST API or webhook
  • Grafana integration via InfluxDB

📄 License

MIT License — Free to use, modify, distribute.

📁 .gitignore

*.log
*.pyc
__pycache__/
/tmp/ping_*.log
/tmp/ping_live_*.log
/tmp/ping_post_*.log
/tmp/iperf3_udp_*.log
/tmp/iperf3_tcp_*.log
/var/log/iperf_tests/*.log
~/iperf_logs/*.log