bwping(8)                   System Manager's Manual                  bwping(8)

NAME
       bwping  and  bwping6  are tools to measure bandwidth and response times
       between two hosts using Internet Control Message Protocol  (ICMP)  echo
       request/echo reply mechanism.

SYNOPSIS
       bwping [ -4 | -6 ] [ -u buf_size ] [ -r reporting_period ] [ -T tos(v4)
       | traf_class(v6) ] [ -B bind_addr ]  -b  kbps  -s  pkt_size  -v  volume
       target

       bwping6  [  -4  |  -6  ]  [  -u buf_size ] [ -r reporting_period ] [ -T
       tos(v4) | traf_class(v6) ] [ -B bind_addr ]  -b  kbps  -s  pkt_size  -v
       volume target

OPTIONS
       -4   Forces IPv4 mode. Default mode of operation is IPv4 for bwping and
            IPv6 for bwping6 otherwise.

       -6   Forces IPv6 mode. Default mode of operation is IPv4 for bwping and
            IPv6 for bwping6 otherwise.

       -u buf_size
            Sets  the send/receive buffer size in bytes. Default value will be
            automatically calculated based on transfer speed, packet size  and
            host timer accuracy.

       -r reporting_period
            Sets the interval time in seconds between periodic bandwidth, RTT,
            and loss reports. If zero,  there  will  be  no  periodic  reports
            (default).

       -T tos(v4) | traf_class(v6)
            Sets  the TOS (in IPv4 mode) or Traffic Class (in IPv6 mode) value
            of outgoing ip packets. Default value is zero.

       -B bind_addr
            Sets the source address of outgoing ip  packets.  By  default  the
            address of the outgoing interface will be used.

       -b kbps
            Sets the transfer speed in kilobits per second.

       -s pkt_size
            Sets  the  size  of  ICMP  packet  (excluding IPv4/IPv6 header) in
            bytes.

       -v volume
            Sets the volume to transfer in bytes.

AUTHORS
       Oleg Derevenetz <oleg.derevenetz@gmail.com>

BUGS
       None known.

NOTES
       This utility uses raw sockets to deal with ICMP  messages,  so  it  may
       require  root  privileges or extended capabilities (such as CAP_NET_RAW
       on Linux) to run. It can also be run as setuid root.

       Although bwping and bwping6 does not require any  special  software  on
       the  remote  host  (only  the  ability  to respond on ICMP echo request
       messages),   there   are   some   special   requirements   to   network
       infrastructure, local and remote host performance:

       1. There should be no ICMP echo request/reply filtering on the network.
       This includes QoS mechanisms (which often affects ICMP) at any point in
       the testing path;

       2.  Local  host  should  have  enough  CPU  resources to send ICMP echo
       request messages with  given  rate,  and  remote  host  should  quickly
       respond  on  these  messages and should have no ICMP bandwidth limiting
       turned on.

       If some of these requirements are not satisfied  then  the  measurement
       results  will be inadequate or fail completely. In general, for testing
       bandwidth where QoS is  implemented,  always  test  with  traffic  that
       matches the QoS class to be tested.

SEE ALSO
       netstat(1), ping(8)

                                                                     bwping(8)
