I don't really know for sure but my guess is that it's came from a TCP/UDP
socket perspective, i.e. there is a server socket waiting for clients to
connect to it. Or from a client/server perspective, the client initiates
the test and the server accepts and responds to that. Also the "test
result" is either sent back to the client when a UDP test or just read from
the client in the case of TCP. Hence, clients initiate and run tests and
need not be aware of the server (other than know how to reach it.)
>From a multicast perspective, the client/server is confusing because
multicast doesn't have clients nor servers per se, but rather has multicast
sources and multicast receivers. A multicast client (source) doesn't even
require a "server" to initiate a test, i.e. it just starts sending packets
to a group where no receivers (servers) are required. And a final
multicast "test result" are not sent back to the client but rather have to
be read via the server(s) themselves.
Then there is the reverse option (yet to be implemented in iperf 2 but
available in iperf 3) where the client establishes the socket but the
actual traffic goes in "reverse" from server->client. This is useful when
testing through things like NAT firewalls.
Yes, it's all a bit confusing.
Bob
On Tue, Apr 3, 2018 at 11:43 AM, Gerry Pehl <gjp...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello iperfers.
>
> Sorry in advance if this is not an appropriate use of the list.
>
> I am new to multicast, and so have just started using iperf, but one thing
> that I'm confused about is the terminology- why is the endpoint sending the
> traffic called the 'client', and the endpoint receiving them called the
> 'server'- that seems backwards to me.
>
> Thanks in advance for any thoughts
>
> --
> Gerry Pehl
>
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