[AG-TECH] (announce) rtpreplicate 2.0 - benchmarking tool

[Markus Buchhorn]

Hi All

We've just released (officially at least) rtpreplicate, a java tool that you can use to melt down your AG node :-)

rtpreplicate listens on a unicast or multicast address for rtp packets, and forwards them to another unicast or multicast address. While passing through the system, you can replicate (one or more) streams any number of times and each stream is given a unique new ssrc id - so your receiving application sees that many unique new sources. The system tries to highlight if the replicating system itself becomes a bottleneck.

It listens for rtcp rr packets sent back to work out how well the system, network and application under test are doing. This tends to show bugs in rtcp RR generation as much as network or system performance issues! :-) But you can also use other system tools to monitor cpu load, network buffers, etc. But there are often complex things happening so be careful of how you interpret the results. 

There are also some canned h261 streams (in rtpdump format) of white-ish noise at different bandwidths that could be used as the basis for a standard benchmark. It should allow you to identify the performance gain (or loss) of a system under test as you make changes, or compare two systems side-by-side under reasonably identical conditions.

Feedback is always welcome.

Cheers,
	Markus

Markus Buchhorn, ANU Internet Futures Group,       |Ph: +61 2 61258810
Markus.Buchhorn at anu.edu.au, mail: Bldg #108 CS&IT  |Fx: +61 2 61259805
Australian National University, Canberra 0200 Aust.|Mob: 0417 281429