RCA: Add CSIT-1789 as a known issue
[csit.git] / docs / report / vpp_performance_tests / csit_release_notes.rst
index 9c65143..72fd0a1 100644 (file)
+.. _vpp_performance_tests_release_notes:
+
 Release Notes
 =============
 
 Changes in |csit-release|
 -------------------------
 
-#. **VPP Performance Tests**
-
-   - **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.
-
-   - **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.
-
-   - **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.
-
-   - **2-Node Tests**: A new baseline set of 2-node tests covering base
-     ip4, ip6, l2patch, l2bd, l2xc, running on new Xeon Skylake
-     testbeds.
-
-   - **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.
-
-   - **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.
-
-   - **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.
-
-#. **Presentation and Analytics Layer**
-
-   - **Performance trending**: Further improved continuous performance
-     trending with anomaly detection and analysis.
-
-#. **Test Framework Optimizations**
-
-   - **General Code Housekeeping**: Ongoing RF keywords optimizations,
-     removal of redundant RF keywords.
-
-Performance Changes
--------------------
-
-Relative performance changes in measured NDR, PDR and MRR packet
-throughput in |csit-release| are calculated against the test results
-from |csit-release-1| report, for tests running on 3-Node Intel Xeon
-Haswell testbeds (3n-hsw) in 1-core, 2-core and 4-core (MRR only)
-configurations.
-
-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 repeatability, 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 repeatability vary between the test cases.
-
-NDR Changes
-~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-NDR throughput changes between releases are available in CSV and pretty
-ASCII formats:
-
-  - `CSV 1t1c NDR changes <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-1t1c-ndr.csv>`_,
-  - `CSV 2t2c NDR changes <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-2t2c-ndr.csv>`_,
-  - `ASCII 1t1c NDR changes <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-1t1c-ndr.txt>`_,
-  - `ASCII 2t2c NDR changes <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-2t2c-ndr.txt>`_.
+#. VPP PERFORMANCE TESTS
 
-.. note::
+   - **AF_XDP**: Added af_xdp driver support for all test cases. Test
+     results will be added in sub-sequent CSIT-2106 report.
 
-    Test results have been generated by
-    `FD.io test executor vpp performance job 3n-hsw`_,
-    with RF result
-    files csit-vpp-perf-|srelease|-\*.zip
-    `archived here <../_static/archive/>`_.
+   - **GTPU tunnel**: Added GTPU HW Offload IPv4 routing tests.
 
-PDR Changes
-~~~~~~~~~~~
+   - **Intel Xeon Ice Lake**: Added initial test data for these
+     platforms. Current CSIT-2106 report data for Intel Xeon Ice Lake
+     comes from an external source (Intel labs running CSIT code on
+     "8360Y D Stepping" and "6338N" processors). For details about the
+     physical setup see :ref:`tested_physical_topologies`. Tested
+     VPP and CSIT versions are pre-release, VPP
+     21.06-rc0~779-gd640ae52f.
 
-PDR throughput changes between releases are available in CSV and pretty
-ASCII formats:
+   - **MLRsearch improvements**: Added support for multiple packet
+     throughput rates in a single search, each rate is associated
+     with a distinct Packet Loss Ratio (PLR) criterion. Previously
+     only Non Drop Rate (NDR) (PLR=0) and single Partial Drop Rate
+     (PDR) (PLR<0.5%) were supported. Implemented number of
+     optimizations improving rate discovery efficiency.
 
-  - `CSV 1t1c PDR changes <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-1t1c-pdr.csv>`_,
-  - `CSV 2t2c PDR changes <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-2t2c-pdr.csv>`_,
-  - `ASCII 1t1c PDR changes <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-1t1c-pdr.txt>`_,
-  - `ASCII 2t2c PDR changes <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-2t2c-pdr.txt>`_.
+   - **Reduction of tests**: Removed obsolete VPP use cases and
+     superfluous test combinations from continuous and report test
+     executions, including:
 
-.. note::
+     - All vts tests, obsolete use cases.
+     - dot1q tests apart from dot1q-l2bd, superfluous combinations.
+     - -100flows, -100kflows in all acl tests.
+     - nat44 tests
 
-    Test results have been generated by
-    `FD.io test executor vpp performance job 3n-hsw`_,
-    with RF result
-    files csit-vpp-perf-|srelease|-\*.zip
-    `archived here <../_static/archive/>`_.
+       - -pps tests, replaced by -tput tests.
+       - h1-p1-s1 single session tests, unessential combination.
+       - h4096-p63-s258048 tests, unessential scale combination.
 
