1. Getting Started with ‘vsperf’¶

1.1. Hardware Requirements¶

VSPERF requires one of the following traffic generators to run tests:

IXIA traffic generator (IxNetwork hardware) and a machine that runs the IXIA client software
Spirent traffic generator (TestCenter hardware chassis or TestCenter virtual in a VM) and a

VM to run the Spirent Virtual Deployment Service image, formerly known as “Spirent LabServer”.

Both test configurations, above, also require a CentOS Linux release 7.1.1503 (Core) host.

1.2. vSwitch Requirements¶

The vSwitch must support Open Flow 1.3 or greater.

1.3. Installation¶

Follow the installation instructions to install.

1.4. IXIA Setup¶

1.4.1. On the CentOS 7 system¶

You need to install IxNetworkTclClient$(VER_NUM)Linux.bin.tgz.

1.4.2. On the IXIA client software system¶

Find the IxNetwork TCL server app (start -> All Programs -> IXIA -> IxNetwork -> IxNetwork_$(VER_NUM) -> IxNetwork TCL Server)

Right click on IxNetwork TCL Server, select properties - Under shortcut tab in the Target dialogue box make sure there is the argument “-tclport xxxx” where xxxx is your port number (take note of this port number you will need it for the 10_custom.conf file).

Alt text

Hit Ok and start the TCL server application

1.5. Spirent Setup¶

Spirent installation files and instructions are available on the Spirent support website at:

http://support.spirent.com

Select a version of Spirent TestCenter software to utilize. This example will use Spirent TestCenter v4.57 as an example. Substitute the appropriate version in place of ‘v4.57’ in the examples, below.

1.5.1. On the CentOS 7 System¶

Download and install the following:

Spirent TestCenter Application, v4.57 for 64-bit Linux Client

1.5.2. Spirent Virtual Deployment Service (VDS)¶

Spirent VDS is required for both TestCenter hardware and virtual chassis in the vsperf environment. For installation, select the version that matches the Spirent TestCenter Application version. For v4.57, the matching VDS version is 1.0.55. Download either the ova (VMware) or qcow2 (QEMU) image and create a VM with it. Initialize the VM according to Spirent installation instructions.

1.5.3. Using Spirent TestCenter Virtual (STCv)¶

STCv is available in both ova (VMware) and qcow2 (QEMU) formats. For VMware, download:

Spirent TestCenter Virtual Machine for VMware, v4.57 for Hypervisor - VMware ESX.ESXi

Virtual test port performance is affected by the hypervisor configuration. For best practice results in deploying STCv, the following is suggested:

Create a single VM with two test ports rather than two VMs with one port each
Set STCv in DPDK mode
Give STCv 2*n + 1 cores, where n = the number of ports. For vsperf, cores = 5.
Turning off hyperthreading and pinning these cores will improve performance
Give STCv 2 GB of RAM

To get the highest performance and accuracy, Spirent TestCenter hardware is recommended. vsperf can run with either stype test ports.

1.6. Cloning and building src dependencies¶

In order to run VSPERF, you will need to download DPDK and OVS. You can do this manually and build them in a preferred location, or you could use vswitchperf/src. The vswitchperf/src directory contains makefiles that will allow you to clone and build the libraries that VSPERF depends on, such as DPDK and OVS. To clone and build simply:

cd src
make

VSPERF can be used with OVS without DPDK support. In this case you have to specify path to the kernel sources by WITH_LINUX parameter:

cd src
make WITH_LINUX=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build

To build DPDK and OVS for PVP and PVVP testing with vhost_user as the guest access method, use:

make VHOST_USER=y

To build everything: Vanilla OVS, OVS with vhost_user as the guest access method and OVS with vhost_cuse access simply:

make

The vhost_user build will reside in src/ovs/ The vhost_cuse build will reside in vswitchperf/src_cuse The Vanilla OVS build will reside in vswitchperf/src_vanilla

To delete a src subdirectory and its contents to allow you to re-clone simply use:

make clobber

1.7. Configure the `./conf/10_custom.conf` file¶

The 10_custom.conf file is the configuration file that overrides default configurations in all the other configuration files in ./conf The supplied 10_custom.conf file must be modified, as it contains configuration items for which there are no reasonable default values.

