Report: update Hoststack release notes
[csit.git] / docs / report / vpp_performance_tests / csit_release_notes.rst
index fb5737c..2e4377f 100644 (file)
-CSIT Release Notes\r
-==================\r
-\r
-Changes in CSIT |release|\r
--------------------------\r
-\r
-#. **VPP performance tests**\r
-\r
-   - *MRR tests* - New Maximum Receive Rate tests measure the packet\r
-     forwarding rate under the maximum load offered by traffic\r
-     generator over a set trial duration, regardless of packet loss.\r
-     MRR tests are used for continuous performance trending and for\r
-     comparison between releases.\r
-\r
-   - *Service Chaining with SRv6* - New SRv6 (Segment Routing IPv6) proxy\r
-     tests measure performance of SRv6 Endpoint fronting SR-unaware\r
-     appliance via masquerading (End.AM), dynamic proxy (End.AD) or\r
-     static proxy (End.AS) SR functions.\r
-\r
-#. **Presentation and Analytics Layer**\r
-\r
-   - *Performance trending* - Added continuous performance trending and\r
-     analysis. New Performance Trending and Performance Analysis jobs\r
-     executed regular throughput tests, with results being subsequently\r
-     analysed and trend and anomalies summarized and presented in VPP\r
-     Performance Dashboard and trendline graphs.\r
-\r
-#. **Test Framework Optimizations**\r
-\r
-   - *Performance tests efficiency* - Qemu build/install optimizations,\r
-     warmup phase handling, vpp restart handling. Resulted in improved\r
-     stability and reduced total execution time by 30% for single pkt\r
-     size e.g. 64B/78B.\r
-\r
-   - *General code housekeeping* - ongoing RF keywords optimizations,\r
-     removal of redundant RF keywords.\r
-\r
-Performance Changes\r
--------------------\r
-\r
-Relative performance changes in measured packet throughput in CSIT\r
-|release| are calculated against the results from CSIT |release-1|\r
-report. Listed mean and standard deviation values are computed based on\r
-a series of the same tests executed against respective VPP releases to\r
-verify test results repeatibility, with percentage change calculated for\r
-mean values. Note that the standard deviation is quite high for a small\r
-number of packet throughput tests, what indicates poor test results\r
-repeatability and makes the relative change of mean throughput value not\r
-fully representative for these tests. The root causes behind poor\r
-results repeatibility vary between the test cases.\r
-\r
-NDR Changes\r
-~~~~~~~~~~~\r
-\r
-NDR small packet throughput changes between releases are available in a\r
-CSV and pretty ASCII formats:\r
-\r
-  - `csv format for 1t1c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-ndr-1t1c-full.csv>`_,\r
-  - `csv format for 2t2c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-ndr-2t2c-full.csv>`_,\r
-  - `pretty ASCII format for 1t1c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-ndr-1t1c-full.txt>`_,\r
-  - `pretty ASCII format for 2t2c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-ndr-2t2c-full.txt>`_.\r
-\r
-PDR Changes\r
-~~~~~~~~~~~\r
-\r
-NDR small packet throughput changes between releases are available in a\r
-CSV and pretty ASCII formats:\r
-\r
-  - `csv format for 1t1c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-pdr-1t1c-full.csv>`_,\r
-  - `csv format for 2t2c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-pdr-2t2c-full.csv>`_,\r
-  - `pretty ASCII format for 1t1c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-pdr-1t1c-full.txt>`_,\r
-  - `pretty ASCII format for 2t2c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-pdr-2t2c-full.txt>`_.\r
-\r
-MRR Changes\r
-~~~~~~~~~~~\r
-\r
-MRR small packet throughput changes between releases are available in a\r
-CSV and pretty ASCII formats:\r
-\r
-  - `csv format for 1t1c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-mrr-1t1c-full.csv>`_,\r
-  - `csv format for 2t2c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-mrr-2t2c-full.csv>`_,\r
-  - `csv format for 4t4c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-mrr-4t4c-full.csv>`_,\r
-  - `pretty ASCII format for 1t1c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-mrr-1t1c-full.txt>`_,\r
-  - `pretty ASCII format for 2t2c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-mrr-2t2c-full.txt>`_,\r
-  - `pretty ASCII format for 4t4c <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-mrr-4t4c-full.txt>`_.\r
-\r
-Throughput Trending\r
--------------------\r
-\r
-In addition to reporting throughput changes between VPP releases, CSIT\r
-provides continuous performance trending for VPP master branch:\r
-\r
-#. `VPP Performance Dashboard <https://docs.fd.io/csit/master/trending/introduction/index.html>`_\r
-   - per VPP test case throughput trend, trend compliance and summary of\r
-   detected anomalies.\r
-\r
-#. `Trending Methodology <https://docs.fd.io/csit/master/trending/methodology/index.html>`_\r
-   - throughput test metrics, trend calculations and anomaly\r