-MRR Changes
-~~~~~~~~~~~
+     - ipsec tests
 
-MRR throughput changes between releases are available in CSV and pretty
-ASCII formats:
+       - ethip4ipsectptlispgpe.
+       - policy-aes128gcm.
+       - policy-aes128cbc-hmac256sha.
+       - policy-aes128cbc-hmac512sha.
+       - int-aes128cbc-hmac256sha.
+       - scale of
 
-  - `CSV 1t1c MRR changes <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-1t1c-mrr.csv>`_,
-  - `CSV 2t2c MRR changes <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-2t2c-mrr.csv>`_,
-  - `CSV 4t4c MRR changes <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-4t4c-mrr.csv>`_,
-  - `ASCII 1t1c MRR changes <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-1t1c-mrr.txt>`_,
-  - `ASCII 2t2c MRR changes <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-2t2c-mrr.txt>`_,
-  - `ASCII 4t4c MRR changes <../_static/vpp/performance-changes-4t4c-mrr.txt>`_.
+         - 400tnlsw.
+         - 5000tnlsw.
+         - 20000tnlsw.
+         - 60000tnlsw.
 
-.. note::
+#. TEST FRAMEWORK
 
-    Test results have been generated by
-    `FD.io test executor vpp performance job 3n-hsw`_,
-    with RF result
-    files csit-vpp-perf-|srelease|-\*.zip
-    `archived here <../_static/archive/>`_.
+   - **Telemetry retouch**: Refactored telemetry retrieval from DUTs and
+     SUTs. Included VPP perfmon plugin telemetry with all perfmon
+     bundles available in VPP release.
 
-Skx vs. Hsw Comparison
-----------------------
+   - **Upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS**: Re-installed base operating system
+     to Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS. Upgrade included also baseline Docker
+     containers used for spawning topology.
 
-Relative performance comparison in measured NDR, PDR and MRR packet
-throughput is calculated for tests executed on 3-Node Skylake (3n-skx)
-and 3-Node Haswell (3n-hsw) physical testbed types in 1-core
-configurations.
+   - **CSIT test environment** version has been updated to ver. 7, see
+     :ref:`test_environment_versioning`.
 
-NDR Comparison
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+   - **CSIT in AWS environment**: Added CSIT support for AWS c5n
+     instances environment. Test results will be added in sub-sequent
+     CSIT-2106 report.
 
-NDR comparison between testbed types is available in CSV and pretty
-ASCII formats:
+   - **CSIT PAPI support**: Due to issues with PAPI performance, VAT is
+     still used in CSIT for all VPP scale tests. See known issues
+     below.
 
-  - `CSV 1c NDR comparison <../_static/vpp/performance-compare-testbeds-3n-hsw-3n-skx-ndr.csv>`_,
-  - `ASCII 1c NDR comparison <../_static/vpp/performance-compare-testbeds-3n-hsw-3n-skx-ndr.txt>`_.
+   - **General Code Housekeeping**: Ongoing code optimizations and bug
+     fixes. 
 
-.. note::
+#. PRESENTATION AND ANALYTICS LAYER
 
-    Test results have been generated by
-    `FD.io test executor vpp performance job 3n-hsw`_ and
-    `FD.io test executor vpp performance job 3n-skx`_
-    with RF result
-    files csit-vpp-perf-|srelease|-\*.zip
-    `archived here <../_static/archive/>`_.
+   - **Graphs improvements**: Updated Packet Latency graphs,
+     see :ref:`latency_methodology`.
 
