Running a Speed/Bandwidth Test on a Linux Server

You can easily test the speed and bandwidth of your Linux server, since the control panels like Plesk or Control Panel offer no utility do to a speed test.

Recommended Method: Using speedtest-cli

speedtest-cli is a widely used command-line tool that tests your server’s internet speed using Speedtest.net servers. Here’s how you can use it:

Installation

• For most Linux distributions, you can install speedtest-cli via pip:textpip install speedtest-cli Or, you can download the script directly:textwget -O speedtest-cli https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sivel/speedtest-cli/master/speedtest.py chmod +x speedtest-cli

Running the Test

• To run a basic speed test:text./speedtest-cli or, if installed via pip:textspeedtest-cli
• This will display your server’s download and upload speeds, as well as latency679.

Additional Options

• To list available Speedtest.net servers:textspeedtest-cli --list
• To test against a specific server:textspeedtest-cli --server [server_id]
• To output results in JSON (useful for logging or automation):textspeedtest-cli --json

Alternative Tools

• fast: Another simple tool for quick speed checks. Download and run as follows:textwget https://github.com/ddo/fast/releases/download/v0.0.4/fast_linux_amd64 -O fast chmod +x fast ./fast This provides a quick download speed test1.
• cspeedtest: For a quick, approximate test between your terminal and the server, you can use cspeedtest5. Install it on your server, SSH in, and run:textcspeedtest

Viewing Bandwidth Usage in Plesk

If you want to check your hosting account’s bandwidth usage (not real-time speed), you can do so directly in Plesk:

• Log in to Plesk.
• Go to the Statistics tab on the left sidebar.
• Here, you’ll find current disk space and bandwidth usage, including detailed traffic per service (FTP, HTTPS, etc.)4.

Summary

• For real-time speed/bandwidth testing, use speedtest-cli or fast from the Linux command line.
• For historical or current bandwidth usage statistics, use the Plesk Statistics section.

These methods are safe to use alongside Plesk and do not interfere with its operation461.