afp_speedtest - Man Page

Simple AFP file transfer benchmarking tool

Synopsis

afp_speedtest [-1234567acDeiLTVvy] [-h host] [-p port] [-s volume] [-P path] [-S volume2] [-u user] [-w password] [-n iterations] [-W warmup] [-t delay] [-d size] [-z sizes] [-q quantum] [-r requests] [-F file] [-f test]

Description

afp_speedtest is an AFP benchmark testsuite for read, write, copy and server-side copy operations. It can operate in two modes:

AFP Mode (default): Tests AFP protocol performance over the network
Local Mode (-L): Direct filesystem I/O baseline benchmarking using POSIX syscalls

The tool supports comprehensive performance analysis including:

Multiple iteration testing with warmup runs
Statistical analysis (mean, median, standard deviation, percentiles)
File size sweeping to test performance across different file sizes
TCP network metrics tracking (AFP mode only)
CSV output format for data analysis

Options

-1: : Use AFP 2.1 protocol version
-2: : Use AFP 2.2 protocol version
-3: : Use AFP 3.0 protocol version
-4: : Use AFP 3.1 protocol version
-5: : Use AFP 3.2 protocol version
-6: : Use AFP 3.3 protocol version
-7: : Use AFP 3.4 protocol version (default)
-a: : Don't flush to disk after write
-c: : CSV output mode (automatically enables statistics and quiet mode)
-d size: : File size in Mbytes (default: 64 MB, or default size sweep if not specified)
-D: : Disable O_DIRECT in Local mode (auto-enabled by default for realistic AFP comparison) : Use this flag to test buffered I/O performance with kernel page cache : Ignored in AFP mode (O_DIRECT not applicable)
-e: : Use sparse file
-f tests: : Comma-separated list of tests to run: Read, Write, Copy, ServerCopy (default: Write) : Note: ServerCopy is automatically skipped in Local mode as it requires an AFP server
-F file: : Read from existing file in volume root folder (default: creates temporary files)
-h host: : Server hostname or IP address (default: localhost, ignored in Local mode)
-i: : Interactive mode – prompt user before each test (used for debugging)
-L: : Local mode – use POSIX calls for direct filesystem I/O instead of AFP protocol : Must be used with -P to specify directory path : Provides baseline performance measurements without network/protocol overhead
-n iterations: : Number of test iterations to run (default: 1) : When > 1, automatically enables statistics output
-p port: : Server port number (default: 548, ignored in Local mode)
-P path: : Local directory path for Local mode testing (required when using -L)
-q size: : Packet/buffer size in Kbytes (default: detected server quantum in AFP mode, 1024 KB in Local mode)
-r number: : Number of outstanding pipelined requests for parallel I/O operations (default: 1) : Higher values allow multiple in-flight AFP requests, improving throughput on high-latency connections : Note: Values > 1 require careful tuning and may not benefit all scenarios
-s volume: : Volume name to mount for testing (AFP mode only, ignored in Local mode)
-S volume: : Second volume name for cross-volume copy testing (AFP mode only)
-t seconds: : Delay in seconds between test iterations (default: 0) : Useful for cooling down between iterations or simulating real-world usage patterns
-T: : Show statistics (mean, median, std dev, min, max, P95) : Automatically enabled when iterations > 1 or when using size sweep
-u user: : Username for AFP server authentication (default: current uid, ignored in Local mode)
-v: : Verbose output
-V: : Very verbose output
-w password: : Password for AFP server authentication (ignored in Local mode)
-W warmup: : Number of warmup runs excluded from statistics (default: 1) : Warmup runs are marked with [W#] prefix and not included in statistics
-y: : Use a new file for each run (default: reuse same filename)
-z sizes: : File size sweep mode – comma-separated list of sizes in MB : Example: -z 0.004,0.008,0.016,0.032,0.064,0.128,0.256,0.512,1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512 : Minimum: 0.004 MB (4 KB), Maximum: 1024 MB : If neither -d nor -z is specified, uses default 18-size sweep: 4KB,8KB,16KB,32KB,64KB,128KB,256KB,512KB,1MB,2MB,4MB,8MB,16MB,32MB,64MB,128MB,256MB,512MB

Configuration

The test runner AFP client only supports the ClearTxt UAM currently. Configure the UAM in netatalk's afp.conf:

[Global]
uam list = uams_clrtxt.so

Output Modes

Text Mode (Default)

Displays formatted tables with:

Per-iteration timing results with throughput
Statistical summaries (when enabled)
Network/TCP metrics comparison tables (AFP mode only)
File size performance summary table (size sweep mode)
TCP metrics evolution table (AFP mode with size sweep)

CSV Mode (-c)

Generates three CSV tables for data analysis:

Test Data Table: Individual iteration results (test_name, iteration, file_size_mb, microseconds, throughput_mbs)
File Size Summary Table: Aggregated statistics per file size (mean, median, min, max throughput and timing)
TCP Metrics Evolution Table (AFP mode only): Initial vs final TCP metrics across all tests

Examples

AFP Mode Examples

Run 5 iterations of all four benchmark tests over AFP:

afp_speedtest -h 10.0.0.10 -s speed1 -u myuser -w mypass -n 5 -f Read,Write,Copy,ServerCopy

Run a single 64 MB write test:

afp_speedtest -h 10.0.0.10 -s speed1 -u myuser -w mypass -d 64 -f Write

Run file size sweep with 10 iterations per size and export to CSV:

afp_speedtest -h 10.0.0.10 -s speed1 -u myuser -w mypass -n 10 -c -f Read,Write > results.csv

Local Mode Examples

Baseline filesystem performance with 5 iterations:

afp_speedtest -L -P /mnt/fast_disk -n 5 -f Read,Write,Copy

Local mode with custom file size sweep:

afp_speedtest -L -P /tmp/test -z 1,4,16,64,256 -n 3 -f Read,Write

Local mode with buffered I/O (O_DIRECT disabled) and CSV output:

afp_speedtest -L -D -P /mnt/nvme -c -n 10 -f Read,Write > nvme_buffered.csv

Local mode with O_DIRECT (default, for AFP comparison):

afp_speedtest -L -P /mnt/nvme -c -n 10 -f Read,Write > nvme_direct.csv

Output Example

AFP Speedtest - Configuration
════════════════════════════════════════
 Mode:            Local (Direct Filesystem I/O)
 AFP Version:     N/A (Local)
 Directory:       /tmp/speedtest
 Tests:           Read,Write,Copy
 File Size:       64 MB
 Iterations:      5
 Warmup Runs:     1
 Statistics:      Enabled


===== Test Passes for Read =====
Read quantum 1024 KB, size 64 MB
Warmup: 1 runs, Measured: 5 runs
run   microsec    MB/s
[W1]        11739   5451.91
1        9511   6729.05
2        9700   6597.94
3        9174   6976.24
4        8949   7151.64
5        9050   7071.82

===== Statistics for Read =====
File Size:      64 MB
Iterations:     5
Mean:           9277 μs (6898.93 MB/s)
Median:         9174 μs (6976.24 MB/s)
Std Dev:        284 μs (3.06%)
Min:            8949 μs (7151.64 MB/s)
Max:            9700 μs (6597.94 MB/s)

Referenced By

afp_lantest(1).

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