[netperf-talk] [Measuring Paket loss while forwarding packets]

[Rick Jones]

Netperf operates "socket to socket" and so only measures those things 
which can be seen at the socket layer.  So, for a TCP connection, 
netperf has no (direct at least) idea that there was ever any packet 
loss - TCP's retransmissions will "hide" it from netperf.

For a UDP stream test, netperf will have some idea of packet loss 
because it "counts" the messages received in addition to the messages 
sent.  However, all netperf knows is that it send N messages and only M 
arrived.  It has no knowledge of where those messages were lost.

Means external to netperf must be used to see where losses happen and 
those will vary with platform.  They may include netstat, ethtool, 
lanadmin, kstat etc.

You can use a netperf UDP_STREAM test as a source of load if you like, 
and you can control rates with --enable-interval (perhaps it is 
--enable-intervals)  and possibly get finer control over the rates with 
--enable-spin (at the cost of very high CPU utilization).

rick jones