iPerf3

Prerequisites

You need:

• An active Azure subscription
• An SSH key pair
• A VNet and subnet in the target region
• Standard_B2s as a good starting size. Choose a size with higher network bandwidth (for example, a larger D-series) if you want to measure multi-gigabit throughput.
• NSG inbound rules that allow 22/tcp from your management network and 5201 (TCP and UDP) from the networks you will test from

Step 1 - Deploy from the Azure Marketplace

Sign in to the Azure Portal and choose Create a resource. Search the Marketplace for iPerf3 by SecureAnyCloud and select Create.

On Basics, pick your subscription, resource group, region and size. Under Administrator account, choose SSH public key and paste your key. Under Inbound port rules, allow SSH (22).

Then choose Review + create and Create. After deployment, add a rule for 5201 (TCP and UDP). Step 2 shows the CLI.

Step 2 - Deploy from the Azure CLI

# Accept the Marketplace terms once per subscription (required before the first CLI deploy)
az vm image terms accept --urn sac1647283583153:iperf3-ubuntu-24-04:default:latest
az vm create \
  --resource-group <your-rg> \
  --name iperf3 \
  --image sac1647283583153:iperf3-ubuntu-24-04:default:latest \
  --size Standard_B2s \
  --admin-username azureuser \
  --ssh-key-values ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub \
  --vnet-name <your-vnet> --subnet <your-subnet> \
  --public-ip-sku Standard
az vm open-port --resource-group <your-rg> --name iperf3 --port 5201 --priority 1010

Step 3 - Connect to your VM

ssh azureuser@<vm-public-ip>

Step 4 - Confirm the server is running

systemctl is-active iperf3.service ss -tln | grep ':5201 ' iperf3 --version | head -1

The service reports active, the server listens on port 5201, and the iperf3 version is printed.

Step 5 - Retrieve your server details

The first boot writes a details file with this VM's public IP, port and ready-to-paste client commands:

sudo cat /root/iperf3-server-info.txt

Step 6 - Run a throughput test from a client

On any machine that has iperf3 installed (apt install iperf3, brew install iperf3, or the Windows build), run a download test against the server's public IP.

First, confirm the server end to end from the VM itself:

iperf3 -c 127.0.0.1 -p 5201 -t 3

From a remote client, replace the address with the VM's public IP:

# download (server -> client) iperf3 -c <vm-public-ip> -p 5201
# upload / reverse (client -> server) iperf3 -c <vm-public-ip> -p 5201 -R
# UDP at a target bitrate iperf3 -c <vm-public-ip> -p 5201 -u -b 100M
# parallel streams for high-bandwidth links iperf3 -c <vm-public-ip> -p 5201 -P 8

Each run prints per-second throughput and a final sender/receiver summary.

Security and maintenance

iPerf3 has no authentication. Restrict inbound 5201 in your NSG to the specific source networks you test from. Stop the service when you are not actively testing (sudo systemctl stop iperf3).

Keep the OS patched with sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade. The service restarts cleanly with sudo systemctl restart iperf3.

Support

This image is backed by 24/7 SecureAnyCloud support. Contact us by email or chat for help with throughput testing, multi-region benchmarking, NSG configuration and tuning.

All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.

Deploy on Azure

Launch iPerf3 on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on Azure with 24/7 support from SecureAnyCloud.

View this image

Need Help?

Our support team is available 24/7.

sales@secureanycloud.com

Connecting to your instance

Connect over SSH as the default login user for the operating system variant you launched. For Ubuntu 24.04, the SSH login user is ubuntu.

Prerequisites

You need:

• An active AWS account
• An EC2 key pair in your target region
• A VPC with a subnet that assigns a public IP (or a bastion or VPN path to the instance)
• The recommended instance type, m5.large. Choose a size with higher network bandwidth if you want to measure multi-gigabit throughput.
• An instance security group that allows inbound 22/tcp from your management network and 5201 for both TCP and UDP from the networks you will test from

Step 1 - Launch from AWS Marketplace

Sign in to the AWS Marketplace console and find the iPerf3 listing by SecureAnyCloud. Choose Continue to Subscribe, then Continue to Configuration and Continue to Launch.

