flame - Man Page

flame – DNS performance and functional testing utility

Synopsis

flame [options] target [generator-options]

flame --help

flame --version

Flamethrower is a small, fast, configurable tool for functional testing, benchmarking, and stress testing DNS servers and networks. It supports IPv4, IPv6, UDP, TCP, and DoT and has a modular system for generating queries used in the tests.

Originally built as an alternative to dnsperf (https://github.com/DNS-OARC/dnsperf), many of the command line options are compatible.

Target

Target can be either an IP address or host name which will be resolved first.

Options

-b BIND_IP: IP address to bind to. Default is 0.0.0.0 for inet or ::0 for inet6.
-q QCOUNT: Number of queries to send every DELAY_MS interval. Default is 10. For DoH this specifies the number of concurrent HTTP/2 streams. If this number is larger than the maximum number of concurrent streams supported by the DoH server (100 for most), timeouts will happen.
-c TCOUNT: Number of concurrent traffic generators per process. Default is 10.
-p PORT: Which port to flame. Default is 53 for UDP/TCP, 443 for DoH and 853 for DoT.
-d DELAY_MS: Delay between each traffic generator’s run in milliseconds. Default is 1.
-r RECORD: The base record to use as the query for generators. Default is test.com.
-T QTYPE: The query type to use for generators. Default is A.
-o FILE: Metrics output file in JSON format.
-l LIMIT_SECS: Traffic generation limit in seconds. 0 for unlimited. Default is 0.
-t TIMEOUT: Query timeout in seconds. Default is 3.
-F ( inet | inet6 ): Internet family. Default is inet.
-f FILE: Read records from a file, one per row, QNAME and QTYPE. Used with the file generator.
-n LOOP: Number of loops in the record list, 0 is unlimited. Default is 1.
-R: Randomize the query list before sending. Default is false.
-P ( udp | tcp | dot | doh ): Protocol to use. Default is udp.
-M ( GET | POST ): HTTP method to use for DNS over HTTPS. Default is GET.
-Q QPS: Rate limit to a maximum queries per second, 0 is unlimited. Default is 0.
-g GENERATOR: Query generator to use. The generators and their options are described in a separate section. Default is static.
-v VERBOSITY: Output verbosity, 0 is silent. Default is 1.
--dnssec: Send queries with DNSSEC OK flag set. Default is false.
--class CLASS: Send queries with given DNS class. Default is IN.
--qps-flow: Change rate limit over time, format: QPS,MS;QPS,MS;...

Generators

Flamethrower uses a modular system for generating queries. Each module may include its own list of configuration options which can be set via KEY=VALUE pairs on the command line via generator-options.

static

The generator sends the same query for a QNAME and QTYPE specified via the -r and -t options. It doesn’t use generator options.

file

The generator reads dnsperf-compatible input file containing QNAME and QTYPE pairs on individual lines. The name and type is separated by a space. The input file is specified via the -f option. File generator doesn’t use generator options.

numberqname

The generator sends queries to one-label subdomain with a number for a record specified with -r. The generator uses following generator options:

low - Lowest numeric value to write into the label. Default is 0.
high - Highest number value to write into the label. Default is 100000.

randompkt

The generator sends random chunks of data and uses following generator options:

count - number of chunks (packets) to generate. Default is 1000.
size - maximal size of the chunk in bytes. Default is 600.

randomqname

The generator sends queries to random subdomains of the record specified with -r. The subdomains may contain binary (non-printable characters) including zero byte. The following generator options are available:

count - number of queries to generate. Default is 100.
size - maximum length of the added label(s). Default is 255.

randomlabel

The generator sends queries to random subdomains of the record specified with -r. The subdomains may contain only characters valid in a DNS names. The following generator options are available:

count - number of queries to generate. Default is 1000.
lblsize - maximum length of a single added label. Default is 10.
lblcount - maximum number of labels to add. Default is 5.

Examples

Flame localhost over IPv4 on UDP port 53, use default static generator sending test.com/A queries, no QPS limit, terminate after 10 seconds:

$ flame -l 10 localhost

Flame target.example.test over IPv6 on TCP port 5300 with default generator and no QPS limit:

$ flame -p 5300 -P tcp -F inet6 target.example.test

Flame target.example.test over IPv4 on UDP port 53 with 10 q/s limit, send AAAA type queries for random one-label subdomains of example.test, limit the query speed to 10 q/s, terminate after 1000 queries:

$ flame -Q 10 -r example.test -t AAAA -g randomlabel target.example.test lblsize=10 lblcount=1 count=1000