# 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: Siminn - Reykjavik (id = 4818) ISP: 1984 ehf Latency: 0.56 ms (0.04 ms jitter) Download: 952.13 Mbps (data used: 429.5 MB ) Upload: 994.18 Mbps (data used: 1.6 GB ) Packet Loss: 0.0% Result URL: https://www.speedtest.net/result/c/541db9ff-1731-4998-b137-9d6dd959f6aa ``` Network download speed: 940.03 Mbps Network upload speed: 941.49 Mbps 👍 ### Benchmark CPU ```console $ sysbench cpu --threads=$(nproc) 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: 4312.04 General statistics: total time: 10.0002s total number of events: 43123 Latency (ms): min: 0.23 avg: 0.23 max: 0.64 95th percentile: 0.24 sum: 9989.38 Threads fairness: events (avg/stddev): 43123.0000/0.00 execution time (avg/stddev): 9.9894/0.00 ``` CPU events per second: 4312.04 👍 ### Benchmark memory ```console $ sysbench memory --threads=$(nproc) 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: 62470941 (6246793.35 per second) 61006.78 MiB transferred (6100.38 MiB/sec) General statistics: total time: 10.0000s total number of events: 62470941 Latency (ms): min: 0.00 avg: 0.00 max: 0.23 95th percentile: 0.00 sum: 4481.00 Threads fairness: events (avg/stddev): 62470941.0000/0.00 execution time (avg/stddev): 4.4810/0.00 ``` Memory speed: 6100.38 MiB/sec 👍 ### Benchmark disk > Heads-up: use `--file-block-size=16K` to simulate database or `apt install` workloads and `--file-block-size=1M` to simulate web server workload. ```console $ sysbench fileio --file-total-size=8G prepare sysbench 1.0.20 (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 81.95 seconds (99.96 MiB/sec). $ sysbench fileio --file-block-size=16K --file-total-size=8G --file-test-mode=rndrw --threads=$(nproc) 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: 4042.23 writes/s: 2694.82 fsyncs/s: 8629.92 Throughput: read, MiB/s: 63.16 written, MiB/s: 42.11 General statistics: total time: 10.0040s total number of events: 153609 Latency (ms): min: 0.00 avg: 0.06 max: 10.10 95th percentile: 0.15 sum: 9963.22 Threads fairness: events (avg/stddev): 153609.0000/0.00 execution time (avg/stddev): 9.9632/0.00 $ sysbench fileio --file-block-size=1M --file-total-size=8G --file-test-mode=rndrw --threads=$(nproc) 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 1MiB 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: 63.57 writes/s: 42.38 fsyncs/s: 136.57 Throughput: read, MiB/s: 63.57 written, MiB/s: 42.38 General statistics: total time: 10.3782s total number of events: 2390 Latency (ms): min: 0.01 avg: 4.19 max: 160.43 95th percentile: 15.00 sum: 10004.76 Threads fairness: events (avg/stddev): 2390.0000/0.00 execution time (avg/stddev): 10.0048/0.00 $ sysbench fileio --file-total-size=8G cleanup sysbench 1.0.20 (using system LuaJIT 2.1.0-beta3) Removing test files... ``` Disk read throughput (16K): 63.16 MiB/s Disk write throughput (16K): 42.11 MiB/s Disk read throughput (1M): 63.57 MiB/s Disk write throughput (1M): 42.38 MiB/s 👍