Server Speed Tests

This guide shows how to measure your server's bandwidth on the command line with wget and iperf3. Use it to check whether your VPS (100 Mbit/s flat rate) or Dedicated Server (up to 1 Gbit/s) reaches its contracted transfer rate.

How Server Speed Tests Work

Unlike consumer speed tests that run through a web browser, server speed tests measure the raw connection speed by downloading large files via the command line — unaffected by browser or application limits.

Download Speed

The server downloads a large test file (e.g. 1 GB). Using -O /dev/null discards the file immediately — so disk speed never affects the result.

Upload Speed

Upload is best measured with iperf3. Alternatively, download a large file from your server to your local PC via FTP or SCP — the speed shown locally equals your server's upload.

Speed Test Commands

Run the following commands on your server to test the download speed against our test endpoints in Europe and the USA.

Endpoint Frankfurt (Germany) — Download Test

wget -O /dev/null http://speedtest.frankfurt.de.velia.net/1000.data

Endpoint St. Louis (USA) — Download Test

wget -4 -O /dev/null http://speedtest.stlouis.us.velia.net/1000.data

Testing in Rescue Mode

If your speed seems lower than expected, repeat the test in Rescue Mode to rule out OS-level issues.

Excluding operating system issues:

Full speed in Rescue Mode but not in normal operation points to a configuration issue within your OS — such as firewall rules, traffic shaping, or incorrect network settings — rather than a hardware or data center problem.

Advanced: Testing with iperf3

iperf3 is the industry-standard tool for accurate, bidirectional bandwidth measurement. You need it installed on both your server and a second host.

1.Install iperf3 on both hosts

2.Start server mode on the second host: iperf3 -s

3.Run the test from your server using the commands below

Download Test

iperf3 — Download

iperf3 -c TARGET_IP_ADDRESS -t 10 -R

Upload Test

iperf3 — Upload

iperf3 -c TARGET_IP_ADDRESS -t 10

Speed lower than expected?

If your results are consistently below the contracted rate, our support team is happy to investigate — open a ticket in your PowerPanel.

Open a Support Ticket