-PDR Comparison
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+.. raw:: latex
 
-PDR comparison between testbed types is available in CSV and pretty
-ASCII formats:
+    \clearpage
 
-  - `CSV 1c PDR comparison <../_static/vpp/performance-compare-testbeds-3n-hsw-3n-skx-pdr.csv>`_,
-  - `ASCII 1c PDR comparison <../_static/vpp/performance-compare-testbeds-3n-hsw-3n-skx-pdr.txt>`_.
-
-.. note::
-
-    Test results have been generated by
-    `FD.io test executor vpp performance job 3n-hsw`_ and
-    `FD.io test executor vpp performance job 3n-skx`_
-    with RF result
-    files csit-vpp-perf-|srelease|-\*.zip
-    `archived here <../_static/archive/>`_.
-
-MRR Comparison
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-MRR comparison between testbed types is available in CSV and pretty
-ASCII formats:
-
-  - `CSV 1c MRR comparison <../_static/vpp/performance-compare-testbeds-3n-hsw-3n-skx-mrr.csv>`_,
-  - `ASCII 1c MRR comparison <../_static/vpp/performance-compare-testbeds-3n-hsw-3n-skx-mrr.txt>`_.
-
-.. note::
-
-    Test results have been generated by
-    `FD.io test executor vpp performance job 3n-hsw`_ and
-    `FD.io test executor vpp performance job 3n-skx`_
-    with RF result
-    files csit-vpp-perf-|srelease|-\*.zip
-    `archived here <../_static/archive/>`_.
-
-Throughput Trending
--------------------
-
-In addition to reporting throughput changes between VPP releases, CSIT
-provides continuous performance trending for VPP master branch:
-
-#. `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.
-
-#. `Trending Methodology <https://docs.fd.io/csit/master/trending/methodology/index.html>`_
-   - throughput test metrics, trend calculations and anomaly
-   classification (progression, regression, outlier).
-
-#. `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 | High failure rate of api call                   | VPP-1361   | Failure rate: 30-40% of tests failing due to interfaces not     |
-|   | sw_interface_set_flags [admin-up|link-up]       |            | in link-up state after API call sw_interface_set_flags.         |
-+---+-------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
-| 3 | Scale IPSecHW Interface mode throughput         | CSIT-1234  | IPSec throughput regression - 1core deltas: NDR -32%, PDR -33%, |
-|   | regression.                                     |            | MRR -38%. Affects IPSec HW Scale 1000tnl tests with Int mode.   |
-+---+-------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
-| 4 | Lower than expected 64B NDR and PDR             | CSIT-1242  | NDR and PDR regressions: ip4base -29%.                          |
-|   | throughput in VPP ip4base tests                 |            |                                                                 |
-|   | with xl710 NIC in 3n-hsw testbeds.              |            |                                                                 |
-+---+-------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
-
++----+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| #  | JiraID                                  | Issue Description                                                                                         |
++====+=========================================+===========================================================================================================+
+|  1 | `CSIT-1782                              | Multicore AVF tests are failing when trying to create interface.                                          |
+|    | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/CSIT-1782>`_ |                                                                                                           |
++----+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|  2 | `CSIT-1763                              | Adapt ramp-up phase of nat44 tests for different frame sizes.                                             |
+|    | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/CSIT-1763>`_ | Currently ramp-up phase rate and duration values are correctly set for tests with 64B frame size.         |
++----+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|  3 | `CSIT-1671                              | 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-1671>`_ | longer to program VPP). This needs to be addressed on the PAPI side.                                      |
+|    +-----------------------------------------+ The usual PAPI library spends too much time parsing arguments, so even with async processing (hundreds of |
+|    | `VPP-1763                               | commands in flight over socket), the VPP configuration for large scale tests (millions of messages) takes |
+|    | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/VPP-1763>`_  | too long.                                                                                                 |
++----+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|  4 | `CSIT-1789                              | AVF driver does not perform RSS in a deterministic way.                                                   |
+|    | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/CSIT-1789>`_ | This increases standard deviation of tests with small number of flows (mainly ipsec).                     |
++----+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+Root Cause Analysis for Performance Changes
+-------------------------------------------
+
+List of RCAs in |csit-release| for VPP performance changes:
+
++----+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| #  | JiraID                                  | Issue Description                                                                                         |
++====+=========================================+===========================================================================================================+
+|  1 | `VPP-1972                               | One VPP change has decreased performance of NAT44ed processing, both slow path and fast path.             |
+|    | <https://jira.fd.io/browse/VPP-1972>`_  |                                                                                                           |
++----+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+