-CSIT Release Notes
-==================
+Release Notes
+=============
-Changes in CSIT |release|
+Changes in |csit-release|
-------------------------
-#. **VPP performance tests**
+#. VPP PERFORMANCE TESTS
- - *MRR tests* - New Maximum Receive Rate tests measure the packet
- forwarding rate under the maximum load offered by traffic
- generator over a set trial duration, regardless of packet loss.
- MRR tests are used for continuous performance trending and for
- comparison between releases.
+ - **MRR Throughput**: MRR (Maximum Receive Rate) test code has now
+ configurable trial duration and number of consecutive executions.
+ Coverage of MRR tests has been extended across more test
+ scenarios. MRR tests are used for continuous performance trending
+ and for comparison between VPP releases.
- - *Service Chaining with SRv6* - New SRv6 (Segment Routing IPv6) proxy
- tests measure performance of SRv6 Endpoint fronting SR-unaware
- appliance via masquerading (End.AM), dynamic proxy (End.AD) or
- static proxy (End.AS) SR functions.
+ - **MLRsearch Throughput**: MLRsearch algorithm has been introduced
+ for all NDR and PDR throughput tests. All tests that previously
+ used binary search got converted to MLRsearch. Coverage of NDR/PDR
+ tests has been extended across more test scenarios.
-#. **Presentation and Analytics Layer**
+ - **L2patch Tests**: Tests measure performance of VPP L2patch, the
+ fastest L2 forwarding path implemented in VPP, that cross-links
+ RX and TX of two physical interfaces.
- - *Performance trending* - Added continuous performance trending and
- analysis. New Performance Trending and Performance Analysis jobs
- executed regular throughput tests, with results being subsequently
- analysed and trend and anomalies summarized and presented in VPP
- Performance Dashboard and trendline graphs.
+ - **2-Node Tests**: A new baseline set of 2-node tests covering base
+ ip4, ip6, l2patch, l2bd, l2xc, running on new Xeon Skylake
+ testbeds.
-#. **Test Framework Optimizations**
+ - **Generated tests**: Simplified and unified test structure, semi-
+ autogenerated by generator script. Test generator is currently
+ able to create test combinations with various frame size and
+ cores combinations. All existing test cases were converted to new
+ format.
- - *Performance tests efficiency* - Qemu build/install optimizations,
- warmup phase handling, vpp restart handling. Resulted in improved
- stability and reduced total execution time by 30% for single pkt
- size e.g. 64B/78B.
+ - **Simultaneous Multi-Threading**: SMT-aware detection of server
+ processor operation mode (HyperThreading enabled/disabled) with
+ associated compute resource configuration including thread
+ affinity, number of Rx queues and DPDK I/O mbufs. Tests are
+ automatically tagged during execution to indicate executed thread
+ configuration.
- - *General code housekeeping* - ongoing RF keywords optimizations,
- removal of redundant RF keywords.
-
-Performance Changes
--------------------
-
-Relative performance changes in measured packet throughput in CSIT
-|release| are calculated against the results from CSIT |release-1|
-report. Listed mean and standard deviation values are computed based on
-a series of the same tests executed against respective VPP releases to
-verify test results repeatibility, with percentage change calculated for
-mean values. Note that the standard deviation is quite high for a small
-number of packet throughput tests, what indicates poor test results
-repeatability and makes the relative change of mean throughput value not
-fully representative for these tests. The root causes behind poor
-results repeatibility vary between the test cases.
-
-NDR Changes
-~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-NDR small packet throughput changes between releases are available in a
-CSV and pretty ASCII formats:
-
- - `csv format for 1t1c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-ndr-1t1c-full.csv>`_,
- - `csv format for 2t2c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-ndr-2t2c-full.csv>`_,
- - `pretty ASCII format for 1t1c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-ndr-1t1c-full.txt>`_,
- - `pretty ASCII format for 2t2c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-ndr-2t2c-full.txt>`_.
