Debian Stream 8 Performance Testing and Evaluation
Debian Stream 8, as a Debian-based rolling-release distribution, leverages widely-used Linux performance tools for evaluation. Common tools include:
CPU performance is typically evaluated using sysbench (for single/multi-threaded prime number calculations) and stress-ng (for sustained load generation).
sysbench cpu --cpu-max-prime=20000 run measures execution time for calculating primes up to 20,000. Key metrics include “events per second” (higher = better) and “total time” (lower = better).stress-ng --cpu <num_cores> --timeout 60s --metrics-brief spawns <num_cores> worker processes to max out CPU usage. Results show CPU utilization percentage and elapsed time, helping validate stability under heavy load.Memory performance is assessed via STREAM (bandwidth) and sysbench (read/write speed).
gcc -O3 -march=native -fopenmp -DSTREAM_ARRAY_SIZE=100000000 -DNTIMES=20 stream.c -o stream (adjust STREAM_ARRAY_SIZE to ≥4× CPU cache size). Run with export OMP_NUM_THREADS=<threads> (1 for single-thread, 8 for multi-thread) and execute ./stream. Key metrics are Copy, Scale, Add, and Triad bandwidth (MB/s)—higher values indicate better memory throughput.sysbench --test=memory --memory-block-size=1M --memory-total-size=10G run measures memory read/write speed in MB/s, with results segmented by operation type (read/write).Disk I/O is tested using fio (flexible I/O tester) and dd (simple read/write benchmark).
fio --name=random-write --ioengine=libaio --rw=randwrite --bs=4k --numjobs=4 --size=1G --runtime=60 --group-reporting simulates random writes with 4 concurrent jobs (block size 4K, duration 60s). Key metrics include IOPS (higher = better) and latency (lower = better).dd if=/dev/zero of=testfile bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct (measures sequential write speed); for read testing, use dd if=testfile of=/dev/null bs=1G count=1 iflag=direct (measures sequential read speed). Results are displayed in MB/s.Network performance is evaluated using iperf (bandwidth) and netperf (TCP/UDP throughput).
iperf -s; on the client side, run iperf -c <server_ip> -t 60 (tests TCP bandwidth for 60s). Results show bandwidth in Mbps (higher = better) and jitter/loss (lower = better).netserver; on the client side, run netperf -H <server_ip> -t TCP_STREAM -l 60 (similar to iperf but with additional protocol-level metrics).For end-to-end evaluation, Phoronix Test Suite (PTS) is recommended. It automates tests across CPU, memory, disk, and network, providing a consolidated report with comparisons to other systems. Install with sudo apt-get install phoronix-test-suite and run benchmarks using phoronix-test-suite benchmark. PTS supports over 100 tests and integrates with online result databases for benchmarking against similar hardware.
This structured approach covers key performance dimensions for Debian Stream 8, using industry-standard tools to quantify hardware/software capabilities. Results should be interpreted in the context of hardware specifications (e.g., CPU model, RAM size, disk type) to derive actionable insights.