The configuration items that can be added is not limited to the initial contents. Any configuration item mentioned in any .conf file in ./conf directory can be added and that item will be overridden by the custom configuration value.

1.8. Using a custom settings file¶

If your 10_custom.conf doesn’t reside in the ./conf directory of if you want to use an alternative configuration file, the file can be passed to vsperf via the --conf-file argument.

./vsperf --conf-file <path_to_settings_py> ...

Note that configuration passed in via the environment (--load-env) or via another command line argument will override both the default and your custom configuration files. This “priority hierarchy” can be described like so (1 = max priority):

Command line arguments
Environment variables
Configuration file(s)

1.9. Executing tests¶

Before running any tests make sure you have root permissions by adding the following line to /etc/sudoers:

username ALL=(ALL)       NOPASSWD: ALL

username in the example above should be replaced with a real username.

To list the available tests:

./vsperf --list

To run a single test:

./vsperf $TESTNAME

Where $TESTNAME is the name of the vsperf test you would like to run.

To run a group of tests, for example all tests with a name containing ‘RFC2544’:

./vsperf --conf-file=user_settings.py --tests="RFC2544"

To run all tests:

./vsperf --conf-file=user_settings.py

Some tests allow for configurable parameters, including test duration (in seconds) as well as packet sizes (in bytes).

./vsperf --conf-file user_settings.py
    --tests RFC2544Tput
    --test-param "duration=10;pkt_sizes=128"

For all available options, check out the help dialog:

./vsperf --help

1.10. Executing Vanilla OVS tests¶

If you have compiled all the variants of OVS in ‘’src/’’ please skip step 1.

Recompile src for Vanilla OVS testing

cd src
make cleanse
make WITH_LINUX=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build

2. Update your ‘‘10_custom.conf’’ file to use the appropriate variables for Vanilla OVS:

VSWITCH = 'OvsVanilla'
VSWITCH_VANILLA_PHY_PORT_NAMES = ['$PORT1', '$PORT1']

Where $PORT1 and $PORT2 are the Linux interfaces you’d like to bind to the vswitch.

Run test:

./vsperf --conf-file <path_to_settings_py>

Please note if you don’t want to configure Vanilla OVS through the configuration file, you can pass it as a CLI argument; BUT you must set the ports.

./vsperf --vswitch OvsVanilla

Executing PVP and PVVP tests

Set VHOST_METHOD and VNF of your settings file to:

VHOST_METHOD='user'
VNF = 'QemuDpdkVhost'

Recompile src for VHOST USER testing

cd src
make cleanse
make VHOST_USER=y

Run test:

./vsperf --conf-file <path_to_settings_py>

To run tests using vhost-cuse as guest access method:

Set VHOST_METHOD and VNF of your settings file to:

VHOST_METHOD='cuse'
VNF = 'QemuDpdkVhostCuse'

Recompile src for VHOST USER testing

cd src
make cleanse
make VHOST_USER=n

Run test:

./vsperf --conf-file <path_to_settings_py>

1.11. Executing PVP tests using Vanilla OVS¶

To run tests using Vanilla OVS:

Set the following variables:

VSWITCH = 'OvsVanilla'
VNF = 'QemuVirtioNet'

VANILLA_TGEN_PORT1_IP = n.n.n.n
VANILLA_TGEN_PORT1_MAC = nn:nn:nn:nn:nn:nn

VANILLA_TGEN_PORT2_IP = n.n.n.n
VANILLA_TGEN_PORT2_MAC = nn:nn:nn:nn:nn:nn

VANILLA_BRIDGE_IP = n.n.n.n

or use --test-param

./vsperf --conf-file user_settings.py
         --test-param "vanilla_tgen_tx_ip=n.n.n.n;
                       vanilla_tgen_tx_mac=nn:nn:nn:nn:nn:nn"

Recompile src for Vanilla OVS testing

cd src
make cleanse
make WITH_LINUX=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build

