1dnsperf(1) General Commands Manual dnsperf(1)
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6 dnsperf - test the performance of a DNS server
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9 dnsperf [-a local_addr] [-b bufsize] [-c clients] [-d datafile] [-D]
10 [-e] [-E code:secret] [-f family] [-h] [-l limit] [-m mode]
11 [-n runs_through_file] [-p port] [-q num_queries] [-Q max_qps]
12 [-s server_addr] [-S stats_interval] [-t timeout] [-T threads] [-u]
13 [-v] [-W] [-x local_port] [-y [alg:]name:secret]
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16 dnsperf is a DNS server performance testing tool. It is primarily in‐
17 tended for measuring the performance of authoritative DNS servers, but
18 it can also be used for measuring caching server performance in a
19 closed laboratory environment. For testing caching servers resolving
20 against the live Internet, the resperf program is preferred.
21 It is recommended that dnsperf and the name server under test be run on
23 separate machines, so that the CPU usage of dnsperf itself does not
24 slow down the name server. The two machines should be connected with a
25 fast network, preferably a dedicated Gigabit Ethernet segment. Testing
26 through a router or firewall is not advisable.
27 Configuring the name server
29 If using dnsperf to test an authoritative server, the name server under
30 test should be set up to serve one or more zones similar in size and
31 number to what the server is expected to serve in production.
32 Also, be sure to turn off recursion in the server's configuration (in
34 BIND 8/9, specify "recursion no;" in the options block). In BIND 8,
35 you should also specify "fetch-glue no;"; otherwise the server may at‐
36 tempt to retrieve glue information from the Internet during the test,
37 slowing it down by an unpredictable factor.
38 Constructing a query input file
40 A dnsperf input file should contain a large and realistic set of
41 queries, on the order of ten thousand to a million. The input file
42 contains one line per query, consisting of a domain name and an RR type
43 name separated by a space. The class of the query is implicitly IN.
44 When measuring the performance serving non-terminal zones such as the
46 root zone or TLDs, note that such servers spend most of their time pro‐
47 viding referral responses, not authoritative answers. Therefore, a re‐
48 alistic input file might consist mostly of queries for type A for names
49 *below*, not at, the delegations present in the zone. For example,
50 when testing the performance of a server configured to be authoritative
51 for the top-level domain "fi.", which contains delegations for domains
52 like "helsinki.fi" and "turku.fi", the input file could contain lines
53 like
54 www.turku.fi A
56 www.helsinki.fi A
57 where the "www" prefix ensures that the server will respond with a re‐
59 ferral. Ideally, a realistic proportion of queries for nonexistent do‐
60 mains should be mixed in with those for existing ones, and the lines of
61 the input file should be in a random order.
62 Constructing a dynamic update input file
64 To test dynamic update performance, dnsperf is run with the -u option,
65 and the input file is constructed of blocks of lines describing dynamic
66 update messages. The first line in a block contains the zone name:
67 example.com
69 Subsequent lines contain prerequisites, if there are any. Prerequi‐
71 sites can specify that a name may or may not exist, an rrset may or may
72 not exist, or an rrset exists and its rdata matches all specified rdata
73 for that name and type. The keywords "require" and "prohibit" are fol‐
74 lowed by the appropriate information. All relative names are consid‐
75 ered to be relative to the zone name. The following lines show the 5
76 types of prerequisites.
77 require a
79 require a A
80 require a A 1.2.3.4
81 prohibit x
82 prohibit x A
83 Subsequent lines contain records to be added, records to be deleted,
85 rrsets to be deleted, or names to be deleted. The keywords "add" or
86 "delete" are followed by the appropriate information. All relative
87 names are considered to be relative to the zone name. The following
88 lines show the 4 types of updates.
89 add x 3600 A 10.1.2.3
91 delete y A 10.1.2.3
92 delete z A
93 delete w
94 Each update message is terminated by a line containing the command:
96 send
98 Running the tests
100 When running dnsperf, a data file (the -d option) and server (the -s
101 option) will normally be specified. The output of dnsperf is mostly
102 self-explanatory. Pay attention to the number of dropped packets re‐
103 ported - when running the test over a local Ethernet connection, it
104 should be zero. If one or more packets has been dropped, there may be
105 a problem with the network connection. In that case, the results
106 should be considered suspect and the test repeated.
107
109 -a local_addr
110 Specifies the local address from which to send requests. The
111 default is the wildcard address.
