tcpburn

A TCP Stream Replay Tool for Concurrency

Description

TPCBurn is a replay tool designed specifically for concurrency. It can stress-test any TCP-based application that supports replay functionality.

Characteristics

1. Network latency can be preserved.
2. There’s no need to bind multiple IP addresses, and the number of client IP addresses is unlimited.
3. The maximum number of concurrent users is limited by bandwidth, memory, and CPU processing power.
4. Only TCP-based applications that support replay are supported.

Scenarios

1. Stress Testing
2. Comet
3. Performance Testing

Architecture

Figure 1. Overview of the TCPBurn Architecture.

As shown in the figure above, TCPBurn consists of two components: tcpburn and intercept.

• tcpburn runs on the test server and sends packets from pcap files. It reads packets, performs necessary processing such as simulating TCP interactions, controlling network latency, and simulating common upper-layer interactions. By default, it uses a raw socket output technique to send packets to the target server (indicated by light pink arrows).

• intercept operates on the assistant server and performs supporting tasks, such as passing response information to tcpburn. It captures response packets, extracts response header information, and sends this information to tcpburn through a special channel (indicated by light blue arrows). When tcpburn receives the response header, it uses the header information to modify pcap packet attributes and continues sending additional packets.

The only action required on the target server for TCPBurn is to set appropriate route rules to direct response packets (indicated by light green arrows) to the assistant server. Note that the assistant server should act as a black hole for responses from the target server.

tcpburn Configure Options

• --with-debug Compile tcpburn with debug support (output saved in a log file).
• --pcap-send Send packets at the data link layer instead of the IP layer.
• --single If intercept is configured with the --single option, use this option for tcpburn as well.
• --comet Replay sessions for Comet applications.

Installation and Running

1. intercept

a) Install intercept on the assistant server

git clone git://github.com/session-replay-tools/intercept.git
cd intercept
./configure --single
make     
make install

b) On the Assistant Server Running intercept (Root Privilege or CAP_NET_RAW Capability Required):

./intercept -F <filter> -i <device>

Note that the filter format is the same as the pcap filter. For example:

./intercept -i eth0 -F 'tcp and src port 80' -d

In this example, intercept will capture response packets from a TCP-based application listening on port 80, using the eth0 network device.

2. On the Target Server Running Server Applications:

Configure the route rules to direct response packets to the assistant server. For example, if 65.135.233.161 is the IP address of the assistant server, use the following route command to direct all responses from clients in the 62.135.200.x range to the assistant server:

route add -net 62.135.200.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 65.135.233.161

3. tcpburn (root privilege or the CAP_NET_RAW capability is required when running)

a) Install tcpburn on the test server

git clone git://github.com/session-replay-tools/tcpburn.git
cd tcpburn

if not comet scenarios
  ./configure --single 
else
  ./configure --single --comet
endif

make
make install

b) Running tcpburn on the Test Server(root privilege or the CAP_NET_RAW capability is required):

./tcpburn -x historyServerPort-targetServerIP:targetServerPort -f <pcapfile,> -s <intercept address> -u <user num> -c <ip range,>

For example, assume:

• 65.135.233.160 is the IP address of the target server.
• 10.110.10.161 is the internal IP address of the assistant server.
• 65.135.233.161 is the external IP address of the assistant server.

You would use the following command:

./tcpburn -x 80-65.135.233.160:80 -f /path/to/80.pcap -s 10.110.10.161 -u 10000 -c 62.135.200.x

tcpburn extracts packets from the 80.pcap file, destined for port 80, and replays them to the target server at 65.135.233.160, where an application listens on port 80. It replays a total of 10,000 sessions, using client IP addresses from the 62.135.200.x range. tcpburn connects to the assistant server at 10.110.10.161 to obtain response information.

Note

1. All sessions are retrieved from pcap files; ensure the sessions in the pcap files are complete.
2. By default, tcpburn uses raw sockets to send packets. To avoid ip_conntrack problems or achieve better performance, configure tcpburn with --pcap-send and refer to ./tcpburn -h for instructions on setting the appropriate parameters.
3. The test server and the assistant server can be on the same machine.
4. For Comet applications, exclude publish sessions if they are present in the pcap files.
5. tcpburn cannot replay TCP-based sessions that cannot be replayed, such as SSL/TLS sessions.
6. ip_forward should not be enabled on the assistant server.
7. Root privileges or the CAP_NET_RAW capability are required.
8. Execute ./tcpburn -h or ./intercept -h for more details.

Release History

• 2014.09 v1.0 TCPBurn released
• 2024.09 v1.0 Open source fully uses English

Bugs and Feature Requests

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Copyright and License

Copyright 2024 under the BSD license.

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