Introduction to StarWind rPerf
StarWind rPerf is a free software tool, that measures the latency and throughput on RDMA connections between systems with different operating systems. In addition to estimating the RDMA connection performance between Windows operating systems, StarWind rPerf measures latency and throughput on cross-platform scenarios for Windows – Linux.
System Requirements
Servers interconnection diagram is demonstrated in the image below.
In this guide, to measure the RDMA connection between Windows and Linux operating systems, two servers are connected directly over RDMA. As an example, Windows Server 2016 has been installed on Host 1 and Linux CentOS 7 has been installed on Host 2.
Network Requirements
- For Windows-based systems, NIC must have Network Direct Provider v1 and lossless RDMA configured. Latest drivers from NIC manufacturer are recommended, as standard Windows drivers don’t have ND API support.
- For Linux-based systems, latest network drivers with RDMA and RoCE support are required.
The utility has been tested on Mellanox ConnectX-3, ConnectX-4 cards.
Software Requirements
StarWind rPerf is compatible with the following operating systems:
- Microsoft Windows 7 or later versions
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012 and later versions
- CentOS 7
- Ubuntu
Implementing StarWind rPerf
1. Download StarWind rPerf tool from the StarWind website at the following link: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-rperf#download
2. Copy the rPerf utility to both Windows and Linux hosts to a directory of choice.
3. Change the utility mode to allow its execution on Linux by executing the following command: chmod +x rperf.
4. The list of command line options used to launch the StarWind rPerf tool is provided in the tables below.
| General Options | |
| Command line option | Description |
| -a addr | IP address. IP address set for the server should be specified on the client side to connect to the server. |
| -d debug | Emit debugging output. |
| -p port | The server port for the server to listen on and the client to connect to. This should be the same in both client and server. Default is 17174. |
| Server Specific Options | |
| Command line option | Description |
| -s server | Run StarWind rPerf in a server mode. To bind to any address with IPv6 use -a ::0 |
| Client Specific Options | |
| Command line option | Description |
| -c client host | Run StarWind rPerf in a client mode, connecting to the StarWind rPerf server running on host. |
| -C count | Count the number of iterations. |
| -o operation | Set the operation to be performed: [S], [R], [W] (SEND/READ/WRITE) |
| -q queue depth | Set the queue depth. |
| -S size | Set the data size to be transferred. |