112 -b bufsize
114 Sets the size of the socket's send and receive buffers, in kilo‐
115 bytes. If not specified, the operating system's default is
116 used.
117 -c clients
119 Act as multiple clients. Requests are sent from multiple sock‐
120 ets. The default is to act as 1 client.
121 -d datafile
123 Specifies the input data file. If not specified, dnsperf will
124 read from standard input.
125 -D
127 Sets the DO (DNSSEC OK) bit [RFC3225] in all packets sent. This
128 also enables EDNS0, which is required for DNSSEC.
129 -e
131 Enables EDNS0 [RFC2671], by adding an OPT record to all packets
132 sent.
133 -E code:value
135 Add an EDNS [RFC2671] option to all packets sent, using the
136 specified numeric option code and value expressed as a a hex-en‐
137 coded string. This also enables EDNS0.
138 -f family
140 Specifies the address family used for sending DNS packets. The
141 possible values are "inet", "inet6", or "any". If "any" (the
142 default value) is specified, dnsperf will use whichever address
143 family is appropriate for the server it is sending packets to.
144 -h
146 Print a usage statement and exit.
147 -l limit
149 Specifies a time limit for the run, in seconds. This may cause
150 the input to be read multiple times, or only some of the input
151 to be read. The default behavior is to read the input once, and
152 have no specific time limit.
153 -n runs_through_file
155 Run through the input file at most this many times. If no time
156 limit is set, the file will be read exactly this number of
157 times; if a time limit is set, the file may be read fewer times.
158 -p port
160 Sets the port on which the DNS packets are sent. If not speci‐
161 fied, the standard DNS port (udp/tcp 53, DoT 853) is used.
162 -q num_queries
164 Sets the maximum number of outstanding requests. When this val‐
165 ue is reached, dnsperf will not send any more requests until ei‐
166 ther responses are received or requests time out. The default
167 value is 100.
168 -Q max_qps
170 Limits the number of requests per second. There is no default
171 limit.
172 -m mode
174 Specifies the transport mode to use, "udp", "tcp" or "dot". De‐
175 fault is "udp".
176 -s server_addr
178 Specifies the name or address of the server to which requests
179 will be sent. The default is the loopback address, 127.0.0.1.
180 -S stats_interval
182 If this parameter is specified, a count of the number of queries
183 per second during the interval will be printed out every
184 stats_interval seconds.
185 -t timeout
187 Specifies the request timeout value, in seconds. dnsperf will
188 no longer wait for a response to a particular request after this
189 many seconds have elapsed. The default is 5 seconds.
190 -T threads
192 Run multiple client threads. By default, dnsperf uses one
193 thread for sending requests and one thread for receiving re‐
194 sponses. If this option is specified, dnsperf will instead use
195 N pairs of send/receive threads.
196 -u
198 Instructs dnsperf to send DNS dynamic update messages, rather
199 than queries. The format of the input file is different in this
200 case; see the "Constructing a dynamic update input file" section
201 for more details.
202 -v
204 Enables verbose mode. The DNS RCODE of each response will be
205 reported to standard output when the response is received, as
206 will the latency. If a query times out, it will be reported
207 with the special string "T" instead of a normal DNS RCODE. If a
208 query is interrupted, it will be reported with the special
209 string "I". Additional information regarding network readiness
210 and congestion will also be reported.
211 -W
213 Log warnings and errors to standard output instead of standard
214 error making it easier for script, test and automation to cap‐
215 ture all output.
216 -x local_port
218 Specifies the local port from which to send requests. The de‐
219 fault is the wildcard port (0).
220 If acting as multiple clients and the wildcard port is used,
222 each client will use a different random port. If a port is
223 specified, the clients will use a range of ports starting with
224 the specified one.
225 -y [alg:]name:secret
227 Add a TSIG record [RFC2845] to all packets sent, using the spec‐
228 ified TSIG key algorithm, name and secret, where the algorithm
229 defaults to hmac-md5 and the secret is expressed as a base-64
230 encoded string. Available algorithms are: hmac-md5, hmac-sha1,
231 hmac-sha224, hmac-sha256, hmac-sha384 and hmac-sha512.
232
234 resperf(1)
235
237 Nominum, Inc.
238 Maintained by DNS-OARC
240 https://www.dns-oarc.net/
242
244 For issues and feature requests please use:
245 https://github.com/DNS-OARC/dnsperf/issues
247 For question and help please use:
249 admin@dns-oarc.net
251dnsperf 2.6.0 dnsperf(1)