Linux Benchmarking - Concepts

by André D. Balsa, andrewbalsa@usa.net, with corrections and contributions by Uwe F. Mayer, mayer@math.vanderbilt.edu and David C. Niemi, bench@wauug.erols.com

v0.4, 21 September 1997

This is the first article in a series of 4 articles on Linux Benchmarking, to be published by the Linux Gazette. This article deals with the fundamental concepts in computer benchmarking, as they apply to the Linux OS. An example of a classic benchmark, "Whetstone", is analyzed in more detail.

1. Basic concepts and definitions

1.1 Benchmark
1.2 Benchmark results
1.3 Index figures
1.4 Performance metrics
1.5 Elapsed wall-clock time vs. CPU time
1.6 Resolution and precision
1.7 Synthetic benchmark
1.8 Application benchmark
1.9 Relevance

2. A variety of benchmarks

3. FPU tests: Whetstone and Sons, Ltd.

3.1 Whetstone history and general features
3.2 Getting the source and compiling it
3.3 Running Whetstone and gathering results
3.4 Examining the source code, the object code and interpreting the results

Linux Benchmarking - Concepts

by André D. Balsa, andrewbalsa@usa.net, with corrections and contributions by Uwe F. Mayer, mayer@math.vanderbilt.edu and David C. Niemi, bench@wauug.erols.com

1. Basic concepts and definitions

2. A variety of benchmarks

3. FPU tests: Whetstone and Sons, Ltd.

4. References

5. Next month