Pick your region, the m5.large instance type, your VPC and subnet, and your EC2 key pair. For the security group, allow SSH (22) from your management network. Add a custom rule for TCP 5201 and UDP 5201 from the networks you will test from. Then launch the instance.

Step 2 - Launch from the AWS CLI

You can also launch the AMI directly. Replace the AMI ID, key name, subnet and security group with your own:

aws ec2 run-instances \
  --image-id <ami-id> \
  --instance-type m5.large \
  --key-name <your-key> \
  --subnet-id <your-subnet> \
  --security-group-ids <your-sg> \
  --associate-public-ip-address \
  --tag-specifications 'ResourceType=instance,Tags=[{Key=Name,Value=iperf3}]'

Open the iPerf3 test port on the security group for the networks you test from (TCP and UDP 5201):

aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-id <your-sg> --protocol tcp --port 5201 --cidr <your-cidr>
aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-id <your-sg> --protocol udp --port 5201 --cidr <your-cidr>

Step 3 - Connect to your instance

ssh ubuntu@<public-ip>

Step 4 - Confirm the server is running

systemctl is-active iperf3.service ss -tln | grep ':5201' iperf3 --version | head -1

The service reports active, the server is listening on port 5201, and the iPerf3 version is printed:

active LISTEN 0 4096 *:5201 *:* iperf 3.16 (cJSON 1.7.15)

Step 5 - Retrieve your server details

The first boot writes a details file with this instance's public IP, the port and ready-to-paste client commands:

sudo cat /root/iperf3-server-info.txt

# iPerf3 - generated on first boot by iperf3-firstboot.service
# This instance runs an iPerf3 throughput server on TCP/UDP 5201. IPERF3_SERVER_IP=<instance-public-ip> IPERF3_SERVER_PORT=5201
#
# Test download throughput from a client machine that has iperf3 installed:
# iperf3 -c <instance-public-ip> -p 5201
# ...

Step 6 - Run a throughput test

On any machine that has iperf3 installed (apt install iperf3, brew install iperf3, or the Windows build), run a test against the server's public IP.

First, confirm the server end to end from the instance itself with a loopback test:

iperf3 -c 127.0.0.1 -p 5201 -t 3

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr [ 5] 0.00-3.00 sec 12.9 GBytes 37.0 Gbits/sec 0 sender [ 5] 0.00-3.00 sec 12.9 GBytes 37.0 Gbits/sec receiver iperf Done.

From a remote client, replace the address with the instance's public IP and choose the direction and protocol you need:

# download (server -> client) iperf3 -c <public-ip> -p 5201
# upload / reverse (client -> server) iperf3 -c <public-ip> -p 5201 -R
# UDP at a target bitrate, reporting jitter and packet loss iperf3 -c <public-ip> -p 5201 -u -b 100M
# parallel streams for high-bandwidth links iperf3 -c <public-ip> -p 5201 -P 8

Each run prints per-second throughput and a final sender and receiver summary.

Security and maintenance

iPerf3 has no authentication, so anyone who can reach port 5201 can run tests against your instance and consume bandwidth. Restrict inbound 5201 in your security group to the specific source networks you test from. Stop the service when you are not actively testing:

sudo systemctl stop iperf3

Start it again when you next need it with sudo systemctl start iperf3. Restart it with sudo systemctl restart iperf3. Keep the OS patched with sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade.

Support

This image is backed by 24/7 SecureAnyCloud support. Contact us by email or chat for help with throughput testing, multi-region benchmarking, security-group configuration and network tuning.

All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.

Deploy on AWS

Launch iPerf3 Network Throughput Server on AWS with 24/7 support from SecureAnyCloud.

View on Marketplace

Need Help?

Our support team is available 24/7.

sales@secureanycloud.com