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http_load(1)		     General Commands Manual		    http_load(1)

NAME
     http_load - multiprocessing http test client

SYNOPSIS
     http_load	[-checksum]  [-throttle] [-proxy host:port] [-verbose] [-timeout
     secs] [-sip sip_file] [-cipher str] ( -parallel N | -rate N [-jitter]  )  (
     -fetches N | -seconds N ) url_file

DESCRIPTION
     http_load runs multiple http fetches in parallel, to test the throughput of
     a	web  server.  However unlike most such test clients, it runs in a single
     process, so it doesn't bog down the client machine.  It can  be  configured
     to do https fetches as well.

     The -checksum flag tells http_load to do checksums on the files fetched, to
     make  sure  they came across ok.  The checksums are computed the first time
     each URL gets fetched, and then recomputed and compared on each  subsequent
     fetch.  Without the -checksum flag only the byte count is checked.

     The  -throttle  flag tells http_load to throttle its consumption of data to
     33.6Kbps, to simulate access by modem users.

     The -proxy flag lets you run http_load through a web proxy.

     The -verbose flag tells http_load to put out progress reports every  minute
     on stderr.

     The  -timeout  flag  specifies  how long to wait on idle connections before
     giving up.  The default is 60 seconds.

     The -sip flag lets you specify a file containing numeric IP addresses  (not
     hostnames),  one per line.  These get used randomly as the *source* address
     of connections.  They must be real routable addresses on your machine, cre-
     ated with ifconfig, in order for this to work.  The advantage of using this
     option is you can make one client machine look like a  whole  bank  of  ma-
     chines, as far as the server knows.

     The -cipher flag is only available if you have SSL support compiled in.  It
     specifies	a  cipher  set to use.	By default, http_load will negotiate the
     highest security that the server has available, which is often higher  (and
     slower)  than  typical browsers will negotiate.  An example of a cipher set
     might be "RC4-MD5" - this will run considerably faster  than  the	default.
     In addition to specifying a raw cipher string, there are three built-in ci-
     pher sets accessible by keywords:
       * fastsec - fast security - RC4-MD5
       * highsec - high security - DES-CBC3-SHA
       * paranoid - ultra high security - AES256-SHA
     Of course, not all servers are guaranteed to implement these combinations.

     One  start  specifier,  either  -parallel or -rate, is required.  -parallel
     tells http_load to keep that many parallel  fetches  going  simultaneously.
     -rate  tells  http_load to start that many new connections each second.  If
     you use the -rate start specifier, you can  also  give  the  -jitter  flag,
     telling http_load to vary the rate randomly by about 10%.

     One  end  specifier,  either  -fetches  or -seconds, is required.	-fetches
     tells http_load to quit when that many fetches have been completed.   -sec-
     onds tells http_load to quit after that many seconds have elapsed.

     The  url_file  is	just  a  list  of URLs, one per line.  The URLs that get
     fetched are chosen randomly from this file.

     All flags may be abbreviated to a single letter.

     Note that while the end specifier is obeyed precisely, the start  specifier
     is  only  approximate.   If you use the -rate flag, http_load will make its
     best effort to start connections at that rate, but may not succeed.  And if
     you use the -parallel flag, http_load will attempt to keep that many simul-
     taneous connections going, but may fail to keep up if the	server	is  very
     fast.

     Sample run:
	 % http_load -rate 2 -seconds 300 urls
	 591 fetches, 8 max parallel, 5.33606e+06 bytes, in 300 seconds
	 9028.87 mean bytes/connection
	 1.97 fetches/sec, 17786.9 bytes/sec
	 msecs/connect: 28.8932 mean, 44.243 max, 24.488 min
	 msecs/first-response: 63.5362 mean, 81.624 max, 57.803 min
	 HTTP response codes:
	   code 200 -- 591

SEE ALSO
     http_ping(1)

AUTHOR
     Copyright	(C)  1998,1999,2001  by  Jef Poskanzer <jef@mail.acme.com>.  All
     rights reserved.

				15 November 2001		    http_load(1)

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