In modern computing, measuring a CPU's performance goes beyond simple clock speed. Modern CPUs have diverse architectures and optimizations, which means assessing their real-world performance requires precise benchmarks. This is particularly important in Linux environments, where different tasks demand different CPU capabilities.
Benchmarking tools in Linux are used to evaluate a CPU's performance by running specific tests. These tools execute tasks on the CPU and measure how quickly they are completed. While synthetic benchmarks provide a controlled environment for testing, real-world benchmarks give insights into how the CPU performs under typical workloads.
Among various benchmarking tools available for Linux, sysbench is a widely-used option. It is included in the default package repositories of most Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu. Sysbench provides a reliable way to measure the performance of your CPU under different conditions, making it a valuable tool for any Linux user.
Steps to benchmark CPU performance in Linux:
- Open the terminal on your Linux system.
- Install the sysbench package from your distribution's package manager.
$ sudo apt update && sudo apt install --assume-yes sysbench # Ubuntu and variants > sudo zypper refresh && sudo zypper install --skip-interactive sysbench $ sudo dnf install sysbench
- Identify the number of CPU cores and threads in your system using the lscpu command.
$ lscpu | grep "^CPU.s\|^Thread.s" CPU(s): 8 Thread(s) per core: 2
- Run a test to measure the performance of a single CPU core.
$ sysbench cpu run sysbench 1.0.20 (using system LuaJIT 2.1.0-beta3) Running the test with following options: Number of threads: 1 Initializing random number generator from current time Prime numbers limit: 10000 Initializing worker threads... Threads started! CPU speed: events per second: 8651.52 General statistics: total time: 10.0002s total number of events: 86521 Latency (ms): min: 0.11 avg: 0.12 max: 1.21 95th percentile: 0.12 sum: 9987.69 Threads fairness: events (avg/stddev): 86521.0000/0.00 execution time (avg/stddev): 9.9877/0.00This command tests the speed of a single CPU core by calculating prime numbers up to a specified limit.
- Run a test to measure the performance of multiple CPU cores.
$ sysbench cpu --threads=16 run sysbench 1.0.20 (using system LuaJIT 2.1.0-beta3) Running the test with following options: Number of threads: 16 Initializing random number generator from current time Prime numbers limit: 10000 Initializing worker threads... Threads started! CPU speed: events per second: 16608.45 General statistics: total time: 10.0006s total number of events: 166101 Latency (ms): min: 0.11 avg: 0.96 max: 68.15 95th percentile: 0.13 sum: 159504.98 Threads fairness: events (avg/stddev): 10381.3125/69.32 execution time (avg/stddev): 9.9691/0.02 - Conduct a prolonged benchmark to simulate sustained CPU load over time.
$ sysbench cpu --threads=16 --time=60 run sysbench 1.0.20 (using system LuaJIT 2.1.0-beta3) Running the test with following options: Number of threads: 16 Initializing random number generator from current time Prime numbers limit: 10000 Initializing worker threads... Threads started! CPU speed: events per second: 16649.33 General statistics: total time: 60.0007s total number of events: 998978 Latency (ms): min: 0.11 avg: 0.96 max: 101.62 95th percentile: 0.13 sum: 958670.12 Threads fairness: events (avg/stddev): 62436.1250/236.58 execution time (avg/stddev): 59.9169/0.03Longer benchmarks can cause the CPU to hit and emulate frequency scaling and thermal limitations.
- Adjust sysbench options to refine your benchmark tests as needed.
$ sysbench --help Usage: sysbench [options]... [testname] [command] Commands implemented by most tests: prepare run cleanup help General options: --threads=N number of threads to use [1] --events=N limit for total number of events [0] --time=N limit for total execution time in seconds [10] --forced-shutdown=STRING number of seconds to wait after the --time limit before forcing shutdown, or 'off' to disable [off] --thread-stack-size=SIZE size of stack per thread [64K] --rate=N average transactions rate. 0 for unlimited rate [0] --report-interval=N periodically report intermediate statistics with a specified interval in seconds. 0 disables intermediate reports [0] --report-checkpoints=[LIST,...] dump full statistics and reset all counters at specified points in time. The argument is a list of comma-separated values representing the amount of time in seconds elapsed from start of test when report checkpoint(s) must be performed. Report checkpoints are off by default. [] --debug[=on|off] print more debugging info [off] --validate[=on|off] perform validation checks where possible [off] --help[=on|off] print help and exit [off] --version[=on|off] print version and exit [off] --config-file=FILENAME File containing command line options --tx-rate=N deprecated alias for --rate [0] --max-requests=N deprecated alias for --events [0] --max-time=N deprecated alias for --time [0] --num-threads=N deprecated alias for --threads [1] Pseudo-Random Numbers Generator options: --rand-type=STRING random numbers distribution {uniform,gaussian,special,pareto} [special] --rand-spec-iter=N number of iterations used for numbers generation [12] --rand-spec-pct=N percentage of values to be treated as 'special' (for special distribution) [1] --rand-spec-res=N percentage of 'special' values to use (for special distribution) [75] --rand-seed=N seed for random number generator. When 0, the current time is used as a RNG seed. [0] --rand-pareto-h=N parameter h for pareto distribution [0.2] Log options: --verbosity=N verbosity level {5 - debug, 0 - only critical messages} [3] --percentile=N percentile to calculate in latency statistics (1-100). Use the special value of 0 to disable percentile calculations [95] --histogram[=on|off] print latency histogram in report [off] General database options: --db-driver=STRING specifies database driver to use ('help' to get list of available drivers) [mysql] --db-ps-mode=STRING prepared statements usage mode {auto, disable} [auto] --db-debug[=on|off] print database-specific debug information [off] Compiled-in database drivers: mysql - MySQL driver pgsql - PostgreSQL driver mysql options: --mysql-host=[LIST,...] MySQL server host [localhost] --mysql-port=[LIST,...] MySQL server port [3306] --mysql-socket=[LIST,...] MySQL socket --mysql-user=STRING MySQL user [sbtest] --mysql-password=STRING MySQL password [] --mysql-db=STRING MySQL database name [sbtest] --mysql-ssl[=on|off] use SSL connections, if available in the client library [off] --mysql-ssl-cipher=STRING use specific cipher for SSL connections [] --mysql-compression[=on|off] use compression, if available in the client library [off] --mysql-debug[=on|off] trace all client library calls [off] --mysql-ignore-errors=[LIST,...] list of errors to ignore, or "all" [1213,1020,1205] --mysql-dry-run[=on|off] Dry run, pretend that all MySQL client API calls are successful without executing them [off] pgsql options: --pgsql-host=STRING PostgreSQL server host [localhost] --pgsql-port=N PostgreSQL server port [5432] --pgsql-user=STRING PostgreSQL user [sbtest] --pgsql-password=STRING PostgreSQL password [] --pgsql-db=STRING PostgreSQL database name [sbtest] Compiled-in tests: fileio - File I/O test cpu - CPU performance test memory - Memory functions speed test threads - Threads subsystem performance test mutex - Mutex performance test See 'sysbench <testname> help' for a list of options for each test.
Author: Mohd
Shakir Zakaria
Mohd Shakir Zakaria is an experienced cloud architect with a strong development and open-source advocacy background. He boasts multiple certifications in AWS, Red Hat, VMware, ITIL, and Linux, underscoring his expertise in cloud architecture and system administration.
Mohd Shakir Zakaria is an experienced cloud architect with a strong development and open-source advocacy background. He boasts multiple certifications in AWS, Red Hat, VMware, ITIL, and Linux, underscoring his expertise in cloud architecture and system administration.
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