-
-.. note::
-
- Test results have been generated by
- `FD.io test executor vpp performance jobs`_ with Robot Framework result
- files csit-vpp-perf-|srelease|-\*.zip `archived here <../_static/archive/>`_.
-
-PDR Changes
-~~~~~~~~~~~
+ - **Intel Xeon Skylake Support**: Support for 2-Node and 3-Node
+ physical testbed topologies based on the new SuperMirco servers
+ each with two Intel Xeon Skylake Platinum processors. Full
+ Ansible playbooks refactor for quick server (re)installation and
+ reference pointers of configuration.
-NDR small packet throughput changes between releases are available in a
-CSV and pretty ASCII formats:
+#. PRESENTATION AND ANALYTICS LAYER
- - `csv format for 1t1c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-pdr-1t1c-full.csv>`_,
- - `csv format for 2t2c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-pdr-2t2c-full.csv>`_,
- - `pretty ASCII format for 1t1c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-pdr-1t1c-full.txt>`_,
- - `pretty ASCII format for 2t2c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-pdr-2t2c-full.txt>`_.
+ - **Performance trending**: Further improvements of continuous
+ performance trending, anomaly detection and analysis.
-.. note::
+#. TEST FRAMEWORK OPTIMIZATIONS
- Test results have been generated by
- `FD.io test executor vpp performance jobs`_ with Robot Framework result
- files csit-vpp-perf-|srelease|-\*.zip `archived here <../_static/archive/>`_.
-
-MRR Changes
-~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-MRR small packet throughput changes between releases are available in a
-CSV and pretty ASCII formats:
-
- - `csv format for 1t1c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-mrr-1t1c-full.csv>`_,
- - `csv format for 2t2c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-mrr-2t2c-full.csv>`_,
- - `csv format for 4t4c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-mrr-4t4c-full.csv>`_,
- - `pretty ASCII format for 1t1c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-mrr-1t1c-full.txt>`_,
- - `pretty ASCII format for 2t2c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-mrr-2t2c-full.txt>`_,
- - `pretty ASCII format for 4t4c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-mrr-4t4c-full.txt>`_.
-
-.. note::
-
- Test results have been generated by
- `FD.io test executor vpp mrr jobs <https://jenkins.fd.io/view/csit/job/csit-vpp-perf-mrr-daily-master/>`_
- with Robot Framework result files csit-vpp-perf-mrr-daily-master__*__output.xml.gz
- `archived here <https://docs.fd.io/csit/master/trending/_static/archive/>`_.
-
-Throughput Trending
--------------------
-
-In addition to reporting throughput changes between VPP releases, CSIT
-provides continuous performance trending for VPP master branch:
+ - **General Code Housekeeping**: Ongoing RF keywords optimizations,
+ removal of redundant RF keywords.
-#. `VPP Performance Dashboard <https://docs.fd.io/csit/master/trending/introduction/index.html>`_
- - per VPP test case throughput trend, trend compliance and summary of
- detected anomalies.
+.. raw:: latex
-#. `Trending Methodology <https://docs.fd.io/csit/master/trending/methodology/index.html>`_
- - throughput test metrics, trend calculations and anomaly
- classification (progression, regression, outlier).
+ \clearpage
-#. `Trendline Graphs <https://docs.fd.io/csit/master/trending/trending/index.html>`_
- - per VPP build MRR throughput measurements against the trendline
- with anomaly highlights, with associated CSIT test jobs.
