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Date:      Fri, 2 Feb 2001 08:08:20 -0700 (MST)
From:      Alex Rousskov <rousskov@measurement-factory.com>
To:        Yu-Shun Wang <yushunwa@isi.edu>
Cc:        freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: IPComp question 
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.4.10.10102020753170.93740-100000@measurement-factory.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.31.0102020009250.931-100000@amc.isi.edu>

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On Fri, 2 Feb 2001, Yu-Shun Wang wrote:

> 	What you pointed out below is true. But I am more
> 	interested in the relative performance since the number
> 	I measured were under exactly the same setup and traffic
> 	condition.

I believe it is a common pitfall to assume that same conditions allow
for relative comparisons even when the measurement tool or methodology
is "broken". The relative results may amaze you, but I would not trust
them. :)

>       I am just curious why IPComp was _relatively_
> 	(and signigicantly) slower than most of the encryption
> 	algorithm. 

If by "slower" you mean "yields lower throughput" under netperf, then
keep in mind that your test probably did not measure throughput
correctly. Here is an example. Let's assume that algorithm A delays
every packet by 1msec and algorithm B delays every packet by 2msec.
For simplicity, let's also assume that packet sizes do not change.
Under correct testing conditions, both algorithms should yield the
same throughput (X Mbits/sec). With netperf's TCP_STREAM, the
throughput of A will be times 2 higher than the throughput of B!

>       So I guess bandwidth is probably not the best
> 	pointer since what I end up comparing was really the
> 	implementations of different encryption/compression
> 	algorithms which are CPU-bound in this case.

I would suggest to define exactly what you want to compare first
(i.e., decide what your primary metrics are; why you are running these
tests) and only then design the test and choose an appropriate
benchmark.

Alex.






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