So after long deliberations I have decided to write this article about iperf. Let me preface this with a statement that I like iperf very much and use it very often as it has many valid uses. You can find loads of tutorials on how to use it all over the internet but this article has very different aim.Here I would like to explain proper use-cases of this tool and some limitations and caveats one should be aware of while using software based testing (which iperf is prime example of). There are many version of iperf in the wild but the topics discussed below are valid for all of them to some degree.
PackEth tutorial part I – The Interface and The Packet Builder
In my previous post I have mentioned ingenious piece of software called PackEth and I have also promised that will write up a separate article about it as I just think this amazing tool deserves as much attention as I can give it. So what this software do? Well let me quote the author ” PackETH is GUI and CLI packet generator tool for Ethernet…It allows you to create and send any possible packet or sequence of packets on the Ethernet link.” I would add that that it is the only tool I have found that actually allows you to assemble Ethernet frames and a IP packets that actually does what you would expect it to do while being multi-platform and incredibly stable. I think I have never seen it crashing which speaks for itself. This article will focus around version 1.6 as that is the one that has both Linux and Windows versions available. The drawback is that the L3 IPv6 support is not included.