Measuring network throughput
Encyclopedia
Throughput
of a network can be measured using various tools available on different platforms. This page explains the theory behind what these tools set out to measure and the issues regarding these measurements.
in bits per second of a communications link or network access. A typical method of performing a measurement is to transfer a 'large' file from one system to another system and measure the time required to complete the transfer or copy of the file. The throughput is then calculated by dividing the file size by the time to get the throughput in megabit
s, kilobit
s, or bit
s per second.
Unfortunately, the results of such an exercise will result in the goodput
which is typically less than the maximum theoretical data throughput, leading to people believing that their communications link is not operating correctly.
In fact, there are many overheads accounted for in goodput in addition to transmission overheads, including latency
, TCP Receive Window size and system limitations, which means the calculated goodput does not reflect the maximum achievable throughput.
where RWIN is the TCP Receive Window and RTT is the round-trip time
for the path.
The Max TCP Window size in the absence of TCP window scale option
is 65,535 byte
s.Example: Max Bandwidth = 65535 bytes / 0.220 s = 297886.36 bytes/s * 8 = 2.383 Mbit
/s.
We multiply the Byte per second times 8 to get the Bit per second rate. Over a single TCP connection between those endpoints, the tested Bandwidth will be restricted to 2.376 Mbit/s even if the contracted Bandwidth is greater.
or internet
connection. It is typically undertaken by attempting to download or upload the maximum amount of data in a certain period of time, or a certain amount of data in the minimum amount of time. For this reason, Bandwidth tests can delay internet transmissions through the internet connection as they are undertaken, and can cause inflated data charges.
A more accurate method is to use dedicated software such as Netcps, Spirent
Test Center, IxChariot, Iperf
, Ttcp
, netperf or bwping
for measuring the maximum throughput of a network access.
prefixes indicating multiplication by 1,000 (kilo), 1,000,000 (mega), and 1,000,000,000 (giga
).
File sizes are typically measured in byte
s — kilobyte
s, megabyte
s, and gigabyte
s being usual, where a byte is eight bits. In modern textbooks one kilobyte is defined as 1,000 byte, one megabyte as 1,000,000 byte, etc., in accordance with the 1998 International Electrotechnical Commission
(IEC) standard. However, when Windows systems measure file size, the old computer science definition is still used, where 1 kilobyte is defined as 1,024 (or 210) bytes, which should be denoted 1 kibibyte
according to IEC terminology. Similarly, a file size of 1 megabyte is 1,024 × 1,024 byte (should be called 1 mebibyte
), and 1 gigabyte 1,024 × 1,024 × 1,024 byte (should be called one gibibyte
). The result of all this is that a file that according to the operational system consists of 64 kilobyte data contains 64 × 1024 bytes, or 64 × 1024 × 8 bits.
s, people will interchangeably use the terms throughput
, bandwidth
and speed, and refer to a circuit as being a '64 k' circuit, or a '2 meg' circuit — meaning 64 kbit/s or 2 Mbit/s (see also the List of connection bandwidths). A '64 k' circuit will, therefore, not transmit a '64 k' file in one second. This may not be obvious to those unfamiliar with telecommunications and computing, so misunderstandings sometimes arise. In actuality, a 64 kilobyte file is 64 × 1,024 × 8 bits in size and the 64 k circuit will transmit bits at a rate of 64 × 1,000 bit/s, so the amount of time taken to transmit a 64 kilobyte file over the 64 k circuit will be at least (64 × 1,024 × 8)/(64 × 1,000) seconds, which works out to be 8.192 seconds.
s and of several popular operating system
s. If the 64 k file can be shrunk by compression
, the time taken to transmit can be reduced. This can be done invisibly to the user, so a highly compressible file may be transmitted considerably faster than expected. As this 'invisible' compression cannot easily be disabled, it therefore follows that when measuring throughputs by using files and timing the time to transmit, one should use files that cannot be compressed. Typically, this would mean using an already compressed file, such as a 'zip' file.
Assuming your data cannot be compressed, the 8.192 seconds to transmit a 64 kilobyte file over a 64 kilobit/s communications link is a theoretical minimum time which will not be achieved in practice. This is due to the effect of overheads which are used to format the data in an agreed manner so that both ends of a connection have a consistent view of the data.
There are at least two issues that aren't immediately obvious for transmitting compressed files.
