PhoronixTestSuite

Phoronix Test Suite HowTo

This document will give a brief overview of installing and running the Phoronix Test Suite on Ubuntu.

As of this writing, it is based on installing, configuring and running Phoronix on Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) and Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) using Phoronix 3.2.1-1 available in Universe. As of this writing, the current version available from Phoronix is version 3.4.0. You can get a deb package of the current version here.

Contents:

  1. Installing Phoronix Test Suite

  2. Suites and Tests

  3. Running Phoronix

  4. Phoronix and Checkbox

  5. Documentation

  6. Additional Information

Installing Phoronix Test Suite

Installation can be achieved by one of two methods.

Installation from Ubuntu Repositories

Open a terminal and install using apt-get or aptitude:

# sudo apt-get install phoronix-test-suite

# sudo aptitude install phoronix-test-suite

Or open the Ubuntu Software Center, search for Phoronix and install the package.

(a screen shot would be nice here)

Installation from phoronix-test-suite.com

Download the latest version by going to:

http://phoronix-test-suite.com/?k=downloads

Once you have downloaded the package, install it from terminal:

# sudo dpkg -i /path/to/packagename.deb

You will also need to install the basic dependencies for Phoronix Test Suite:

php5-cli php5-gd

Suites and Tests

Phornix comes with over 100 tests ready to go, but fair warning, each test will need to download dependencies. The bad news is that this can slow down installation of tests and could potentially trigger a large amount of data being downloaded and installed.

Recent testing revealed that installing the pre-made CPU test suite can install over 1.4GB of additional files on your test machine.

Tests are just that, individual tests that can be installed and run individually. Suites are groups of tests, and one suite could be comprised of smaller sub-suite.

For example, you may create a suite called "System_Testing" and that would be made up of smaller sub-suites such as "Processor_Tests", "Disk_Tests" and "RAM_Tests"

Phoronix provides several of these ready made suites and also provides the means to create your own suites.

To view the list of currently available suites, use the following command:

# phoronix-test-suite list-available-suites

which will pull the lastest suite info from the Phoronix website. Additionally, the list of all available tests can be found using this command:

# phoronix-test-suite list-available-tests

Running Phoronix

Before you can run Phoronix Test Suite on Ubuntu, you need to modify the install-ubuntu-packages.sh script. This script is used by Phoronix Test Suite to install test dependency packages from Ubuntu repositories. Unfortunately, there is a bug in the script that prevents it from running correctly in Dash. To correct this, edit the file /usr/share/phoronix-test-suite/pts-core/external-test-dependencies/scripts/install-ubuntu-packages.sh

You need to change the final if/fi block from this: 

if [ -x /usr/bin/aptitude ]; then
        # aptitude is nice since it doesn't fail if a non-existant package is hit
        # See: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=503215
        $ROOT -- "aptitude -y install $*"
else
        $ROOT -- "apt-get -y --ignore-missing install $*"
fi

To this: 

if [ -x /usr/bin/aptitude ]; then
        # aptitude is nice since it doesn't fail if a non-existant package is hit
        # See: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=503215
        $ROOT -- aptitude -y install $*
else
        $ROOT -- apt-get -y --ignore-missing install $*
fi

After making this correction, Phoronix should be able to install test dependencies.

The easiest way to get started testing is to simply look at the list of tests, pick one, and run it. The simplest way to do this is to use the following commands:

# phoronix-test-suite list-available-tests

# phoronix-test-suite benchmark <TEST NAME>

It's that simple. At this point, if this is your first time running Phoronix, you will be prompted to answer a few simple questions and be prompted to accept the use agreement: 

Phoronix Test Suite v3.2.1
User Agreement

The Phoronix Test Suite is the most comprehensive testing and
benchmarking platform available for Linux, OpenSolaris, Mac OS X,
and BSD operating systems. The Phoronix Test Suite is designed to
carry out tests in a clean, reproducible, and easy-to-use manner.

- The Phoronix Test Suite is open-source and licensed under the
GNU GPLv3. However, some tests supported by the Phoronix Test
Suite are not open-source software or available for free of
charge.