Run test:

./vsperf --conf-file <path_to_settings_py>

1.12. Selection of loopback application for PVP and PVVP tests¶

To select loopback application, which will perform traffic forwarding inside VM, following configuration parameter should be configured:

GUEST_LOOPBACK = ['testpmd', 'testpmd']

or use --test-param

./vsperf --conf-file user_settings.py
         --test-param "guest_loopback=testpmd"

Supported loopback applications are:

'testpmd'       - testpmd from dpdk will be built and used
'l2fwd'         - l2fwd module provided by Huawei will be built and used
'linux_bridge'  - linux bridge will be configured
'buildin'       - nothing will be configured by vsperf; VM image must
                  ensure traffic forwarding between its interfaces

Guest loopback application must be configured, otherwise traffic will not be forwarded by VM and testcases with PVP and PVVP deployments will fail. Guest loopback application is set to ‘testpmd’ by default.

1.13. Code change verification by pylint¶

Every developer participating in VSPERF project should run pylint before his python code is submitted for review. Project specific configuration for pylint is available at ‘pylint.rc’.

Example of manual pylint invocation:

pylint --rcfile ./pylintrc ./vsperf

1.14. GOTCHAs:¶

1.14.1. OVS with DPDK and QEMU¶

If you encounter the following error: “before (last 100 chars): ‘-path=/dev/hugepages,share=on: unable to map backing store for hugepages: Cannot allocate memoryrnrn” with the PVP or PVVP deployment scenario, check the amount of hugepages on your system:

cat /proc/meminfo | grep HugePages

By default the vswitchd is launched with 1Gb of memory, to change this, modify –socket-mem parameter in conf/02_vswitch.conf to allocate an appropriate amount of memory:

VSWITCHD_DPDK_ARGS = ['-c', '0x4', '-n', '4', '--socket-mem 1024,0']

Revision: de0aaffe31e1f787cefe21a5957a07924bb5956f

Build date: December 16, 2015

1. Getting Started with ‘vsperf’¶

1.1. Hardware Requirements¶

1.2. vSwitch Requirements¶

1.3. Installation¶

1.4. IXIA Setup¶

1.4.1. On the CentOS 7 system¶

1.4.2. On the IXIA client software system¶

1.5. Spirent Setup¶

1.5.1. On the CentOS 7 System¶

1.5.2. Spirent Virtual Deployment Service (VDS)¶

1.5.3. Using Spirent TestCenter Virtual (STCv)¶

1.6. Cloning and building src dependencies¶

1.7. Configure the `./conf/10_custom.conf` file¶

1.8. Using a custom settings file¶

1.9. Executing tests¶

1.10. Executing Vanilla OVS tests¶

1.11. Executing PVP tests using Vanilla OVS¶

1.12. Selection of loopback application for PVP and PVVP tests¶

1.13. Code change verification by pylint¶

1.14. GOTCHAs:¶

1.14.1. OVS with DPDK and QEMU¶

Table Of Contents

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This Page

1. Getting Started with ‘vsperf’¶

1.1. Hardware Requirements¶

1.2. vSwitch Requirements¶

1.3. Installation¶

1.4. IXIA Setup¶

1.4.1. On the CentOS 7 system¶

1.4.2. On the IXIA client software system¶

1.5. Spirent Setup¶

1.5.1. On the CentOS 7 System¶

1.5.2. Spirent Virtual Deployment Service (VDS)¶

1.5.3. Using Spirent TestCenter Virtual (STCv)¶

1.6. Cloning and building src dependencies¶

1.7. Configure the ./conf/10_custom.conf file¶

1.8. Using a custom settings file¶

1.9. Executing tests¶

1.10. Executing Vanilla OVS tests¶

1.11. Executing PVP tests using Vanilla OVS¶

1.12. Selection of loopback application for PVP and PVVP tests¶

1.13. Code change verification by pylint¶

1.14. GOTCHAs:¶

1.14.1. OVS with DPDK and QEMU¶

1.7. Configure the `./conf/10_custom.conf` file¶