(1) The throughput of the network itself isn't improved by compression. From the end-to-end (server to client) perspective compression does improve throughput. That's because information content for the same amount of transmission is increased through compression of files.
(2) Compressing files at the server and client takes more processor resources at both the ends. The server has to use its processor to compress the files, if they aren't already done. The client has to decompress the files upon receipt. This can be considered an expense (for the server and client) for the benefit of increased end to end throughput(although the throughput hasn't changed for the network itself.)
, or just "asynchronous", serial link. If you have an external modem attached to your home or office computer, the chances are that the connection is over an asynchronous serial connection. Its advantage is that it is simple — it can be implemented using only three wires: Send, Receive and Signal Ground (or Signal Common). In an RS232 interface, an idle connection has a continuous negative voltage applied. A 'zero' bit is represented as a positive voltage difference with respect to the Signal Ground and a 'one' bit is a negative voltage with respect to signal ground, thus indistinguishable from the idle state. This means you need to know when a 'one' bit starts to distinguish it from idle. This is done by agreeing in advance how fast data will be transmitted over a link, then using a start bit to signal the start of a byte — this start bit will be a 'zero' bit. Stop bits are 'one' bits i.e. negative voltage.
Actually, more things will have been agreed in advance — the speed of bit transmission, the number of bits per character, the parity
and the number of stop bits (signifying the end of a character). So a designation of 9600-8-E-2 would be 9,600 bits per second, with eight bits per character, even parity and two stop bits.
A common set-up of an asynchronous serial connection would be 9600-8-N-1 (9,600 bit/s, 8 bits per character, no parity and 1 stop bit) - a total of 10 bits transmitted to send one 8 bit character (one start bit, the 8 bits making up the byte transmitted and one stop bit). This is an overhead of 25%, so a 9,600 bit/s asynchronous serial link will not transmit data at 9600/8 bytes per second (1200 byte/s) but actually, in this case 9600/10 bytes per second (960 byte/s), which is considerably slower than expected.
It can get worse. If parity is specified and we use 2 stop bits, the overhead for carrying one 8 bit character is 4 bits (one start bit, one parity bit and two stop bits) - or 50%! In this case a 9600 bit/s connection will carry 9600/12 byte/s (800 byte/s). Asynchronous serial interfaces commonly will support bit transmission speeds of up to 230.4 kbit/s. If it is set up to have no parity and one stop bit, this means the byte transmission rate is 23.04 kbyte/s.
The advantage of the asynchronous serial connection is its simplicity. One disadvantage is its low efficiency in carrying data. This can be overcome by using a synchronous
interface. In this type of interface, a clock signal is added on a separate wire, and the bits are transmitted in synchrony with the clock — the interface no longer has to look for the start and stop bits of each individual character — however, it is necessary to have a mechanism to ensure the sending and receiving clocks are kept in synchrony, so data is divided up into frames of multiple characters separated by known delimiters. There are three common coding schemes for framed communications — HDLC, PPP
, and Ethernet
. The start and end of the frame are signalled by the 'flag', and error detection is carried out by the frame check sequence. If the frame has a maximum sized address of 32 bits, a maximum sized control part of 16 bits and a maximum sized frame check sequence of 16 bits, the overhead per frame could be as high as 64 bits. If each frame carried but a single byte, the data throughput efficiency would be extremely low. However, the bytes are normally gathered together, so that even with a maximal overhead of 64 bits, frames carrying more than 24 bytes are more efficient than asynchronous serial connections. As frames can vary in size because they can have different numbers of bytes being carried as data, this means the overhead of an HDLC connection is not fixed.
" (PPP) is defined by the Internet Request For Comment documents RFC 1570, RFC 1661 and RFC 1662. With respect to the framing of packets, PPP is quite similar to HDLC, but supports both bit-oriented as well as byte-oriented ("octet-stuffed") methods of delimiting frames while maintaining data transparency.
is a "local area network
" (LAN) technology, which is also framed. The way the frame is electrically defined on a connection between two systems is different from the typically wide-area networking technology that uses HDLC or PPP implemented, but these details are not important for throughput calculations. Ethernet is a shared medium, so that it is not guaranteed that only the two systems that are transferring a file between themselves will have exclusive access to the connection. If several systems are attempting to communicate simultaneously, the throughput between any pair can be substantially lower than the nominal bandwidth available.
