network-delay-trace

A set of scripts to help measure and analyze network delay. Relies on fping and iperf3 for measurements.

fping traces

Measure ping delay against a remote sever using fping and output csv:

fping -l google.com | python3 fping_parser.py --csv --write-header
host, seq, bytes, ms
google.com, 0, 84, 21.9
google.com, 1, 84, 23.0
google.com, 2, 84, 22.0
google.com, 3, 84, 23.3
...

Alternatively, output JSON:

fping -l google.com | python3 fping_parser.py --json
{"host": "google.com", "seq": 0, "bytes": 84, "ms": 19.9}
{"host": "google.com", "seq": 1, "bytes": 84, "ms": 21.1}
{"host": "google.com", "seq": 2, "bytes": 84, "ms": 36.7}
{"host": "google.com", "seq": 3, "bytes": 84, "ms": 19.8}
...

Write samples to fping_traces.csv:

fping -l google.com | python3 fping_parser.py --csv --write-header > fping_traces.csv

Append samples to an existing file:

fping -l google.com | python3 fping_parser.py --csv >> fping_traces.csv

iperf3 traces

Measure the delay associated with transferring small files to a iperf3 server running on localhost and output csv:

iperf3 -s # start iperf3 server, run in separate terminal
python3 iperf_trace.py --server 127.0.0.1 --loop --csv --write-header
timestamp, seconds, bytes
1587980180, 0.000546, 2621440
1587980180, 0.000797, 2621440
1587980180, 0.001814, 7864320
1587980180, 0.002081, 7864320
...

python3 iperf_trace.py --server 127.0.0.1 --loop --json
{"timestamp": 1587982803, "seconds": 0.001819, "bytes": 9175040}
{"timestamp": 1587982803, "seconds": 0.000382, "bytes": 1310720}
{"timestamp": 1587982803, "seconds": 0.002226, "bytes": 10485760}
{"timestamp": 1587982803, "seconds": 0.002196, "bytes": 10485760}
...

Writing the output to a file can be done in the same way as for fping.

Delay distribution

Plot delay distribution from samples in fping_traces.csv and iperf_traces.csv:

python3 plot.py --fping fping_traces.csv --iperf iperf_traces.csv

Complementary cumulative distribution function of network delay on Amazon EC2.