Package: netpipe-pvm (3.6.2-2 and others)

A network performance tool using PVM

NetPIPE is a protocol independent performance tool that encapsulates the best of ttcp and netperf and visually represents the network performance under a variety of conditions. By taking the end-to-end application view of a network, NetPIPE clearly shows the overhead associated with different protocol layers. NetPIPE answers such questions as: how soon will a given data block of size k arrive at its destination? Which network and protocol will transmit size k blocks the fastest? What is a given network's effective maximum throughput and saturation level? Does there exist a block size k for which the throughput is maximized? How much communication overhead is due to the network communication protocol layer(s)? How quickly will a small (< 1 kbyte) control message arrive, and which network and protocol are best for this purpose?

This package measures network performance using the PVM protocol, a Parallel Virtual Machine interface frequently used in parallel processing, and which uses in turn TCP as its underlying transport. PVM support is provided in its own separate pvm package on Debian systems.

Tags: System Administration: Benchmarking, Networking: Scanning, Role: Program, Scope: Utility