, ATM
, and MPLS
based services can also be used. When calculating or estimating data throughputs, the details of the frame/cell/packet format and the technology's detailed implementation need to be understood.
uses a modified HDLC format to define the frame format that carries data.
" (ATM) uses a radically different method of carrying data. Rather than using variable length frames or packets, data is carried in fixed size cells. Each cell is 53 bytes long, with the first 5 bytes defined as the header, and the following 48 bytes as payload. Data networking commonly requires packets of data that are larger than 48 bytes, so there is a defined adaptation process that specifies how larger packets of data should be divided up in a standard manner to be carried by the smaller cells. This process varies according to the data carried, so in ATM nomenclature, there are different ATM Adaptation Layers
. The process defined for most data is named ATM Adaptation Layer No. 5 or AAL5.
Understanding throughput on ATM links requires a knowledge of which ATM adaptation layer has been used for the data being carried.
(MPLS) adds a standard tag or header known as a 'label' to existing packets of data. In certain situations it is possible to use MPLS in a 'stacked' manner, so that labels are added to packets that have already been labelled. Connections between MPLS systems can also be 'native', with no underlying transport protocol, or MPLS labelled packets can be carried inside frame relay or HDLC packets as payloads. Correct thoughput calculations need to take such configurations into account. For example, a data packet could have two MPLS labels attached via 'label-stacking', then be placed as payload inside an HDLC frame. This generates more overhead that has to be taken into account that a single MPLS label attached to a packet which is then sent 'natively', with no underlying protocol to a receiving system.
(IP), defined by RFC 791. This imposes its own overheads.
Again, few systems simply copy the contents of files into IP packets, but use yet another protocol that manages the connection between two systems — TCP (Transmission Control Protocol
), defined by RFC 1812. This adds its own overhead.
Finally, a final protocol layer manages the actual data transfer process. A commonly used protocol for this is the "file transfer protocol
" (FTP), defined by RFC 959.
Some of these tools can be used for nefarious purposes. The use of these tools can possibly lead to harmful consequences even if the tester has only good intentions. So use of these should be, at a minimum, done with caution and a good understanding of the tools.
Throughput
In communication networks, such as Ethernet or packet radio, throughput or network throughput is the average rate of successful message delivery over a communication channel. This data may be delivered over a physical or logical link, or pass through a certain network node...
of a network can be measured using various tools available on different platforms. This page explains the theory behind what these tools set out to measure and the issues regarding these measurements.
Reasons for measuring throughput in networks
People are often concerned about measuring the maximum data throughputThroughput
In communication networks, such as Ethernet or packet radio, throughput or network throughput is the average rate of successful message delivery over a communication channel. This data may be delivered over a physical or logical link, or pass through a certain network node...
in bits per second of a communications link or network access. A typical method of performing a measurement is to transfer a 'large' file from one system to another system and measure the time required to complete the transfer or copy of the file. The throughput is then calculated by dividing the file size by the time to get the throughput in megabit
Megabit
The megabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix mega is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 106 , and therefore...
s, kilobit
Kilobit
The kilobit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix kilo is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 103 , and therefore,...
s, or bit
Bit
A bit is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct states...
s per second.
Unfortunately, the results of such an exercise will result in the goodput
Goodput
In computer networks, goodput is the application level throughput, i.e. the number of useful information bits, delivered by the network to a certain destination, per unit of time. The amount of data considered excludes protocol overhead bits as well as retransmitted data packets...
which is typically less than the maximum theoretical data throughput, leading to people believing that their communications link is not operating correctly.
In fact, there are many overheads accounted for in goodput in addition to transmission overheads, including latency
Latency (engineering)
Latency is a measure of time delay experienced in a system, the precise definition of which depends on the system and the time being measured. Latencies may have different meaning in different contexts.-Packet-switched networks:...
, TCP Receive Window size and system limitations, which means the calculated goodput does not reflect the maximum achievable throughput.
Theory: Short Summary
The Maximum bandwidth can be calculated as follows: where RWIN is the TCP Receive Window and RTT is the round-trip time
Round-trip delay time
In telecommunications, the round-trip delay time or round-trip time is the length of time it takes for a signal to be sent plus the length of time it takes for an acknowledgment of that signal to be received...
for the path.
