Linux ethernet connection speed

How to Test Network Speed in Linux via CLI

With the increase in people staying at home and spending more time on the Internet, ISPs have seen traffic loads higher than ever. If you noticed your network speed was slower at times, this global overload is the reason.

There are many online tools to test internet speed. However, Linux users can do this from the command prompt window. Some of the utilities for testing both local and internet speed we will cover are:

• Speedtest
• Fast
• Color Bandwidth Meter (CBM)
• iPerf
• nload
• Tcptrack
• Iftop
• Wget
• youtube-dl

Follow the instructions in this article to learn how to test network connection speed on Linux using the terminal. The steps work in both normal and headless mode.

• A machine running Linux
• sudo / root permissions
• Access to a terminal / command-prompt window

Test Network Speed on Linux Via Command Line

The tools in this guide help you check the Internet and LAN speed on a Linux machine. The article uses Ubuntu 20.04 for instructions, but the utilities work for any Linux distribution.

Note: Use the appropriate package manager for your Linux distribution, for example, yum for RHEL / CentOS, to install the apps.

Using speedtest-cli to Test Internet Speed

One of the most famous online internet connection test apps is speedtest.net. To install Speedtest on Linux via the terminal, use a package manager for your distro.

sudo apt install speedtest-cli

Optionally, use pip to install speedtest-cli in Python:

sudo pip install speedtest-cli

The standard speedtest-cli output shows all steps, including selecting a server. To display a shorter output, enter:

The test is simple to use and provides multiple options. To view all of them, pass the -h flag to display the speedtest-cli help file.

Using fast-cli to Test Internet Speed

Fast is a lightweight CLI utility based on the web speed test fast.com. The test uses Netflix servers to provide results.

Fast-cli is simple to use, but you need the node package manager (NPM) on your machine. The package comes with Nodejs.

For example, to install Node.js version 15, enter these commands:

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_15.x | sudo -E bash -

Then, run the install command:

sudo apt install -y nodejs

If needed, run the npm init command and then install Fast:

npm install --global fast-cli

To test the download speed, enter:

To show both the download and upload speed, add the -u option:

This internet speed test aims to provide only the information about your connection speed, without any bells and whistles.

Note: Since NPM is a requirement, it can be a hassle to install fast-cli. If you need more help with NPM installation, see our guides How To Install Node.Js And NPM On CentOS or How To Install Node.Js & NPM On Ubuntu.

Using CMB to Show Network Speed

The Color Bandwidth Meter (CMB) is a Linux tool that displays activity on all network interfaces. After the installation, run the tool to see network speeds in color-coded columns.

To install CBM, run this command:

When the process finishes, run the tool:

The output displays the transmit, receive, and total speed. Use the arrows to switch between the interfaces.

Using iperf to Measure Network Speed Between Two Devices

The iPerf tool provides many options for testing connection speed between a server and a client. Hence, to perform a test, you need to install the utility on both machines:

Make sure the client can reach the server. For quick confirmation, run a ping test.

If port 5001 is open, the connection works. So, on the server machine, enter:

The device starts listening for a connection request.

On the other machine, enter:

The output shows the transfer and bandwidth information:

Using nload to View Incoming and Outgoing Network Traffic

Nload is a tool that monitors incoming and outgoing activity on a network interface you specify. The application splits the traffic into two sections for easier data analysis.

To install the tool, enter:

To run the application, specify the network interface:

If there is activity on the selected interface, nload displays network speed details.

Using tcptrack to Test Network Activity

TCPtrack shows the connection status for a network interface. When your machine’s network is active, run this tool to view and monitor bandwidth speed and usage.

To install tcptrack on Linux Ubuntu, enter:

sudo apt install tcptrack

To view network activity with TCPtrack, specify the network interface. To find the device name, use the ifconfig tool.

In our case, it is enp0s3

The terminal displays the network activity on the selected interface. The total network speed is at the bottom of the terminal:

Note: Make sure you run tcptrack with sudo . Otherwise, this error pops up: pcap_open_live: enp0s3: You don’t have permission to capture on that device (socket: Operation not permitted)

TCPtrack is customizable and offers options to narrow down the test to specific ports, for example.

To do so, pass the port option and the port number:

sudo tcptrack -i enp0s3 port 443

If there is no activity on the port, the output is blank.

Using iftop to Test Speed on a Network Interface

Iftop lets you view network speed for a defined interface. The tool shows a similar output to what tcptrack provides.

To install iftop, run this command:

To launch the utility, use the -i flag and specify your network interface.
In our case:

The output shows the activity for the device. The bottom of the screen provides a traffic summary.

If you do not specify a network interface, iftop selects the first available. Make sure you run the command with sudo to avoid any errors.

Using wget to Test Download Speed

Wget is a CLI tool for downloading content from web servers. Since the tool does not upload files, you can only test the download speed.

