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] [-O option=value]
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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 Using DNS-over-HTTPS
109 When using DNS-over-HTTPS you must set the -O doh-uri=... to something
110 that works with the server you're sending to. Also note that the value
111 for maximum outstanding queries will be used to control the maximum
112 concurrent streams within the HTTP/2 connection.
113
115 -a local_addr
116 Specifies the local address from which to send requests. The
117 default is the wildcard address.
118 -b bufsize
120 Sets the size of the socket's send and receive buffers, in kilo‐
121 bytes. If not specified, the operating system's default is
122 used.
123 -c clients
125 Act as multiple clients. Requests are sent from multiple sock‐
126 ets. The default is to act as 1 client.
127 -d datafile
129 Specifies the input data file. If not specified, dnsperf will
130 read from standard input.
131 -D
133 Sets the DO (DNSSEC OK) bit [RFC3225] in all packets sent. This
134 also enables EDNS0, which is required for DNSSEC.
135 -e
137 Enables EDNS0 [RFC2671], by adding an OPT record to all packets
138 sent.
139 -E code:value
141 Add an EDNS [RFC2671] option to all packets sent, using the
142 specified numeric option code and value expressed as a a hex-en‐
143 coded string. This also enables EDNS0.
144 -f family
146 Specifies the address family used for sending DNS packets. The
147 possible values are "inet", "inet6", or "any". If "any" (the
148 default value) is specified, dnsperf will use whichever address
149 family is appropriate for the server it is sending packets to.
150 -h
152 Print a usage statement and exit.
153 -l limit
155 Specifies a time limit for the run, in seconds. This may cause
156 the input to be read multiple times, or only some of the input
157 to be read. The default behavior is to read the input once, and
158 have no specific time limit.
159 -n runs_through_file
161 Run through the input file at most this many times. If no time
162 limit is set, the file will be read exactly this number of
163 times; if a time limit is set, the file may be read fewer times.
164 -p port
166 Sets the port on which the DNS packets are sent. If not speci‐
167 fied, the standard DNS port (udp/tcp 53, DoT 853, DoH 443) is
168 used.
169 -q num_queries
171 Sets the maximum number of outstanding requests. When this val‐
172 ue is reached, dnsperf will not send any more requests until ei‐
173 ther responses are received or requests time out. The default
174 value is 100.
175 -Q max_qps
177 Limits the number of requests per second. There is no default
178 limit.
179 -m mode
181 Specifies the transport mode to use, "udp", "tcp", "dot" or
182 "doh". Default is "udp".
183 -s server_addr
185 Specifies the name or address of the server to which requests
186 will be sent. The default is the loopback address, 127.0.0.1.
187 -S stats_interval
189 If this parameter is specified, a count of the number of queries
190 per second during the interval will be printed out every
191 stats_interval seconds.
192 -t timeout
194 Specifies the request timeout value, in seconds. dnsperf will
195 no longer wait for a response to a particular request after this
196 many seconds have elapsed. The default is 5 seconds.
197 -T threads
199 Run multiple client threads. By default, dnsperf uses one
200 thread for sending requests and one thread for receiving re‐
201 sponses. If this option is specified, dnsperf will instead use
202 N pairs of send/receive threads.
203 -u
205 Instructs dnsperf to send DNS dynamic update messages, rather
206 than queries. The format of the input file is different in this
207 case; see the "Constructing a dynamic update input file" section
208 for more details.
209 -v
211 Enables verbose mode. The DNS RCODE of each response will be
212 reported to standard output when the response is received, as
213 will the latency. If a query times out, it will be reported
214 with the special string "T" instead of a normal DNS RCODE. If a
215 query is interrupted, it will be reported with the special
216 string "I". Additional information regarding network readiness
217 and congestion will also be reported.
218 -W
220 Log warnings and errors to standard output instead of standard
221 error making it easier for script, test and automation to cap‐
222 ture all output.
223 -x local_port
225 Specifies the local port from which to send requests. The de‐
226 fault is the wildcard port (0).
227 If acting as multiple clients and the wildcard port is used,
229 each client will use a different random port. If a port is
230 specified, the clients will use a range of ports starting with
231 the specified one.
232 -y [alg:]name:secret
234 Add a TSIG record [RFC2845] to all packets sent, using the spec‐
235 ified TSIG key algorithm, name and secret, where the algorithm
236 defaults to hmac-md5 and the secret is expressed as a base-64
237 encoded string. Available algorithms are: hmac-md5, hmac-sha1,
238 hmac-sha224, hmac-sha256, hmac-sha384 and hmac-sha512.
239 -O option=value
241 Set an extended long option for various things to control dif‐
242 ferent aspects of testing or protocol modules, see EXTENDED OP‐
243 TIONS for list of available options.
244
246 doh-uri=URI
247 The URI to use for DNS-over-HTTPS, default value is "https://lo‐
248 calhost/dns-query".
249 doh-method=HTTP_METHOD
251 The HTTP method to use when querying with DNS-over-HTTPS, de‐
252 fault is GET. Available methods are: GET, POST.
253 suppress=MESSAGE[,MESSAGE,...]
255 Suppress various messages and warnings that may be shown exces‐
256 sively in some situations, such as socket readiness when con‐
257 necting to a slow service. Can suppress multiple types by list‐
258 ing them as a comma separated list. Following type are avail‐
259 able.
260 timeouts: Suppress messages about queries being timed out
262 congestion: Suppress messages about network congestion
263 sendfailed: Suppress messages about failure to send packets or
264 if only parts of the packet were sent
265 sockready: Suppress messages about socket readiness
266
268 resperf(1)
269
271 Nominum, Inc.
272 Maintained by DNS-OARC
274 https://www.dns-oarc.net/
276
278 For issues and feature requests please use:
279 https://github.com/DNS-OARC/dnsperf/issues
281 For question and help please use:
283 admin@dns-oarc.net
285dnsperf 2.8.0 dnsperf(1)