Manual Page: ab

-NAME - ab - Apache HTTP server benchmarking tool - -SYNOPSIS - ab [ -k ] [ -n requests ] [ -t timelimit ] [ -c concurrency - ] [ -p POST file ] [ -A Authentication username:password ] [ - -P Proxy Authentication username:password ] [ -H Custom - header ] [ -C Cookie name=value ] [ -T content-type ] [ -v - verbosity ] ] [ -w output HTML ] ] [ -x <table> attributes ] - ] [ -y <tr> attributes ] ] [ -z <td> attributes ] - [http://]hostname[:port]/path - - ab [ -V ] [ -h ] - -DESCRIPTION - ab is a tool for benchmarking your Apache HyperText Transfer - Protocol (HTTP) server. It is designed to give you an - impression of how your current Apache installation performs. - This especially shows you how many requests per second your - Apache installation is capable of serving. - -OPTIONS - -k Enable the HTTP KeepAlive feature, i.e., perform - multiple requests within one HTTP session. - Default is no KeepAlive. - - -n requests Number of requests to perform for the benchmark- - ing session. The default is to just perform a - single request which usually leads to non- - representative benchmarking results. - - -t timelimit - Maximum number of seconds to spend for bench- - marking. This implies a -n 50000 internally. Use - this to benchmark the server within a fixed - total amount of time. Per default there is no - timelimit. - - -c concurrency - Number of multiple requests to perform at a - time. Default is one request at a time. - - -p POST file - File containing data to POST. - - -A Authentication username:password - Supply BASIC Authentication credentials to the - server. The username and password are separated - by a single ':' and sent on the wire uuencoded. - The string is sent regardless of whether the - server needs it; (i.e., has sent an 401 authen- - tication needed). - - -p Proxy-Authentication username:password - Supply BASIC Authentication credentials to a - proxy en-route. The username and password are - separated by a single ':' and sent on the wire - uuencoded. The string is sent regardless of - whether the proxy needs it; (i.e., has sent an - 407 proxy authentication needed). - - -C Cookie name=value - Add a 'Cookie:' line to the request. The argu- - ment is typically in the form of a 'name=value' - pair. This field is repeatable. - - -p Header string - Append extra headers to the request. The argu- - ment is typically in the form of a valid header - line, containing a colon-separated field-value - pair. (i.e., 'Accept-Encoding: zip/zop;8bit'). - - -T content-type - Content-type header to use for POST data. - - -v Set verbosity level - 4 and above prints infor- - mation on headers, 3 and above prints response - codes (404, 200, etc.), 2 and above prints warn- - ings and info. - - -w Print out results in HTML tables. Default table - is two columns wide, with a white background. - - -x attributes - String to use as attributes for <table>. Attri- - butes are inserted <table here > - - -y attributes - String to use as attributes for <tr>. - - -z attributes - String to use as attributes for <td>. - - -V Display version number and exit. - - -h Display usage information. - -BUGS - There are various statically declared buffers of fixed - length. Combined with the lazy parsing of the command line - arguments, the response headers from the server and other - external inputs, this might bite you. - - It does not implement HTTP/1.x fully; only accepts some - 'expected' forms of responses. The rather heavy use of - strstr(3) shows up top in profile, which might indicate a - performance problem; i.e., you would measure the ab perfor- - mance rather than the server's. - -SEE ALSO - httpd(8) - -

Apache HTTP Server Version 2.1

+Programs + +ab - Apache HTTP server benchmarking tool + +

ab is a tool for benchmarking your Apache Hypertext + Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server. It is designed to give you an impression + of how your current Apache installation performs. This especially shows + you how many requests per second your Apache installation is capable of + serving.