-   classification (progression, regression, outlier).\r
-\r
-#. `Trendline Graphs <https://docs.fd.io/csit/master/trending/trending/index.html>`_\r
-   - per VPP build MRR throughput measurements against the trendline\r
-   with anomaly highlights, with associated CSIT test jobs.\r
-\r
-Known Issues\r
-------------\r
-\r
-List of known issues in CSIT |release| for VPP performance tests:\r
-\r
-+---+-------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+\r
-| # | Issue                                           | Jira ID    | Description                                                     |\r
-+===+=================================================+============+=================================================================+\r
-| 1 | Sporadic (1 in 200) NDR discovery test failures | CSIT-570   | DPDK reporting rx-errors, indicating L1 issue. Suspected issue  |\r
-|   | on x520.                                        |            | with HW combination of X710-X520 in LF testbeds. Not observed   |\r
-|   |                                                 |            | outside of LF testbeds.                                         |\r
-+---+-------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+\r
-| 2 | Lower than expected NDR throughput of DPDK      | CSIT-571   | Suspected NIC firmware or DPDK driver issue affecting NDR and   |\r
-|   | testpmd and VPP L2 path NDR throughput with     |            | PDR throughput on XL710 and X710 NICs.                          |\r
-|   | xl710 and x710 NICs, compared to x520 NICs.     |            |                                                                 |\r
-+---+-------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+\r
-| 3 | Tagged Ethernet dot1q and dot1ad L2 path        | CSIT-1066  | Tagged Ethernet dot1q and dot1ad L2 path throughput regression: |\r
-|   | throughput regression.                          |            | NDR -2%..-5%, PDR -2%..-6%, MRR. Affects l2xc and l2bd          |\r
-|   |                                                 |            | performance tests.                                              |\r
-+---+-------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+\r
-| 4 | IPSec (software, no QAT HW) throughput          | CSIT-1064  | IPSec throughput regression: NDR -3%..-8%, PDR -2%..-8%, MRR    |\r
-|   | regression.                                     |            | -3%..-7%. Affects IPSec SW tests, QAT HW tests not affected.    |\r
-+---+-------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+\r
-| 5 | High failure rate of creating working container | CSIT-1065  | Orchestrated container topology tests failing data plane        |\r
-|   | topologies with K8s/Ligato orchestration.       |            | verification indicating configuration issue. Suspected issue    |\r
-|   |                                                 |            | with Ligato vpp-agent.                                          |\r
-+---+-------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+\r
+Release Notes
+=============
+
+Changes in |csit-release|
+-------------------------
+
+#. VPP PERFORMANCE TESTS
+
+   - **Intel Xeon 2n-skx, 3n-skx and 2n-clx testbeds**: VPP performance
+     test data is not included in this report version. This is due to
+     the lower performance and behaviour inconsistency of these
+     systems following the upgrade of processor microcode packages
+     (skx ucode 0x2000064, clx ucode 0x500002c), done as part of
+     updating Ubuntu 18.04 LTS kernel version. Tested VPP and DPDK
+     applications (L3fwd) are affected. Skx and Clx test data will be
+     added in subsequent maintenance report version(s) once the issue
+     is resolved. See :ref:`vpp_known_issues`.
+
+   - **Service density 2n-skx tests**: Added new NF density tests with
+     IPsec encryption between DUTs.
+
+   - **AVF tests**: Full test coveraged based on code changes in CSIT
+     core layer (driver/interface awareness) and generated by suite
+     generator (Intel Fortville NICs only).
+
+   - **Hoststack tests**: Major refactor of VPP Hoststack TCP/IP
+     performance tests using WRK generator talking to the VPP HTTP
+     static server plugin measuring connections per second and
+     requests per second. Added new iperf3 with LDPreload tests,
+     iperf3/LDPreload tests with packet loss induced via the VPP NSIM
+     (Network Simulator) plugin, and QUIC/UDP/IP transport tests.
+     All of the new tests measure goodput through the VPP Hoststack
+     from client to server.
+
+   - **Latency HDRHistogram**: Added High Dynamic Range Histogram
+     latency measurements based on the new capability in TRex traffic
+     generator. HDRH latency data presented in latency packet
+     percentile graphs and in detailed results tables.
+
+   - **Mellanox MCX556A-EDAT tests**: Added tests with Mellanox
+     ConnectX5-2p100GE NICs in 2n-clx testbeds using VPP native rdma
+     driver.
