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Sysbench tool for benchmarking

Install

On Debian/Ubuntu, sysbench can be installed as follows:

sudo apt-get install sysbench
man sysbench # check cli options

CPU Benchmark

You can benchmark your CPU performance as follows:

sysbench --test=cpu --cpu-max-prime=20000 run

Sample output: 

sysbench 0.4.12:  multi-threaded system evaluation benchmark

Running the test with following options:
Number of threads: 1

Doing CPU performance benchmark

Threads started!
Done.

Maximum prime number checked in CPU test: 20000


Test execution summary:
    total time:                          29.4001s
    total number of events:              10000
    total time taken by event execution: 29.3989
    per-request statistics:
        min:                                  2.93ms
        avg:                                  2.94ms
        max:                                  3.13ms
        approx.  95 percentile:               2.94ms

Threads fairness:
    events (avg/stddev):           10000.0000/0.00
    execution time (avg/stddev):   29.3989/0.00

The most important line to note is total time: 23.8724s

Memory Benchmark

When using the memory workload, sysbench will allocate a buffer (provided through the --memory-block-size parameter, defaults to 1kbyte) and each execution will read or write to this memory (--memory-oper, defaults to write) in a random or sequential manner (--memory-access-mode, defaults to sequential).

sysbench --test=memory --memory-block-size=1M --memory-total-size=10G run

Sample Output 

sysbench 0.4.12:  multi-threaded system evaluation benchmark

Running the test with following options:
Number of threads: 1

Doing memory operations speed test
Memory block size: 1024K

Memory transfer size: 10240M

Memory operations type: write
Memory scope type: global
Threads started!
Done.

Operations performed: 10240 ( 6906.34 ops/sec)

10240.00 MB transferred (6906.34 MB/sec)


Test execution summary:
    total time:                          1.4827s
    total number of events:              10240
    total time taken by event execution: 1.4811
    per-request statistics:
        min:                                  0.14ms
        avg:                                  0.14ms
        max:                                  0.29ms
        approx.  95 percentile:               0.15ms

Threads fairness:
    events (avg/stddev):           10240.0000/0.00
    execution time (avg/stddev):   1.4811/0.00

Important line to note is the throughput:

Operations performed: 10240 ( 6906.34 ops/sec) | 10240.00 MB transferred (6906.34 MB/sec)

As a derivative you can use a variety of block sizes to test read and write: 

sysbench --test=memory --memory-block-size=1K --memory-scope=global --memory-total-size=100G --memory-oper=read run
sysbench --test=memory --memory-block-size=1K --memory-scope=global --memory-total-size=100G --memory-oper=write run

File I/O tests:

# prepare file on disk 
sysbench --test=fileio --file-total-size=150G prepare

# test rw with sysbench
sysbench --test=fileio --file-total-size=150G --file-test-mode=rndrw --init-rng=on --max-time=300 --max-requests=0 run

# dont forget to cleanup after 
sysbench --test=fileio --file-total-size=150G cleanup

Output: 

towshif@TSERV:~$ sysbench --test=fileio --file-total-size=4G --file-test-mode=rndrw --max-time=300 --max-requests=0 --file-extra-flags=direct run
sysbench 0.4.12:  multi-threaded system evaluation benchmark

Running the test with following options:
Number of threads: 1

Extra file open flags: 16384
128 files, 32Mb each
4Gb total file size
Block size 16Kb
Number of random requests for random IO: 0
Read/Write ratio for combined random IO test: 1.50
Periodic FSYNC enabled, calling fsync() each 100 requests.
Calling fsync() at the end of test, Enabled.
Using synchronous I/O mode
Doing random r/w test
Threads started!
Time limit exceeded, exiting...
Done.

Operations performed:  34204 Read, 22802 Write, 72960 Other = 129966 Total
Read 534.44Mb  Written 356.28Mb  Total transferred 890.72Mb  (2.969Mb/sec)
190.02 Requests/sec executed

Test execution summary:
    total time:                          300.0058s
    total number of events:              57006
    total time taken by event execution: 197.1079
    per-request statistics:
        min:                                  0.17ms
        avg:                                  3.46ms
        max:                                154.32ms
        approx.  95 percentile:               8.15ms

Threads fairness:
    events (avg/stddev):           57006.0000/0.00
    execution time (avg/stddev):   197.1079/0.00

Benchmark metric:

Read 534.44Mb Written 356.28Mb Total transferred 890.72Mb (2.969Mb/sec) | 190.02 Requests/sec executed

Shell Script to perform full sysbench tests

# Ref: http://wiki.mikejung.biz/Sysbench
# CPU
sysbench --test=cpu --cpu-max-prime=20000 run
sysbench --test=cpu --cpu-max-prime=20000 run --num-threads=4

#FILE IO
sysbench --test=fileio --file-total-size=4G prepare
sysbench --test=fileio --file-total-size=4G --file-test-mode=rndrw --max-time=300 --max-requests=0 --file-extra-flags=direct run
sysbench --test=fileio --file-total-size=4G cleanup

#MEMROY
sysbench --test=memory --memory-block-size=1K --memory-scope=global --memory-total-size=100G --memory-oper=read run
sysbench --test=memory --memory-block-size=1K --memory-scope=global --memory-total-size=100G --memory-oper=write run

References:

  • https://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-benchmark-your-system-cpu-file-io-mysql-with-sysbench
  • https://wiki.mikejung.biz/Sysbench
  • https://gist.github.com/hassansin/419e74eae0923d42e0c3
  • http://blog.siphos.be/2013/04/comparing-performance-with-sysbench-part-2/