Timing NFS

[cdonawa]

I am trying to time how long it takes NFS to transfer a file from a file
server to a diskless workstation (this includes the time for me to run the
transferred file if it is a binary).  I am running benchmarks and need the
time for different file server load factors.

Originally I was going to write a small program that "started" my
stopwatch, made a system call 'system("binary_to_execute")', wait for NFS
to transfer the file to my workstation, and then stop the stopwatch when
the binary stopped executing.  However my stopwatch won't let me do this.

I am currently using getrusage() as my stopwatch.  It returns the user cpu
time (among other things) since the last getrusage call.  However, I want
total elapsed time, not user cpu time.  The difference is that getrusage()
does not 'tick' while the  program is blocked.  My little program that
calls system() is blocked until system() returns, but it is the time
elapsed during the system() call that is most important to me.

The closest I have come to a solution is to print out the time of day
before and after running my program.  But as one can imagine, the
granularity of the results leaves something to be desired (accuracy is to
the nearest second).

I am using SunOS 4.0.1.

Does anyone have any solutions or suggestions?

Thank you in advance,
Chris Donawa