1 Impact of SpectreAndMeltdown Patches
2 ====================================
4 Following sections list changes to VPP throughput performance after
5 applying patches addressing security vulnerabilities referred to as:
6 Meltdown (Variant3: Rogue Data Cache Load) and Spectre (Variant1: Bounds
7 Check Bypass; Variant2: Branch Target Injection) security
8 vulnerabilities. Incremental kernel patches for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS as
10 `Ubuntu SpectreAndMeltdown page <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SecurityTeam/KnowledgeBase/SpectreAndMeltdown>`_.
11 For Spectre additional Processor microcode and BIOS firmware changes are
12 applied. Detailed listing of used software versions and patches is
13 documented in :ref:`test_environment`.
15 NDR and PDR packet throughput results are compared for 1-core/1-thread,
16 2-cores/2-threads and 4-cores/4-threads VPP configurations, with
17 reference performance numbers coming from tests without the Meltdown
18 patches. Tables show test results grouped into Best 20 changes (minimal
19 performance impact), followed by Worst 20 changes (maximal performance
20 impact). All results are also provided in downloadable CSV and pretty
23 NDR Throughput: Best 20 Changes
24 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
30 :file: ../../../../_build/_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-ndr-1t1c-top.csv
38 perfimprovements column width/.style={after head=\csv@pretable\begin{longtable}{m{4cm} m{#1} m{#1} m{#1} m{#1} m{#1}}\csv@tablehead},
43 \csvautobooklongtable[separator=comma,
45 no check column count,
46 perfimprovements column width=1cm,
47 late after line={\\\hline},
48 late after last line={\end{longtable}}
49 ]{../_build/_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-ndr-1t1c-top.csv}
52 NDR Throughput: Worst 20 Changes
53 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
59 :file: ../../../../_build/_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-ndr-1t1c-bottom.csv
67 perfimprovements column width/.style={after head=\csv@pretable\begin{longtable}{m{4cm} m{#1} m{#1} m{#1} m{#1} m{#1}}\csv@tablehead},
72 \csvautobooklongtable[separator=comma,
74 no check column count,
75 perfimprovements column width=1cm,
76 late after line={\\\hline},
77 late after last line={\end{longtable}}
78 ]{../_build/_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-ndr-1t1c-bottom.csv}
83 NDR Throughput: All Changes
84 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
86 Complete results for all NDR tests are available in a CSV and pretty
89 - `csv format for 1t1c <../../_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-ndr-1t1c-full.csv>`_,
90 - `csv format for 2t2c <../../_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-ndr-2t2c-full.csv>`_,
91 - `csv format for 4t4c <../../_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-ndr-4t4c-full.csv>`_,
92 - `pretty ASCII format for 1t1c <../../_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-ndr-1t1c-full.txt>`_,
93 - `pretty ASCII format for 2t2c <../../_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-ndr-2t2c-full.txt>`_,
94 - `pretty ASCII format for 4t4c <../../_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-ndr-4t4c-full.txt>`_.
96 PDR Throughput: Best 20 Changes
97 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
103 :file: ../../../../_build/_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-pdr-1t1c-top.csv
111 perfimprovements column width/.style={after head=\csv@pretable\begin{longtable}{m{4cm} m{#1} m{#1} m{#1} m{#1} m{#1}}\csv@tablehead},
116 \csvautobooklongtable[separator=comma,
118 no check column count,
119 perfimprovements column width=1cm,
120 late after line={\\\hline},
121 late after last line={\end{longtable}}
122 ]{../_build/_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-pdr-1t1c-top.csv}
125 PDR Throughput: Worst 20 Changes
126 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
132 :file: ../../../../_build/_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-pdr-1t1c-bottom.csv
140 perfimprovements column width/.style={after head=\csv@pretable\begin{longtable}{m{4cm} m{#1} m{#1} m{#1} m{#1} m{#1}}\csv@tablehead},
145 \csvautobooklongtable[separator=comma,
147 no check column count,
148 perfimprovements column width=1cm,
149 late after line={\\\hline},
150 late after last line={\end{longtable}}
151 ]{../_build/_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-pdr-1t1c-bottom.csv}
156 PDR Throughput: All Changes
157 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
159 Complete results for all PDR tests are available in a CSV and pretty
162 - `csv format for 1t1c <../../_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-pdr-1t1c-full.csv>`_,
163 - `csv format for 2t2c <../../_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-pdr-2t2c-full.csv>`_,
164 - `csv format for 4t4c <../../_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-pdr-4t4c-full.csv>`_,
165 - `pretty ASCII format for 1t1c <../../_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-pdr-1t1c-full.txt>`_,
166 - `pretty ASCII format for 2t2c <../../_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-pdr-2t2c-full.txt>`_,
167 - `pretty ASCII format for 4t4c <../../_static/vpp/meltdown-spectre-impact-pdr-4t4c-full.txt>`_.