If you do not have wget on your Ubuntu machine, enter this command to install it:

Now, choose a reliable server to download a file and test your internet speed. For example, use phoenixNAP’s 1GB test file from the list.

This example uses a server located in Phoenix:

wget -O /dev/null -q --show-progress http://174.138.175.114/PHX-1GB.test

Using youtube-dl to Test Internet Speed

An unconventional way to test your download speed is to use the youtube-dl CLI utility. The tool allows you to download YouTube videos and view the download speed.

To install youtube-dl, enter:

sudo apt install youtube-dl

The application takes around 268MB of space. While the installation is in progress, choose a video you want to download and save the URL.

When the process finishes, use this command but replace the URL with the one you selected:

youtube-dl -f best --no-part --no-cache-dir -o /dev/null --newline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TLsqgLDMN4

The terminal shows the download progress, file size, download speed, and ETA.

The command above does not save the file to any filesystem, hence the /dev/null part.

This example used a short phoenixNAP BMC demo video of around 19MB. Choose a longer video for more precise results.

The article showed you nine ways to test network speed in Linux via CLI. Choose the tool depending on whether you want to test local network speed, internet speed, etc.

The tools work for all Linux distributions, so make sure you use the right package manager.

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How can I verify the speed of my NIC in ubuntu?

Is there a command that I can verify by its output the speed of my NIC and some information about its characteristics such as duplex full or half .

3 Answers 3

Suppose your NIC name eth0 :

You can verify the speed and some informations by three Commands :

First Command :

Second Command :

FD : full duplex , Logic that enables concurrent sending and receiving. This is usually desirable and enabled when your computer is connected to a switch.

HD : half duplex , his logic requires a card to only send or receive at a single point of time. When your machine is connected to a Hub, it auto-negotiates itself and uses half duplex to avoid collisions.

Third command :

ethtool eth0 ethtool - Display or change ethernet card settings 

sudo apt-get install ethtool 

Settings for eth0: Supported ports: [ TP ] Supported link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 1000baseT/Full Supported pause frame use: No Supports auto-negotiation: Yes Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 1000baseT/Full Advertised pause frame use: No Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes Speed: 1000Mb/s Duplex: Full Port: Twisted Pair PHYAD: 0 Transceiver: internal Auto-negotiation: on MDI-X: Unknown Supports Wake-on: d Wake-on: d Current message level: 0x00000007 (7) drv probe link Link detected: yes 

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How to Check Link Speed in Ubuntu

The link speed in a basic network refers to the maximum speed that a device can communicate with the wireless router. The link speed is expressed in bits/second and may vary depending on the device and the wireless access point.

In most cases, you will find speeds like 144.4Mbps, 300Mbps, 100Mbps for fast ethernets, or 1000Mbps for devices such as Gigabit ethernets.

I will not dive into how the various layers of the TCP/IP process the speeds. Instead, we’ll focus on how to check for link speed on Ubuntu.

Method 1: Using the IP Command

The very first method to get the link speed of your interface is using the IP command.

We are all familiar with the IP command in Linux; it is part of the net-tools package. It allows us to configure network interfaces in the Linux system, including bringing interfaces up and down, setting IP addresses, netmasks, routes, and more. Thus, it is a powerful tool for network administrators.

To get the link speed of your interface, use the ip command followed by grep as:

In the above command, we grep for qlen, which shows the transmit queue length of the network interface in packets.

The above shows the interfaces, loopback, and eth0, which is an ethernet adapter.

Method 2: Ask the Kernel

As you guessed, in this method, we will view the interface speed directly from the kernel. The network interface information is stored in the /sys/classes/net/[interface_name]/speed.

All we need to do is query the file using a cat as:

Method 3: Network Manager

The simplest and most common is to look at the network interface in the network manager GUI tool.

In Ubuntu, to get the Link speed of the ethernet interface. Click on the Network connection action in the top bar and select “Wired Settings.”

This should take you to the network management window that shows the link speed as shown below:

Method 4: Mii-Tool/Ethtool

The next method is somewhat unconventional but works for systems with the tool installed. In this case, you can use the mii-tool or ethtool. They both allow users to query the device for information.

However, that may require you to have root or a user with sudo privileges to work.

NOTE: If you are on a Linux machine that does not have the tools installed, use the method discussed above as it will work in most systems.

To get the link speed of a network interface using the ethtool, use the command:

The command below shows the link speed for the interface eth0 as shown:

To learn more how to use the ethtool, consider the manual in the 8th section or use the link below:

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we discussed various methods and tricks to get the link speed of network interfaces in Ubuntu.

About the author

John Otieno

My name is John and am a fellow geek like you. I am passionate about all things computers from Hardware, Operating systems to Programming. My dream is to share my knowledge with the world and help out fellow geeks. Follow my content by subscribing to LinuxHint mailing list

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