TTCP missing / alternative?

[paul amaral]

Hi, i just notice that on a cisco 4331 platform I'm using with cisco ios XE that TTCP is missing. However on another ASR1K it's still there. Is cisco phasing this out, i hope not. On the ASR1K im using adventerprise on the 4331 i only have ipbase but other older routers with ipbase have ttcp. So is TTCP available on some routers and not other or do i need something higher than ipbase on XE software?

I now i can use ipref to test throughput from desktop to desktop but I really like the ability to use TTCP receive on the router to test throughput without having to have someone present on the physical location with a laptop. 

System image file is "bootflash:isr4300-universalk9.16.09.04.SPA.bin"

Feature name Enforcement Evaluation Subscription Enabled RightToUse
appxk9 yes yes no yes yes
uck9 yes yes no yes yes
securityk9 yes yes no yes yes
ipbasek9 no no no yes no
FoundationSuiteK9 yes yes no no yes
AdvUCSuiteK9 yes yes no no yes
cme-srst yes yes no no yes
hseck9 yes no no no no
throughput yes yes no yes yes
internal_service yes no no no no

Technology Package License Information:

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Technology Technology-package Technology-package
Current Type Next reboot
------------------------------------------------------------------
appxk9 appxk9 Permanent appxk9
uck9 uck9 RightToUse uck9
securityk9 securityk9 Permanent securityk9
ipbase ipbasek9 Permanent ipbasek9

Paul 

[Joseph W. Doherty]

I recall TTCP being a "hidden" command, and "finding" it available on an IOS was hit or miss. Further, as often the case with Cisco non-critical control plane features, I've often found Cisco's TTCP not all that effective for truly testing a link's capacity, unless is was "low speed". (NB: the foregoing, though, is based on hardware earlier, or much earlier, than the ISR 4K series. I'm surprised you found it in an IP Base feature set, as I recall, I usually only found it in something like the service provider feature set.)

[paul amaral]

Joseph, it's not on the 4300 ip base, the ASR1K has it as a hidden command on advance enterprise. The 4300 only seems to support ip base and it seems as you stated that TTCP is not on IP base. Do you know of any alternatives to this command. I mainly need a way to test/confirm cir to the router and ttcp did that well for me without having someone on the remote end with a laptop and ipref. The TTCP receive was/is great for confirming CIR in my opinion. 

Not sure if there are other methods for doing that same without TTCP. 

Paul  

[Joseph W. Doherty]

There are a couple of alternatives, but unsure either can push a rate as high as Cisco's TTCP.

You can look into the (UDP&TCP) small services, such as the chargen service.

Or, you might try 64KB pings as rapidly as possible.

[paul amaral]

I have tried ping flood before, it wouldn't push the same amount of traffic as TTCP, haven't tried small services.

thanks, Paul 

[Joseph W. Doherty]

"I have tried ping flood before . . ."

To confirm, that was with 64KB packets?

[paul amaral]

ICMP flood with linux standard 56 byte, 84 with all headers and it doesn't really do much. I also tried it with linux ping -f and -l with 1400 bytes and at best you get 14 mbs anywhere from 9k to 3k PPS. I'm doing this from one machine, multiple icmp floods from multiple machines would obviously generate more traffic towards the router but this method is not as efficient as TTCP.

Paul 

[Joseph W. Doherty]

Try ping with 64 KB (yes, kilobyte - NB: jumbo Ethernet not needed, ping packets will be fragmented) packets, and on the same host that can run multiple sessions, as you note, you can push more bandwidth that way.

[paul amaral]

Sorry I misunderstood you, I should of known you were referring to jumbos :). FYI did try icmp flood with a 6500  from 2 different hosts to the 4331 router and could generate about 122 mbs only. Generating traffic this way is not as practical, TTCP is a lot more efficient. Hopefully cisco keeps that command on the other platforms. As always thanks Joseph for your insight, I appreciate your thoughts. 

Paul

[ataelim]

hello all - is there or is there not a native alternative on Cisco 4000 series for ttcp ?

thanks, Martin

[Joseph W. Doherty]

There always host utilities which support TTCP, and alike.  I've found such to be much better to test with than TTCP found on router, although with it being on a router, you don't need other hosts.