Provided by: iproute2_6.1.0-1ubuntu2_amd64 
NAME
NetEm - Network Emulator
SYNOPSIS
tc qdisc ... dev DEVICE ] add netem OPTIONS
OPTIONS := [ LIMIT ] [ DELAY ] [ LOSS ] [ CORRUPT ] [ DUPLICATION ] [ REORDERING ] [ RATE
] [ SLOT ]
LIMIT := limit packets
DELAY := delay TIME [ JITTER [ CORRELATION ]]]
[ distribution { uniform | normal | pareto | paretonormal } ]
LOSS := loss { random PERCENT [ CORRELATION ] |
state p13 [ p31 [ p32 [ p23 [ p14]]]] |
gemodel p [ r [ 1-h [ 1-k ]]] } [ ecn ]
CORRUPT := corrupt PERCENT [ CORRELATION ]]
DUPLICATION := duplicate PERCENT [ CORRELATION ]]
REORDERING := reorder PERCENT [ CORRELATION ] [ gap DISTANCE ]
RATE := rate RATE [ PACKETOVERHEAD [ CELLSIZE [ CELLOVERHEAD ]]]]
SLOT := slot { MIN_DELAY [ MAX_DELAY ] |
distribution { uniform | normal | pareto | paretonormal | FILE } DELAY
JITTER }
[ packets PACKETS ] [ bytes BYTES ]
DESCRIPTION
NetEm is an enhancement of the Linux traffic control facilities that allow one to add
delay, packet loss, duplication and more other characteristics to packets outgoing from a
selected network interface. NetEm is built using the existing Quality Of Service (QOS) and
Differentiated Services (diffserv) facilities in the Linux kernel.
netem OPTIONS
netem has the following options:
limit packets
maximum number of packets the qdisc may hold queued at a time.
delay
adds the chosen delay to the packets outgoing to chosen network interface. The optional
parameters allows one to introduce a delay variation and a correlation. Delay and jitter
values are expressed in ms while correlation is percentage.
distribution
allow the user to choose the delay distribution. If not specified, the default
distribution is Normal. Additional parameters allow one to consider situations in which
network has variable delays depending on traffic flows concurring on the same path, that
causes several delay peaks and a tail.
loss random
adds an independent loss probability to the packets outgoing from the chosen network
interface. It is also possible to add a correlation, but this option is now deprecated due
to the noticed bad behavior.
loss state
adds packet losses according to the 4-state Markov using the transition probabilities as
input parameters. The parameter p13 is mandatory and if used alone corresponds to the
Bernoulli model. The optional parameters allows one to extend the model to 2-state (p31),
3-state (p23 and p32) and 4-state (p14). State 1 corresponds to good reception, State 4
to independent losses, State 3 to burst losses and State 2 to good reception within a
burst.
loss gemodel
adds packet losses according to the Gilbert-Elliot loss model or its special cases
(Gilbert, Simple Gilbert and Bernoulli). To use the Bernoulli model, the only needed
parameter is p while the others will be set to the default values r=1-p, 1-h=1 and 1-k=0.
The parameters needed for the Simple Gilbert model are two (p and r), while three
parameters (p, r, 1-h) are needed for the Gilbert model and four (p, r, 1-h and 1-k) are
needed for the Gilbert-Elliot model. As known, p and r are the transition probabilities
between the bad and the good states, 1-h is the loss probability in the bad state and 1-k
is the loss probability in the good state.
ecn
can be used optionally to mark packets instead of dropping them. A loss model has to be
used for this to be enabled.
corrupt
allows the emulation of random noise introducing an error in a random position for a
chosen percent of packets. It is also possible to add a correlation through the proper
parameter.
duplicate
using this option the chosen percent of packets is duplicated before queuing them. It is
also possible to add a correlation through the proper parameter.
reorder
to use reordering, a delay option must be specified. There are two ways to use this option
(assuming 'delay 10ms' in the options list).
reorder 25% 50% gap 5
in this first example, the first 4 (gap - 1) packets are delayed by 10ms and subsequent
packets are sent immediately with a probability of 0.25 (with correlation of 50% ) or
delayed with a probability of 0.75. After a packet is reordered, the process restarts i.e.
the next 4 packets are delayed and subsequent packets are sent immediately or delayed
based on reordering probability. To cause a repeatable pattern where every 5th packet is
reordered reliably, a reorder probability of 100% can be used.
reorder 25% 50%
in this second example 25% of packets are sent immediately (with correlation of 50%) while
the others are delayed by 10 ms.
rate
delay packets based on packet size and is a replacement for TBF. Rate can be specified in
common units (e.g. 100kbit). Optional PACKETOVERHEAD (in bytes) specify an per packet
overhead and can be negative. A positive value can be used to simulate additional link
layer headers. A negative value can be used to artificial strip the Ethernet header (e.g.
-14) and/or simulate a link layer header compression scheme. The third parameter - an
unsigned value - specify the cellsize. Cellsize can be used to simulate link layer
schemes. ATM for example has an payload cellsize of 48 bytes and 5 byte per cell header.
If a packet is 50 byte then ATM must use two cells: 2 * 48 bytes payload including 2 * 5
byte header, thus consume 106 byte on the wire. The last optional value CELLOVERHEAD can
be used to specify per cell overhead - for our ATM example 5. CELLOVERHEAD can be
negative, but use negative values with caution.
Note that rate throttling is limited by several factors: the kernel clock granularity
avoid a perfect shaping at a specific level. This will show up in an artificial packet
compression (bursts). Another influence factor are network adapter buffers which can also
add artificial delay.
slot
defer delivering accumulated packets to within a slot. Each available slot can be
configured with a minimum delay to acquire, and an optional maximum delay. Alternatively
it can be configured with the distribution similar to distribution for delay option. Slot
delays can be specified in nanoseconds, microseconds, milliseconds or seconds (e.g.
800us). Values for the optional parameters BYTES will limit the number of bytes delivered
per slot, and/or PACKETS will limit the number of packets delivered per slot.
These slot options can provide a crude approximation of bursty MACs such as DOCSIS, WiFi,
and LTE.
Note that slotting is limited by several factors: the kernel clock granularity, as with a
rate, and attempts to deliver many packets within a slot will be smeared by the timer
resolution, and by the underlying native bandwidth also.
It is possible to combine slotting with a rate, in which case complex behaviors where
either the rate, or the slot limits on bytes or packets per slot, govern the actual
delivered rate.
LIMITATIONS
The main known limitation of Netem are related to timer granularity, since Linux is not a
real-time operating system.
EXAMPLES
tc qdisc add dev eth0 root netem rate 5kbit 20 100 5
delay all outgoing packets on device eth0 with a rate of 5kbit, a per packet overhead
of 20 byte, a cellsize of 100 byte and a per celloverhead of 5 byte:
SOURCES
1. Hemminger S. , "Network Emulation with NetEm", Open Source Development Lab, April 2005
(http://devresources.linux-foundation.org/shemminger/netem/LCA2005_paper.pdf)
2. Netem page from Linux foundation, (https://wiki.linuxfoundation.org/networking/netem)
3. Salsano S., Ludovici F., Ordine A., "Definition of a general and intuitive loss model
for packet networks and its implementation in the Netem module in the Linux kernel",
available at http://netgroup.uniroma2.it/NetemCLG
SEE ALSO
tc(8), tc-tbf(8)
AUTHOR
Netem was written by Stephen Hemminger at Linux foundation and is based on NISTnet. This
manpage was created by Fabio Ludovici <fabio.ludovici at yahoo dot it> and Hagen Paul
Pfeifer <hagen@jauu.net>