# How to benchmark server performance using Speedtest and SysBench [](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcq2iZUcQQY "How to benchmark server performance using Speedtest and SysBench") > Heads-up: Speedtest is known for tracking users therefore it is recommended to run the following benchmark tests on staging servers. ## Requirements - Virtual private server (VPS) or dedicated server running Debian 10 (buster) or Debian 11 (bullseye) ## Caveats - When copy/pasting commands that start with `$`, strip out `$` as this character is not part of the command - When copy/pasting commands that start with `cat << "EOF"`, select all lines at once (from `cat << "EOF"` to `EOF` inclusively) as they are part of the same (single) command ## Setup guide ### Step 1: check if [backports](https://backports.debian.org/) repository is enabled ```shell cat /etc/apt/sources.list | grep "backports" ``` ### Step 2: enable backports repository (required if previous command returned nothing) > Heads-up: run `cat /etc/debian_version` to find Debian version. #### Debian 10 (buster) ```shell cat << "EOF" >> /etc/apt/sources.list deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports main EOF apt update ``` #### Debian 11 (bullseye) ```shell cat << "EOF" >> /etc/apt/sources.list deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-backports main EOF apt update ``` ### Step 3: install apt-transport-https, cURL and GnuPG ```shell apt update apt install -y apt-transport-https curl gnupg2 ``` ### Step 4: import [Speedtest](https://www.speedtest.net/)’s PGP public key ```shell curl -fsSL https://packagecloud.io/ookla/speedtest-cli/gpgkey | gpg --dearmor > /usr/share/keyrings/speedtest-cli.gpg ``` ### Step 5: enable Speedtest’s repository > Heads-up: run `cat /etc/debian_version` to find Debian version. #### Debian 10 (buster) ```shell echo -e "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/speedtest-cli.gpg] https://packagecloud.io/ookla/speedtest-cli/debian/ buster main\ndeb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/speedtest-cli.gpg] https://packagecloud.io/ookla/speedtest-cli/debian/ buster main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/speedtest-cli.list apt update ``` #### Debian 11 (bullseye) ```shell echo -e "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/speedtest-cli.gpg] https://packagecloud.io/ookla/speedtest-cli/debian/ bullseye main\ndeb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/speedtest-cli.gpg] https://packagecloud.io/ookla/speedtest-cli/debian/ bullseye main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/speedtest-cli.list apt update ``` ### Step 6: install Speedtest and SysBench ```shell apt install -y speedtest sysbench ``` 👍 --- ## Usage guide ### Benchmark network > Heads-up: depending on iptables or nftables firewall configuration, running following commands may be required. #### iptables ```shell iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 8080 -m state --state NEW -j ACCEPT ip6tables -A OUTPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 8080 -m state --state NEW -j ACCEPT ``` #### nftables > Heads-up: replace `firewall` if needed (see `nft list ruleset`). ```shell nft add rule ip firewall output tcp dport http-alt accept nft add rule ip6 firewall output tcp dport http-alt accept ``` ```console $ speedtest Speedtest by Ookla Server: Ljósleiðarinn - Reykjavík (id = 12720) ISP: 1984 ehf Latency: 0.48 ms (0.04 ms jitter) Download: 940.03 Mbps (data used: 494.8 MB ) Upload: 941.49 Mbps (data used: 423.8 MB ) Packet Loss: 0.0% Result URL: https://www.speedtest.net/result/c/ef84204c-1a99-451a-8782-d9b0753622f7 ``` Network download speed: 940.03 Mbps Network upload speed: 941.49 Mbps 👍 ### Benchmark CPU > Heads-up: use `--threads` to use multiple cores concurrently. ```console $ sysbench cpu run sysbench 1.0.20 (using system LuaJIT 2.1.0-beta3) Running the test with following options: Number of threads: 1 Initializing random number generator from current time Prime numbers limit: 10000 Initializing worker threads... Threads started! CPU speed: events per second: 4322.01 General statistics: total time: 10.0002s total number of events: 43223 Latency (ms): min: 0.23 avg: 0.23 max: 3.77 95th percentile: 0.23 sum: 9993.78 Threads fairness: events (avg/stddev): 43223.0000/0.00 execution time (avg/stddev): 9.9938/0.00 ``` CPU events per second: 4322.01 👍 ### Benchmark memory ```console $ sysbench memory run sysbench 1.0.20 (using system LuaJIT 2.1.0-beta3) Running the test with following options: Number of threads: 1 Initializing random number generator from current time Running memory speed test with the following options: block size: 1KiB total size: 102400MiB operation: write scope: global Initializing worker threads... Threads started! Total operations: 62356792 (6235367.55 per second) 60895.30 MiB transferred (6089.23 MiB/sec) General statistics: total time: 10.0000s total number of events: 62356792 Latency (ms): min: 0.00 avg: 0.00 max: 0.36 95th percentile: 0.00 sum: 4421.34 Threads fairness: events (avg/stddev): 62356792.0000/0.00 execution time (avg/stddev): 4.4213/0.00 ``` Memory speed: 6089.23 MiB/sec 👍 ### Benchmark disk ```console $ sysbench fileio --file-total-size=8G prepare sysbench 1.0.18 (using system LuaJIT 2.1.0-beta3) 128 files, 65536Kb each, 8192Mb total Creating files for the test... Extra file open flags: (none) Creating file test_file.0 … Creating file test_file.127 8589934592 bytes written in 82.33 seconds (99.50 MiB/sec). $ sysbench fileio --file-total-size=8G --file-test-mode=rndrw run sysbench 1.0.20 (using system LuaJIT 2.1.0-beta3) Running the test with following options: Number of threads: 1 Initializing random number generator from current time Extra file open flags: (none) 128 files, 64MiB each 8GiB total file size Block size 16KiB Number of IO requests: 0 Read/Write ratio for combined random IO test: 1.50 Periodic FSYNC enabled, calling fsync() each 100 requests. Calling fsync() at the end of test, Enabled. Using synchronous I/O mode Doing random r/w test Initializing worker threads... Threads started! File operations: reads/s: 4002.99 writes/s: 2668.62 fsyncs/s: 8546.96 Throughput: read, MiB/s: 62.55 written, MiB/s: 41.70 General statistics: total time: 10.0036s total number of events: 152119 Latency (ms): min: 0.00 avg: 0.07 max: 3.28 95th percentile: 0.16 sum: 9959.87 Threads fairness: events (avg/stddev): 152119.0000/0.00 execution time (avg/stddev): 9.9599/0.00 $ sysbench fileio cleanup sysbench 1.0.20 (using system LuaJIT 2.1.0-beta3) Removing test files... ``` Disk read throughput: 62.55 MiB/s Disk write throughput: 41.70 MiB/s 👍