- The Phoronix Test Suite contains tests which may stress your
system and in some cases could exhibit stability problems of the
system's hardware or software configuration. The Phoronix Test
Suite is provided WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY. In no event shall
OpenBenchmarking.org, Phoronix Media, the Phoronix Test Suite, or
any associated stakeholder be liable to any party for any direct
or indirect damages for any use of OpenBenchmarking.org --
including, without limitation, any lost profits, business
interruption, loss of programs, loss of programmed data, or
otherwise.

- For enterprise support, sponsorship, or other professional
inquiries, contact phoronix@phoronix.com. Community support can
be found in the Phoronix Forums at
http://www.phoronix.com/forums/.

- If you opt to submit your test results to OpenBenchmarking.org,
the final results as well as basic hardware and software details
(what is shown in the results viewer) will be shared and publicly
accessible through http://www.openbenchmarking.org/.

- Public bug reports, feature requests, and other issues can be
brought up in the Phoronix Test Suite forums, mailing list, or a
direct email to Phoronix Media.

Anonymous Usage Reporting / Statistics: If enabling the anonymous
usage reporting / statistics feature, some information about the
Phoronix Test Suite runs will be submitted to
OpenBenchmarking.org. This information is used for analytical
purposes, including but not limited to, determining the most
popular tests / suites and calculating average run-times for
different test profiles. The test results are not reported in
this process nor the installed software / hardware information,
but ambient information about the testing process. This
information is stored anonymously. More information on this
feature is available with the included documentation.

Anonymous Software / Hardware Reporting: If enabling the
anonymous hardware / software reporting, general information on
your installed hardware / software components will be reported to
OpenBenchmarking.org. Hardware information is general details
such as, but not limited to, the installed CPU, motherboard, and
other general components. Software information is general and
contains details such as your operating system, graphics
processor driver, kernel, and software architecture. No personal
information is collected. This information is pooled along with
the submissions from all other users to show general trends and
other details on OpenBenchmarking.org.

For more information on the Phoronix Test Suite and its features,
visit http://www.phoronix-test-suite.com/ or view the included
documentation.

    Do you agree to these terms and wish to proceed (Y/n): Y

Enable anonymous usage / statistics reporting (Y/n): n
Enable anonymous statistical reporting of installed software / hardware (Y/n): n

If necessary, you'll also be prompted to make configuration selections for a particular test. For example: 

bladernr@ubuntu:~$ phoronix-test-suite benchmark tiobench

Phoronix Test Suite v3.2.1

    To Install: pts/tiobench-1.1.0

    Determining File Requirements ..........................................
    Searching Download Caches ..............................................

    1 Test To Install
        1 File To Download [0.03MB]
        1MB Of Disk Space Is Needed

    pts/tiobench-1.1.0:
        Test Installation 1 of 1
        1 File Needed [0.03 MB]
        Downloading: tiobench-0.3.3.tar.gz                          [0.03MB]
        Downloading ........................................................
        Installation Size: 0.2 MB
        Installing Test @ 01:30:31


Threaded I/O Tester Test Configuration


Test:

1: Write
2: Random Write
3: Read
4: Random Read
5: Test All Options

Enter Your Choice: 3

Size Per Thread:

1: 32MB
2: 64MB
3: 128MB
4: 256MB
5: Test All Options

Enter Your Choice: 1

Thread Count:

1: 4
2: 8
3: 16
4: 32
5: Test All Options

Enter Your Choice: 1

After answering the individual test configuration questions, you will be asked a few more questions and then testing will begin: 

    Would you like to save these test results (Y/n): Y
    Enter a name to save these results under: TestRun
    Enter a unique name to describe this test run / configuration: My_Test

If you wish, enter a new description below to better describe this result set / system configuration under test.
Press ENTER to proceed without changes.

Current Description: Intel Xeon X5350 testing with a Supermicro X7DVL under Ubuntu 11.10 via the Phoronix Test Suite.

New Description: My Test Description


Threaded I/O Tester:
    pts/tiobench-1.1.0 [Test: Read - Size Per Thread: 32MB - Thread Count: 4]
    Test 1 of 1
    Expected Trial Run Count: 4
        Started Run 1 @ 02:07:43
        Started Run 2 @ 02:07:49
        Started Run 3 @ 02:07:55
        Started Run 4 @ 02:08:01  [Std. Dev: 0.22%]

    Test Results:
        3507.426
        3498.224
        3500.424
        3488.879

    Average: 3498.74 MB/s

    Would you like to upload these results to OpenBenchmarking.org (Y/n): n

Test duration could take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours depending on the test configuration, or size of the test suite.

