Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Wed, 14 Jun 2017 17:03:52 +0200
From:      Vincenzo Maffione <v.maffione@gmail.com>
To:        John Jasen <jjasen@gmail.com>
Cc:        FreeBSD Net <freebsd-net@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: state of packet forwarding in FreeBSD?
Message-ID:  <CA%2B_eA9jCUqZ%2BxgH2oLopNwi9KziCfXjfU3_aX6PGUi442ZZXvA@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAACLuR17yRETErqsxbdhBPJrjQur0oMVOqvL5ZCkmjLCKkHLNA@mail.gmail.com>
References:  <CAACLuR17yRETErqsxbdhBPJrjQur0oMVOqvL5ZCkmjLCKkHLNA@mail.gmail.com>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Hi,
  To test netmap raw forwarding performance using just one core, use the
bridge program between two netmap supported NICs, like ix or ixl

# ./bridge ix0 ix1

You could implement your own multicore software router by extending the
bridge example to implement the protocols you need.

Vale-ctl it's a different story, you can use it to attach netmap enabled
NICs to the VALE software bridge. See the VALE paper for details.

Cheers,
  Vincenzo

Il 14 giu 2017 4:48 PM, "John Jasen" <jjasen@gmail.com> ha scritto:

> Our goal was to test whether or not FreeBSD currently is viable, as the
> operating system platform for high speed routers and firewalls, in the
> 40 to 100 GbE range.
>
> In our investigations, we tested 10.3, 11.0/-STABLE, -CURRENT, and a USB
> stick from BSDRP using the FreeBSD routing improvements project
> enhancements (https://wiki.freebsd.org/ProjectsRoutingProposal).
>
> We've tried stock and netmap-fwd, have played around a little with
> netmap itself and dpdk, with the results summarized below. The current
> testing platform is a Dell PowerEdge R530 with a Chelsio T580-LP-CR dual
> port 40GbE card.
>
> Suggestions, examples for using netmap, etc, all warmly welcomed.
>
> Further questions cheerfully answered to the best of our abilities.
>
> a) On the positive side, it appears that 11.0 is much faster than 10.0,
> which we tested several years ago. With appropriate cpuset tuning, 5.5
> mpps is achievable using modern hardware. Using slightly older hardware,
> (such as a Dell R720 with v3 xeons), around 5.2-5.3 mpps can be obtained.
>
> b) On the negative side, between the various releases, netmap appeared
> to be unstable with the Chelsio cards -- sometimes supported, sometimes
> broken. Also, we're still trying to figure out netmap utilities, such as
> vale-ctl and bridge, so any advice would be appreciated.
>
> b.1) netmap-fwd is admittedly single-threaded and does not support IPv6.
> These clearly showed in our tests, as we were unable to achieve over 2.5
> mpps, saturating a single CPU and letting the others fall asleep.
> However, bumping a single CPU queue from around 0.6 mpps to 2.5 mpps is
> nothing to ignore, so it could be useful in some cases.
>
> c) The routing improvement project USB stick performed incredibly,
> achieving 8.5 mpps out of the box. However, it appears
> (https://wiki.freebsd.org/ProjectsRoutingProposal/ConversionStatus),
> that many of the changes are still pending review, and that things have
> not moved much in the last 18 months
> (https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/projects/routing/)
>
> d) We've not figured out dpdk  (dpdk.org) yet. Our first foray into the
> test examples, and we're stuck trying to get the interfaces online.
>
> -- John Jasen (jjasen@gmail.com)
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-net@freebsd.org mailing list
> https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-net
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-net-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
>



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?CA%2B_eA9jCUqZ%2BxgH2oLopNwi9KziCfXjfU3_aX6PGUi442ZZXvA>