The Max TCP Window size in the absence of TCP window scale option
TCP window scale option
The TCP window scale option is an option to increase the TCP receive window size above its maximum value of 65,535 bytes.This TCP option, along with several others, is defined in IETF RFC 1323 which deals with Long-Fat Networks, or LFN....
is 65,535 byte
Byte
The byte is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, a byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the basic addressable element in many computer...
s.Example: Max Bandwidth = 65535 bytes / 0.220 s = 297886.36 bytes/s * 8 = 2.383 Mbit
Megabit
The megabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix mega is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 106 , and therefore...
/s.
We multiply the Byte per second times 8 to get the Bit per second rate. Over a single TCP connection between those endpoints, the tested Bandwidth will be restricted to 2.376 Mbit/s even if the contracted Bandwidth is greater.
Bandwidth test software
Bandwidth test software is used to determine the maximum bandwidth of a networkComputer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
or internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
connection. It is typically undertaken by attempting to download or upload the maximum amount of data in a certain period of time, or a certain amount of data in the minimum amount of time. For this reason, Bandwidth tests can delay internet transmissions through the internet connection as they are undertaken, and can cause inflated data charges.
A more accurate method is to use dedicated software such as Netcps, Spirent
Spirent
Spirent Communications plc is a multinational telecommunications testing company headquartered in Crawley, United Kingdom.It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
Test Center, IxChariot, Iperf
Iperf
Iperf is a commonly used network testing tool that can create TCP and UDP data streams and measure the throughput of a network that is carrying them. Iperf is a modern tool for network performance measurement written in C++....
, Ttcp
Ttcp
TTCP may refer to:*ttcp, a computer utility program for measuring network throughput*The Technical Cooperation Program, an international organisation concerned with cooperation on defence science and technology matters...
, netperf or bwping
Bwping
bwping is a tool to measure bandwidth and response times between two hosts using Internet Control Message Protocol echo request/echo reply mechanism. It does not require any special software on the remote host...
for measuring the maximum throughput of a network access.
Nomenclature
The throughput of communications links is measured in bits per second (bit/s), kilobits per second (kbit/s), megabits per second (Mbit/s) and gigabits per second (Gbit/s). In this application, kilo, mega and giga are the standard S.I.Si
Si, si, or SI may refer to :- Measurement, mathematics and science :* International System of Units , the modern international standard version of the metric system...
prefixes indicating multiplication by 1,000 (kilo), 1,000,000 (mega), and 1,000,000,000 (giga
Giga
Giga is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of billion . It has the symbol G.Giga is derived from the Greek γίγας, meaning 'giant'...
).
File sizes are typically measured in byte
Byte
The byte is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, a byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the basic addressable element in many computer...
s — kilobyte
Kilobyte
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
s, megabyte
Megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
s, and gigabyte
Gigabyte
The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
s being usual, where a byte is eight bits. In modern textbooks one kilobyte is defined as 1,000 byte, one megabyte as 1,000,000 byte, etc., in accordance with the 1998 International Electrotechnical Commission
International Electrotechnical Commission
The International Electrotechnical Commission is a non-profit, non-governmental international standards organization that prepares and publishes International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies – collectively known as "electrotechnology"...
(IEC) standard. However, when Windows systems measure file size, the old computer science definition is still used, where 1 kilobyte is defined as 1,024 (or 210) bytes, which should be denoted 1 kibibyte
Kibibyte
The kibibyte is a multiple of the unit byte for quantities of digital information. The binary prefix kibi means 1024; therefore, 1 kibibyte is . The unit symbol for the kibibyte is KiB. The unit was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 1999 and has been accepted for use...
according to IEC terminology. Similarly, a file size of 1 megabyte is 1,024 × 1,024 byte (should be called 1 mebibyte
Mebibyte
The mebibyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The binary prefix mebi means 220, therefore 1 mebibyte is . The unit symbol for the mebibyte is MiB. The unit was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 2000 and has been accepted for use by all major...
), and 1 gigabyte 1,024 × 1,024 × 1,024 byte (should be called one gibibyte
Gibibyte
The gibibyte is a standards-based binary multiple of the byte, a unit of digital information storage. The gibibyte unit symbol is GiB....
). The result of all this is that a file that according to the operational system consists of 64 kilobyte data contains 64 × 1024 bytes, or 64 × 1024 × 8 bits.
