docs/report/testpmd_performance_tests_hw/overview.rst

   1 Overview
   2 ========
   3
   4 Tested Topologies HW
   5 --------------------
   6
   7 CSIT Testpmd performance tests are executed on physical baremetal servers hosted
   8 by LF FD.io project. Testbed physical topology is shown in the figure below.
   9
  10 ::
  11
  12     +------------------------+           +------------------------+
  13     |                        |           |                        |
  14     |  +------------------+  |           |  +------------------+  |
  15     |  |                  |  |           |  |                  |  |
  16     |  |                  <----------------->                  |  |
  17     |  |       DUT1       |  |           |  |       DUT2       |  |
  18     |  +--^---------------+  |           |  +---------------^--+  |
  19     |     |                  |           |                  |     |
  20     |     |            SUT1  |           |  SUT2            |     |
  21     +------------------------+           +------------------^-----+
  22           |                                                 |
  23           |                                                 |
  24           |                  +-----------+                  |
  25           |                  |           |                  |
  26           +------------------>    TG     <------------------+
  27                              |           |
  28                              +-----------+
  29
  30 SUT1 and SUT2 are two System Under Test servers (currently Cisco UCS C240,
  31 each with two Intel XEON CPUs), TG is a Traffic Generator (TG, currently
  32 another Cisco UCS C240, with two Intel XEON CPUs). SUTs run Testpmd SW
  33 application in Linux user-mode as a Device Under Test (DUT). TG runs TRex SW
  34 application as a packet Traffic Generator. Physical connectivity between SUTs
  35 and to TG is provided using direct links (no L2 switches) connecting different
  36 NIC models that need to be tested for performance. Currently installed and
  37 tested NIC models include:
  38
  39 #. 2port10GE X520-DA2 Intel.
  40 #. 2port10GE X710 Intel.
  41 #. 2port10GE VIC1227 Cisco.
  42 #. 2port40GE VIC1385 Cisco.
  43 #. 2port40GE XL710 Intel.
  44
  45 Detailed LF FD.io test bed specification and topology is described in
  46 `wiki CSIT LF testbed <https://wiki.fd.io/view/CSIT/CSIT_LF_testbed>`_.
  47
  48 Testing Summary
  49 ---------------
  50
  51 Performance tests are split into the two main categories:
  52
  53 - Throughput discovery - discovery of packet forwarding rate using binary search
  54   in accordance with RFC2544.
  55
  56   - NDR - discovery of Non Drop Rate packet throughput, at zero packet loss;
  57     followed by packet one-way latency measurements at 10%, 50% and 100% of
  58     discovered NDR throughput.
  59   - PDR - discovery of Partial Drop Rate, with specified non-zero packet loss
  60     currently set to 0.5%; followed by packet one-way latency measurements at
  61     100% of discovered PDR throughput.
  62
  63 - Throughput verification - verification of packet forwarding rate against
  64   previously discovered NDR throughput. These tests are currently done against
  65   0.9 of reference NDR, with reference rates updated periodically.
  66
  67 CSIT |release| includes following performance test suites, listed per NIC type:
  68
  69 - 2port10GE X520-DA2 Intel
  70
  71   - **L2IntLoop** - L2 Interface Loop forwarding any Ethernet frames between
  72     two Interfaces.
  73
  74 Execution of performance tests takes time, especially the throughput discovery
  75 tests. Due to limited HW testbed resources available within FD.io labs hosted
  76 by Linux Foundation, the number of tests for NICs other than X520 (a.k.a.
  77 Niantic) has been limited to few baseline tests. Over time we expect the HW
  78 testbed resources to grow, and will be adding complete set of performance
  79 tests for all models of hardware to be executed regularly and(or)
  80 continuously.