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Netatalk 4.5.0

Name

afp_speedtest — 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:

1. Test Data Table: Individual iteration results (test_name, iteration, file_size_mb, microseconds, throughput_mbs)
2. File Size Summary Table: Aggregated statistics per file size (mean, median, min, max throughput and timing)
3. 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)

See Also

afp_lantest(1), afpd(8)