+
+   - **IPsec reconfiguration tests**: Added tests measuring the impact
+     of IPsec tunnels creations and removals.
+
+   - **Load Balancer tests**: Added VPP performance tests for Maglev,
+     L3DSR (Direct Server Return), Layer 4 Load Balancing NAT Mode.
+
+#. TEST FRAMEWORK
+
+   - **CSIT Python3 support**: Full migration of CSIT from Python2.7 to
+     Python3.6. This change includes library migration, PIP dependency
+     upgrade, CSIT container images, infrastructure packages
+     ugrade/installation.
+
+   - **CSIT PAPI support**: Finished conversion of CSIT VAT L1 keywords
+     to PAPI L1 KWs in CSIT using VPP Python bindings (VPP PAPI).
+     Redesign of key components of PAPI Socket Executor and PAPI
+     history. Due to issues with PAPI performance, VAT is still used
+     in CSIT for all VPP scale tests. See known issues below.
+
+   - **Test Suite Generator**: Added capability to generate suites for
+     different drivers per NIC model including DPDK, AVF, RDMA.
+     Extended coverage for all tests.
+
+   - **General Code Housekeeping**: Ongoing RF keywords optimizations,
+     removal of redundant RF keywords and aligning of suite/test
+     setup/teardowns.
+
+
+#. PRESENTATION AND ANALYTICS LAYER
+
+   - **Graphs layout improvements**: Improved performance graphs layout
+     for better readibility and maintenance: test grouping, axis
+     labels, descriptions, other informative decoration.
+
+   - **Latency graphs**: Min/Avg/Max group bar latency graphs are
+     replaced with packet latency percentile distributon at different
+     background packet loads based on TRex latency hdrhistogram
+     measurements.
+
+..
+    // Alternative Note for 1st Bullet when bad microcode Skx, Clx results are published
+    - **Intel Xeon 2n-skx, 3n-skx and 2n-clx testbeds**: VPP performance
+      test data is included in this report version, but it shows lower
+      performance and behaviour inconsistency of these systems
+      following the upgrade of processor microcode packages (skx ucode
+      0x2000064, clx ucode 0x500002c) as part of updating Ubuntu 18.04
+      LTS kernel version. Tested VPP and DPDK applications (L3fwd) are
+      affected. Skx and Clx test data will be corrected in subsequent
+      maintenance report version(s) once the issue is resolved. See
+      :ref:`vpp_known_issues`.
+
+.. raw:: latex
+
+    \clearpage
+
+.. _vpp_known_issues:
+
+Known Issues
+------------
+
+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  | `VPP-662                                | 9000B packets not supported by NICs VIC1227 and VIC1387.                                                  |
+|    | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/VPP-662>`_   |                                                                                                           |
++----+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| 3  | `CSIT-1498                              | Memif tests are sporadically failing on initialization of memif connection.                               |
+|    | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/CSIT-1498>`_ |                                                                                                           |
++----+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| 4  | `VPP-1677                               | 9000B ip4 nat44: VPP crash + coredump.                                                                    |
+|    | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/VPP-1677>`_  | VPP crashes very often in case that NAT44 is configured and it has to process IP4 jumbo frames (9000B).   |
++----+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| 5  | `CSIT-1591                              | All CSIT scale tests can not use PAPI due to much slower performance compared to VAT/CLI (it takes much   |
+|    | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/CSIT-1499>`_ | longer to program VPP). This needs to be addressed on the PAPI side.                                      |
+|    +-----------------------------------------+                                                                                                           |
+|    | `VPP-1763                               |                                                                                                           |
+|    | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/VPP-1763>`_  |                                                                                                           |
++----+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| 6  | `VPP-1675                               | IPv4 IPSEC 9000B packet tests are failing as no packet is forwarded.                                      |
+|    | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/VPP-1675>`_  | Reason: chained buffers are not supported.                                                                |
++----+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| 7  | `CSIT-1593                              | IPv4 AVF 9000B packet tests are failing on 3n-skx while passing on 2n-skx.                                |
+|    | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/CSIT-1593>`_ |                                                                                                           |
++----+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| 8  | `CSIT-1675                              | Intel Xeon 2n-skx, 3n-skx and 2n-clx testbeds behaviour and performance became inconsistent following     |
+|    | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/CSIT-1675>`_ | the upgrade to the latest Ubuntu 18.04 LTS kernel version (4.15.0-72-generic) and associated microcode    |
+|    |                                         | packages (skx ucode 0x2000064, clx ucode 0x500002c). VPP as well as DPDK L3fwd tests are affected.        |
++----+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+