Confusing and inconsistent use of SUFfixes
It is usual for people to abbreviate commonly used expressions. For file sizes, it is usual for someone to say that they have a '64 k' file (meaning 64 kilobytes), or a '100 meg' file (meaning 100 megabytes). When talking about circuit bit rateBit rate
In telecommunications and computing, bit rate is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time....
s, people will interchangeably use the terms throughput
Throughput
In communication networks, such as Ethernet or packet radio, throughput or network throughput is the average rate of successful message delivery over a communication channel. This data may be delivered over a physical or logical link, or pass through a certain network node...
, bandwidth
Bandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
and speed, and refer to a circuit as being a '64 k' circuit, or a '2 meg' circuit — meaning 64 kbit/s or 2 Mbit/s (see also the List of connection bandwidths). A '64 k' circuit will, therefore, not transmit a '64 k' file in one second. This may not be obvious to those unfamiliar with telecommunications and computing, so misunderstandings sometimes arise. In actuality, a 64 kilobyte file is 64 × 1,024 × 8 bits in size and the 64 k circuit will transmit bits at a rate of 64 × 1,000 bit/s, so the amount of time taken to transmit a 64 kilobyte file over the 64 k circuit will be at least (64 × 1,024 × 8)/(64 × 1,000) seconds, which works out to be 8.192 seconds.
Compression
Some equipment can improve matters by compressing the data as it is sent. This is a feature of most analogue modemModem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
s and of several popular operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s. If the 64 k file can be shrunk by compression
Data compression
In computer science and information theory, data compression, source coding or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation would use....
, the time taken to transmit can be reduced. This can be done invisibly to the user, so a highly compressible file may be transmitted considerably faster than expected. As this 'invisible' compression cannot easily be disabled, it therefore follows that when measuring throughputs by using files and timing the time to transmit, one should use files that cannot be compressed. Typically, this would mean using an already compressed file, such as a 'zip' file.
Assuming your data cannot be compressed, the 8.192 seconds to transmit a 64 kilobyte file over a 64 kilobit/s communications link is a theoretical minimum time which will not be achieved in practice. This is due to the effect of overheads which are used to format the data in an agreed manner so that both ends of a connection have a consistent view of the data.
There are at least two issues that aren't immediately obvious for transmitting compressed files.
(1) The throughput of the network itself isn't improved by compression. From the end-to-end (server to client) perspective compression does improve throughput. That's because information content for the same amount of transmission is increased through compression of files.
(2) Compressing files at the server and client takes more processor resources at both the ends. The server has to use its processor to compress the files, if they aren't already done. The client has to decompress the files upon receipt. This can be considered an expense (for the server and client) for the benefit of increased end to end throughput(although the throughput hasn't changed for the network itself.)
Overheads and data formats
A common communications link used by many people is the asynchronous start-stopAsynchronous start-stop
Asynchronous serial communication describes an asynchronous, serial transmission protocol in which a start signal is sent prior to each byte, character or code word and a stop signal is sent after each code word...
, or just "asynchronous", serial link. If you have an external modem attached to your home or office computer, the chances are that the connection is over an asynchronous serial connection. Its advantage is that it is simple — it can be implemented using only three wires: Send, Receive and Signal Ground (or Signal Common). In an RS232 interface, an idle connection has a continuous negative voltage applied. A 'zero' bit is represented as a positive voltage difference with respect to the Signal Ground and a 'one' bit is a negative voltage with respect to signal ground, thus indistinguishable from the idle state. This means you need to know when a 'one' bit starts to distinguish it from idle. This is done by agreeing in advance how fast data will be transmitted over a link, then using a start bit to signal the start of a byte — this start bit will be a 'zero' bit. Stop bits are 'one' bits i.e. negative voltage.
Actually, more things will have been agreed in advance — the speed of bit transmission, the number of bits per character, the parity
Parity bit
A parity bit is a bit that is added to ensure that the number of bits with the value one in a set of bits is even or odd. Parity bits are used as the simplest form of error detecting code....
and the number of stop bits (signifying the end of a character). So a designation of 9600-8-E-2 would be 9,600 bits per second, with eight bits per character, even parity and two stop bits.
A common set-up of an asynchronous serial connection would be 9600-8-N-1 (9,600 bit/s, 8 bits per character, no parity and 1 stop bit) - a total of 10 bits transmitted to send one 8 bit character (one start bit, the 8 bits making up the byte transmitted and one stop bit). This is an overhead of 25%, so a 9,600 bit/s asynchronous serial link will not transmit data at 9600/8 bytes per second (1200 byte/s) but actually, in this case 9600/10 bytes per second (960 byte/s), which is considerably slower than expected.
