setting up iperf3 on ubuntu 20.04

Install iPerf

Make sure the package lists are up-to-date:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install -y iperf3

iperf3 --version

Testing iPerf

For testing, we need to have two systems. One system will act as a server, while the other will act as a client. Of course, you can have both the server and the client on the same machine.

Run Command to start server

iperf3 -s

Server starts to listen client connections

Run the following command to connect client to server by providing IP address

iperf3 -c 192.168.048

Output example of server:

-----------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on 5201
-----------------------------------------------------------
Accepted connection from 192.168.0.135, port 37416
[  5] local 192.168.0.48 port 5201 connected to 192.168.0.135 port 37418
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  34.0 MBytes   285 Mbits/sec
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  38.8 MBytes   326 Mbits/sec
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  36.6 MBytes   307 Mbits/sec
.......
[  5]  10.00-10.11  sec  4.32 MBytes   340 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-10.11  sec   392 MBytes   325 Mbits/sec                  receiver
-----------------------------------------------------------

Output example of client:

Connecting to host 192.168.0.48, port 5201
[  4] local 192.168.0.135 port 37418 connected to 192.168.0.48 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth       Retr  Cwnd
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  39.2 MBytes   328 Mbits/sec    0   1.12 MBytes       
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  38.3 MBytes   322 Mbits/sec    0   1.88 MBytes       
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  36.2 MBytes   304 Mbits/sec    0   3.05 MBytes       
.......
[  4]   9.01-10.01  sec  41.2 MBytes   344 Mbits/sec    0   3.05 MBytes       
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth       Retr
[  4]   0.00-10.01  sec   393 MBytes   329 Mbits/sec    0             sender
[  4]   0.00-10.01  sec   392 MBytes   328 Mbits/sec                  receiver

Uninstall iPerf

If you want to completely remove iPerf and related dependencies, run the following command:

sudo apt purge --autoremove -y iperf3

How to use iPerf3 to measure throughput/Bandwidth

iPerf3 -s

for different ports do
iPerf3 -s -p 7575

to run as a client do
iPerf3 -c 10.10.10.1 -p 7575

to do it bi directionally do
iPerf3 -c 10.10.10.1 -p 7575 -bidir

Communicate between two machines

Use -b 0 flag for unlimited bandwidth to be shown

setup a server at one point using iperf3 -s

then use a client with iperf -c with commands above