For comparison, the pts/tiobench test used in this document for the examples completed in under 3 minutes on a server with 2 dual core processors and 4GB of RAM. The pts/server suite takes nearly 4 hours. The pts/CPU suite took over 16 hours.

These times include time to download the test dependencies on my 10Mb ADSL line.

Phoronix and Checkbox

Coming Soon

Documentation

The following are the available command line options for Phoronix. They are fairly self-explanitory, however, additional documentation is available at the Phoronix web site and in the Phoronix Test Suite PDF.

To get additional, detailed explanations of any of the available commands listed below, use the help command:

# phoronix-test-suite help <command name> 

TEST INSTALLATION

    install [Test | Suite | OpenBenchmarking.org ID | Test Result]  ...
    install-dependencies [Test | Suite | OpenBenchmarking.org ID | Test Result]  ...
    make-download-cache
    remove-installed-test [Test]

TESTING

    benchmark [Test | Suite | OpenBenchmarking.org ID | Test Result]  ...
    finish-run [Test Result]
    recover-run [Unknown Object]
    run [Test | Suite | OpenBenchmarking.org ID | Test Result]  ...
    run-tests-in-suite

BATCH TESTING

    batch-benchmark [Test | Suite | OpenBenchmarking.org ID | Test Result]  ...
    batch-install [Test | Suite | OpenBenchmarking.org ID | Test Result]  ...
    batch-run [Test | Suite | OpenBenchmarking.org ID | Test Result]  ...
    batch-setup
    default-benchmark [Test | Suite | OpenBenchmarking.org ID | Test Result]  ...
    default-run [Test | Suite | OpenBenchmarking.org ID | Test Result]  ...

OPENBENCHMARKING.ORG

    clone-result [OpenBenchmarking.org ID]  ...
    openbenchmarking-launcher
    openbenchmarking-login
    openbenchmarking-refresh
    upload-result [Test Result]

SYSTEM

    diagnostics
    interactive
    system-info
    system-sensors

INFORMATION

    info [Test | Suite | OpenBenchmarking.org ID | Test Result]
    list-available-suites
    list-available-tests
    list-available-virtual-suites
    list-installed-dependencies
    list-installed-suites
    list-installed-tests
    list-missing-dependencies
    list-possible-dependencies
    list-saved-results
    list-test-usage

ASSET CREATION

    debug-install [Test | Suite | OpenBenchmarking.org ID | Test Result]  ...
    debug-run [Test | Suite | OpenBenchmarking.org ID | Test Result]  ...
    debug-test-download-links [Test | Suite]
    download-test-files [Test | Suite]  ...
    force-install [Test | Suite | OpenBenchmarking.org ID | Test Result]  ...
    result-file-to-suite [Test Result]
    validate-result-file
    validate-test-profile
    validate-test-suite

RESULT MANAGEMENT

    copy-run-in-result-file [Test Result]
    extract-from-result-file [Test Result]
    merge-results [Test Result]  ...
    refresh-graphs [Test Result]
    remove-from-result-file [Test Result]
    remove-result [Test Result]
    rename-identifier-in-result-file [Test Result]
    reorder-result-file [Test Result]
    result-file-to-csv [Test Result]
    show-result [Test Result]

RESULT ANALYTICS

    analyze-all-runs [Test Result]
    analyze-batch [Test Result]
    analyze-image-delta [Test Result]

OTHER

    build-suite
    help
    network-setup
    rebuild-composite-xml [Test Result]
    result-file-to-pdf [Test Result]
    result-file-to-text [Test Result]
    user-config-reset
    user-config-set
    version

MODULES

    list-modules
    module-info [Phoronix Test Suite Module]
    module-setup [Phoronix Test Suite Module]
    test-module [Phoronix Test Suite Module]

Additional Information

For additional assistance with Phoronix Test Suite:

PhoronixTestSuite (last edited 2011-09-29 02:12:07 by bladernr)