It can get worse. If parity is specified and we use 2 stop bits, the overhead for carrying one 8 bit character is 4 bits (one start bit, one parity bit and two stop bits) - or 50%! In this case a 9600 bit/s connection will carry 9600/12 byte/s (800 byte/s). Asynchronous serial interfaces commonly will support bit transmission speeds of up to 230.4 kbit/s. If it is set up to have no parity and one stop bit, this means the byte transmission rate is 23.04 kbyte/s.
The advantage of the asynchronous serial connection is its simplicity. One disadvantage is its low efficiency in carrying data. This can be overcome by using a synchronous
Synchronization (computer science)
In computer science, synchronization refers to one of two distinct but related concepts: synchronization of processes, and synchronization of data. Process synchronization refers to the idea that multiple processes are to join up or handshake at a certain point, so as to reach an agreement or...
interface. In this type of interface, a clock signal is added on a separate wire, and the bits are transmitted in synchrony with the clock — the interface no longer has to look for the start and stop bits of each individual character — however, it is necessary to have a mechanism to ensure the sending and receiving clocks are kept in synchrony, so data is divided up into frames of multiple characters separated by known delimiters. There are three common coding schemes for framed communications — HDLC, PPP
Point-to-Point Protocol
In networking, the Point-to-Point Protocol is a data link protocol commonly used in establishing a direct connection between two networking nodes...
, and Ethernet
Ethernet
Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
HDLC
When using HDLC, rather than each byte having a start, optional parity, and one or two stop bits, the bytes are gathered together into a frameData frame
In computer networking and telecommunication, a frame is a digital data transmission unit or data packet that includes frame synchronization, i.e. a sequence of bits or symbols making it possible for the receiver to detect the beginning and end of the packet in the stream of symbols or bits...
. The start and end of the frame are signalled by the 'flag', and error detection is carried out by the frame check sequence. If the frame has a maximum sized address of 32 bits, a maximum sized control part of 16 bits and a maximum sized frame check sequence of 16 bits, the overhead per frame could be as high as 64 bits. If each frame carried but a single byte, the data throughput efficiency would be extremely low. However, the bytes are normally gathered together, so that even with a maximal overhead of 64 bits, frames carrying more than 24 bytes are more efficient than asynchronous serial connections. As frames can vary in size because they can have different numbers of bytes being carried as data, this means the overhead of an HDLC connection is not fixed.
PPP
The "point-to-point protocolPoint-to-Point Protocol
In networking, the Point-to-Point Protocol is a data link protocol commonly used in establishing a direct connection between two networking nodes...
" (PPP) is defined by the Internet Request For Comment documents RFC 1570, RFC 1661 and RFC 1662. With respect to the framing of packets, PPP is quite similar to HDLC, but supports both bit-oriented as well as byte-oriented ("octet-stuffed") methods of delimiting frames while maintaining data transparency.
Ethernet
EthernetEthernet
Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
is a "local area network
Local area network
A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building...
" (LAN) technology, which is also framed. The way the frame is electrically defined on a connection between two systems is different from the typically wide-area networking technology that uses HDLC or PPP implemented, but these details are not important for throughput calculations. Ethernet is a shared medium, so that it is not guaranteed that only the two systems that are transferring a file between themselves will have exclusive access to the connection. If several systems are attempting to communicate simultaneously, the throughput between any pair can be substantially lower than the nominal bandwidth available.
Other low-level protocols
Dedicated point-to-point links are not the only option for many connections between systems. Frame RelayFrame relay
Frame Relay is a standardized wide area network technology that specifies the physical and logical link layers of digital telecommunications channels using a packet switching methodology...
, ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a standard switching technique designed to unify telecommunication and computer networks. It uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing, and it encodes data into small, fixed-sized cells. This differs from approaches such as the Internet Protocol or Ethernet that...
, and MPLS
Multiprotocol Label Switching
Multiprotocol Label Switching is a mechanism in high-performance telecommunications networks that directs data from one network node to the next based on short path labels rather than long network addresses, avoiding complex lookups in a routing table. The labels identify virtual links between...
based services can also be used. When calculating or estimating data throughputs, the details of the frame/cell/packet format and the technology's detailed implementation need to be understood.
