X-Git-Url: https://gerrit.fd.io/r/gitweb?a=blobdiff_plain;f=docs%2Freport%2Fintroduction%2Ftest_environment_intro.rst;h=3b7793f64499d8adbd4c879b16d3f603d91954e2;hb=30a988b35c6d66a11b5ec2f2c77c741dc942594e;hp=7c4d5dfc9f1ee6d74d0092351c8154b83b260aa1;hpb=bc42880dfa7c5d4c9abe8e6957e44752db10918e;p=csit.git

diff --git a/docs/report/introduction/test_environment_intro.rst b/docs/report/introduction/test_environment_intro.rst
index 7c4d5dfc9f..3b7793f644 100644
--- a/docs/report/introduction/test_environment_intro.rst
+++ b/docs/report/introduction/test_environment_intro.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,47 @@
 Test Environment
 ================
 
+Environment Versioning
+----------------------
+
+In order to determine any benchmark anomalies (progressions,
+regressions) between releases of a specific data-plane DUT application
+(e.g. VPP, DPDK), the DUT needs to be tested in the same test
+environment, to avoid test environment changes impacting the results and
+clouding the picture.
+
+In order to enable test system evolution, a mirror scheme is required to
+determine benchmarking anomalies between releases of specific test
+system like CSIT. This is achieved by testing the same DUT application
+version between releases of CSIT test system.
+
+CSIT test environment versioning scheme ensures integrity of all the
+test system components, including their HW revisions, compiled SW code
+versions and SW source code, within a specific CSIT version. Components
+included in the CSIT environment versioning include:
+
+- Server hosts hardware firmware and BIOS (motherboard, processsor,
+  NIC(s), accelerator card(s)).
+- Server host Linux operating system versions.
+- Server host Linux configuration.
+- TRex Traffic Generator version, drivers and configuration.
+- CSIT framework code.
+
+Following is the list of CSIT versions to date:
+
+- Ver. 1 associated with CSIT rls1908 git branch as of 2019-08-21.
+- Ver. 2 associated with CSIT rls2001 git branch as of 2020-03-27.
+- Ver. 3 interim associated with master branch as of 2020-xx-xx.
+- Ver. 4 associated with CSIT rls2005 git branch as of 2020-06-24.
+
+To identify performance changes due to VPP code changes from v20.01.0 to
+v20.05.0, both have been tested in CSIT environment ver. 4 and compared
+against each other. All substantial progressions has been marked up with
+RCA analysis. See Current vs Previous Release and Known Issues.
+
+CSIT environment ver. 4 has been evaluated against the ver. 2 by
+benchmarking VPP v20.01.0 in both environment versions.
+
 Physical Testbeds
 -----------------
 
@@ -15,8 +56,8 @@ topology types are used:
   server as TG both connected in ring topology.
 
 Tested SUT servers are based on a range of processors including Intel
-Xeon Haswell-SP, Intel Xeon Skylake-SP, Intel Xeon Cascade Lake-SP, Arm, Intel
-Atom. More detailed description is provided in
+Xeon Haswell-SP, Intel Xeon Skylake-SP, Intel Xeon Cascade Lake-SP, Arm,
+Intel Atom. More detailed description is provided in
 :ref:`tested_physical_topologies`. Tested logical topologies are
 described in :ref:`tested_logical_topologies`.