+httpd + +

Synopsis +

ab + [ -A auth-username:password ] + [ -c concurrency ] + [ -C cookie-name=value ] + [ -d ] + [ -e csv-file ] + [ -g gnuplot-file ] + [ -h ] + [ -H custom-header ] + [ -i ] + [ -k ] + [ -n requests ] + [ -p POST-file ] + [ -P proxy-auth-username:password ] + [ -q ] + [ -s ] + [ -S ] + [ -t timelimit ] + [ -T content-type ] + [ -v verbosity] + [ -V ] + [ -w ] + [ -x <table>-attributes ] + [ -X proxy[:port] ] + [ -y <tr>-attributes ] + [ -z <td>-attributes ] + [http://]hostname[:port]/path

+ +

Options +

-A auth-username:password: Supply BASIC Authentication credentials to the server. The username and + password are separated by a single : and sent on the wire + base64 encoded. The string is sent regardless of whether the server needs + it (i.e., has sent an 401 authentication needed).
-c concurrency: Number of multiple requests to perform at a time. Default is one + request at a time.
-C cookie-name=value: Add a Cookie: line to the request. The argument is + typically in the form of a name=value + pair. This field is repeatable.
-d: Do not display the "percentage served within XX [ms] table". (legacy + support).
-e csv-file: Write a Comma separated value (CSV) file which contains for each + percentage (from 1% to 100%) the time (in milli seconds) it took to serve + that percentage of the requests. This is usually more useful than the + 'gnuplot' file; as the results are already 'binned'.
-g gnuplot-file: Write all measured values out as a 'gnuplot' or TSV (Tab separate + values) file. This file can easily be imported into packages like Gnuplot, + IDL, Mathematica, Igor or even Excell. The labels are on the first line of + the file.
-h: Display usage information.
-H custom-header: Append extra headers to the request. The argument is typically in + the form of a valid header line, containing a colon-separated field-value + pair (i.e., "Accept-Encoding: zip/zop;8bit").
-i: Do HEAD requests instead of GET.
-k: Enable the HTTP KeepAlive feature, i.e., perform multiple + requests within one HTTP session. Default is no KeepAlive.
-n requests: Number of requests to perform for the benchmarking session. The default + is to just perform a single request which usually leads to + non-representative benchmarking results.
-p POST-file: File containing data to POST.
-P proxy-auth-username:password: Supply BASIC Authentication credentials to a proxy en-route. The + username and password are separated by a single : and sent on + the wire base64 encoded. The string is sent regardless of whether the + proxy needs it (i.e., has sent an 407 proxy authentication + needed).
-q: When processing more than 150 requests, ab outputs a + progress count on stderr every 10% or 100 requests or so. The + -q flag will suppress these messages.
-s: When compiled in (ab -h will show you) use the SSL + protected https rather than the http protocol. + This feature is experimental and very rudimentary. You probably + do not want to use it.
-S: Do not display the median and standard deviation values, nor display + the warning/error messages when the average and median are more than + one or two times the standard deviation apart. And default to the + min/avg/max values. (legacy support).
-t timelimit: Maximum number of seconds to spend for benchmarking. This implies a + -n 50000 internally. Use this to benchmark the server within a + fixed total amount of time. Per default there is no timelimit.
-T content-type: Content-type header to use for POST data.
-v verbosity: Set verbosity level - 4 and above prints information on + headers, 3 and above prints response codes (404, 200, etc.), + 2 and above prints warnings and info.
-V: Display version number and exit.
-w: Print out results in HTML tables. Default table is two columns wide, + with a white background.
-x <table>-attributes: String to use as attributes for <table>. Attributes + are inserted <table here >.
-X proxy[:port]: Use a proxy server for the requests.
-y <tr>-attributes: String to use as attributes for <tr>.
-z <td>-attributes: String to use as attributes for <td>.

+ +

Bugs +

There are various statically declared buffers of fixed length. Combined + with the lazy parsing of the command line arguments, the response headers + from the server and other external inputs, this might bite you.

+ +

It does not implement HTTP/1.x fully; only accepts some 'expected' forms + of responses. The rather heavy use of strstr(3) shows up top + in profile, which might indicate a performance problem; i.e., you + would measure the ab performance rather than the server's.

+ +

+ ab + /programs/ + .. + + + en + +