Frame Relay
Frame RelayFrame relay
Frame Relay is a standardized wide area network technology that specifies the physical and logical link layers of digital telecommunications channels using a packet switching methodology...
uses a modified HDLC format to define the frame format that carries data.
ATM
The "asynchronous transfer modeAsynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a standard switching technique designed to unify telecommunication and computer networks. It uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing, and it encodes data into small, fixed-sized cells. This differs from approaches such as the Internet Protocol or Ethernet that...
" (ATM) uses a radically different method of carrying data. Rather than using variable length frames or packets, data is carried in fixed size cells. Each cell is 53 bytes long, with the first 5 bytes defined as the header, and the following 48 bytes as payload. Data networking commonly requires packets of data that are larger than 48 bytes, so there is a defined adaptation process that specifies how larger packets of data should be divided up in a standard manner to be carried by the smaller cells. This process varies according to the data carried, so in ATM nomenclature, there are different ATM Adaptation Layers
ATM Adaptation Layers
The use of Asynchronous Transfer Mode technology and services creates the need for an adaptation layer in order to support information transfer protocols, which are not based on ATM...
. The process defined for most data is named ATM Adaptation Layer No. 5 or AAL5.
Understanding throughput on ATM links requires a knowledge of which ATM adaptation layer has been used for the data being carried.
MPLS
Multiprotocol Label SwitchingMultiprotocol Label Switching
Multiprotocol Label Switching is a mechanism in high-performance telecommunications networks that directs data from one network node to the next based on short path labels rather than long network addresses, avoiding complex lookups in a routing table. The labels identify virtual links between...
(MPLS) adds a standard tag or header known as a 'label' to existing packets of data. In certain situations it is possible to use MPLS in a 'stacked' manner, so that labels are added to packets that have already been labelled. Connections between MPLS systems can also be 'native', with no underlying transport protocol, or MPLS labelled packets can be carried inside frame relay or HDLC packets as payloads. Correct thoughput calculations need to take such configurations into account. For example, a data packet could have two MPLS labels attached via 'label-stacking', then be placed as payload inside an HDLC frame. This generates more overhead that has to be taken into account that a single MPLS label attached to a packet which is then sent 'natively', with no underlying protocol to a receiving system.
Higher-level protocols
Few systems transfer files and data by simply copying the contents of the file into the 'Data' field of HDLC or PPP frames — another protocol layer is used to format the data inside the 'Data' field of the HDLC or PPP frame. The most commonly used such protocol is Internet ProtocolInternet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
(IP), defined by RFC 791. This imposes its own overheads.
Again, few systems simply copy the contents of files into IP packets, but use yet another protocol that manages the connection between two systems — TCP (Transmission Control Protocol
Transmission Control Protocol
The Transmission Control Protocol is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. TCP is one of the two original components of the suite, complementing the Internet Protocol , and therefore the entire suite is commonly referred to as TCP/IP...
), defined by RFC 1812. This adds its own overhead.
Finally, a final protocol layer manages the actual data transfer process. A commonly used protocol for this is the "file transfer protocol
File Transfer Protocol
File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...
" (FTP), defined by RFC 959.
Tools available for measuring throughput
This section cannot be comprehensive because there are many tools available, some of which are proprietary and specific to vendor applications.Some of these tools can be used for nefarious purposes. The use of these tools can possibly lead to harmful consequences even if the tester has only good intentions. So use of these should be, at a minimum, done with caution and a good understanding of the tools.
See also
- BandwidthBandwidth (computing)In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
- Bit rateBit rateIn telecommunications and computing, bit rate is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time....
- GoodputGoodputIn computer networks, goodput is the application level throughput, i.e. the number of useful information bits, delivered by the network to a certain destination, per unit of time. The amount of data considered excludes protocol overhead bits as well as retransmitted data packets...
- Network traffic measurementNetwork traffic measurementIn computer networks, network traffic measurement is the process of measuring the amount and type of traffic on a particular network. This is especially important with regard to effective bandwidth management.- Tools :...
- Packet generation model
- ThroughputThroughputIn communication networks, such as Ethernet or packet radio, throughput or network throughput is the average rate of successful message delivery over a communication channel. This data may be delivered over a physical or logical link, or pass through a certain network node...