+.. _vpp_known_issues:
Known Issues
------------
-List of known issues in CSIT |release| for VPP performance tests:
-
-+---+-------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
-| # | Issue | Jira ID | Description |
-+===+=================================================+============+=================================================================+
-| 1 | Sporadic (1 in 200) NDR discovery test failures | CSIT-570 | DPDK reporting rx-errors, indicating L1 issue. Suspected issue |
-| | on x520. | | with HW combination of X710-X520 in LF testbeds. Not observed |
-| | | | outside of LF testbeds. |
-+---+-------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
-| 2 | Lower than expected NDR throughput of DPDK | CSIT-571 | Suspected NIC firmware or DPDK driver issue affecting NDR and |
-| | testpmd and VPP L2 path NDR throughput with | | PDR throughput on XL710 and X710 NICs. |
-| | xl710 and x710 NICs, compared to x520 NICs. | | |
-+---+-------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
-| 3 | Tagged Ethernet dot1q and dot1ad L2 path | CSIT-1066 | Tagged Ethernet dot1q and dot1ad L2 path throughput regression: |
-| | throughput regression. | | NDR -2%..-5%, PDR -2%..-6%, MRR. Affects l2xc and l2bd |
-| | | | performance tests. |
-+---+-------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
-| 4 | IPSec (software, no QAT HW) throughput | CSIT-1064 | IPSec throughput regression: NDR -3%..-8%, PDR -2%..-8%, MRR |
-| | regression. | | -3%..-7%. Affects IPSec SW tests, QAT HW tests not affected. |
-+---+-------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
-| 5 | High failure rate of creating working container | CSIT-1065 | About 20% of orchestrated container topology tests failing data |
-| | topologies with K8s/Ligato orchestration. | | plane verification indicating configuration issue. Suspected |
-| | | | issue with Ligato vpp-agent. |
-+---+-------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+List of known issues in |csit-release| for VPP performance tests:
+
++----+-----------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| # | JiraID | Issue Description |
++====+=========================================+=================================================================================================================================+
+| 1 | `CSIT-570 | Sporadic (1 in 200) NDR discovery test failures on x520. DPDK reporting rx-errors, indicating L1 issue. |
+| | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/CSIT-570>`_ | Suspected issue with HW combination of X710-X520 in LF testbeds. Not observed outside of LF testbeds. |
++----+-----------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| 2 | `CSIT-1234 | VPP IPSecHW scale interface mode 1core, low NDR and PDR 64B throughput in 3n-hsw testbeds, in CSIT-18.07 vs. CSIT-18.04. |
+| | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/CSIT-1234>`_ | ip4ipsecscale1000tnl-ip4base-int 1core CSIT-18.07/18.04 relative change: NDR -31%, PDR -32%, MRR -38%. |
++----+-----------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| 3 | `CSIT-1242 | VPP xl710 ip4base test 1core, low NDR and PDR 64B throughput in 3n-hsw testbeds, in CSIT-18.07 vs. CSIT-18.04. |
+| | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/CSIT-1242>`_ | xl710 ip4base 1core CSIT-18.07/18.04 relative change: NDR -29%, high stdev. |
++----+-----------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| 4 | `CSIT-1243 | VPP nat44 base test 2core, low NDR and PDR 64B throughput in 3n-skx testbeds, compared to 3n-hsw testbeds. |
+| | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/CSIT-1243>`_ | ip4base-nat44 2core 3n-skx/3n-hsw relative change: NDR -19%, PDR -22%. |
++----+-----------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| 5 | `CSIT-1245 | VPP srv6proxy-stat and srv6proxy-masq, much higher NDR and PDR 78B throughput in 3n-hsw testbeds, in CSIT-18.07 vs. CSIT-18.04. |
+| | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/CSIT-1245>`_ | Due to wrong test suite configuration in dynamic-proxy mode. Artefact of suite code refactoring. |
++----+-----------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| 6 | `CSIT-1246 | Ligato K8S orchestrated tests are failing due to incompatibility of the latest released Ligato vpp-agent with VPP-18.07. |
+| | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/CSIT-1246>`_ | Past vpp-agent releases are not compatible either. |
++----+-----------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| 7 | `CSIT-1253 | VPP lbdpdk link bonding tests failing due to interfaces not coming up. |
+| | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/CSIT-1253>`_ | VPP lbdpdk link bonding tests relying on DPDK functionality for bonding fail. |
++----+-----------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+