Description

In this test, we set up a linear topology, and create two hosts in the first and the last two switches, and then analyze the datapath build time between this two hosts.

This test will create multiple switches connected to one controller. Datapath depends on the flow tables needed, through some triggering means (such as ping) will trigger the flows download, when all the switches have these flow table entries, datapath can be setup successfully.

There's two content should measure:

      1、The maximum packet_out rate

      2、The latency of packet_out

We configure one million packet_in packets on the IxNetwork and send them to the controller through different rates to analyze the packet_out rate and latency.

The rate is in accordance with the sequence 5000、10000、15000、20000 ... ...

Suggestions

  1. The transmission frequency of packet_in
    We suggest the packet_in interval is 50ms, that is 20 copies of packet_in messages are send in one second, every copy contains numbers of packet_in packets, and this can be configured in IxNetwork.
  2. Environment
    This test result depends on the test environment, the results measured in different environments will be very different, in the VM environment and the physical environment the results of the test difference of nearly 10 times.

Preparation

Test steps

      1. Config IxNetwork with one switch and two hosts. Set the packet_in messages of the switch, the interval is 50ms, total 1000000 packets, using ICMP or ARP packets.

      2. Start the controller with the features install.

      3. Start the OF protocol of the switch.

      4. Wait until the channel is established and Echo message interaction started.

      5. Start the capture of IxNetwork.

      6. Enable packet_in, wait until all of the packet_in messages are sent and  no packet_out messages receive.

      7. Stop the capture, analyse the messages captured. First verify the number of packet_out message N, N should be equal to 1 million, if N is less than 1 million, restart this test with smaller packet_in rate. Second, calculate the time difference between the first packet_out message and the last packet_out message T, the packet_out rate can be calculated by N/T. Third, calculate the time delay of each packet_in-packet_out pair as t1、t2、t3 ... ... , of course this can be caculate by decentralized way(select ten sets of pairs), at last calculate the latency by t1+t2+t3 ... ... /N.

      8. Clean the configuration of controllers and IxNetwork.

      9. Repeat test step 1-9 for five times.

      10. Restart the test with another packet_in rate.

Test Results