2.17.2.8. Yardstick Test Case Description: NSB PROX Load Balancer

NSB PROX test for NFVI characterization
test case id

tc_prox_{context}_lb-{port_num}

  • context = baremetal or heat_context
  • port_num = 4
metric
  • Network Throughput;
  • TG Packets Out;
  • TG Packets In;
  • VNF Packets Out;
  • VNF Packets In;
  • Dropped packets;
test purpose

The applciation transmits packets on one port and revieves them on 4 ports. The conventional 5-tuple is used in this test as it requires some extraction steps and allows defining enough distinct values to find the performance limits.

The load is increased (adding more ports if needed) while packets are load balanced using a hash table of 8M entries

The number of packets per second that can be forwarded determines the KPI. The default packet size is 64 bytes.

configuration

The Load Balancer test cases are listed below:

  • tc_prox_baremetal_lb-4.yaml
  • tc_prox_heat_context_lb-4.yaml

Test duration is set as 300sec for each test. Packet size set as 64 bytes in traffic profile. These can be configured

test tool PROX PROX is a DPDK application that can simulate VNF workloads and can generate traffic and used for NFVI characterization
applicability
The PROX Load Balancer test cases can be configured with

different:

  • packet sizes;
  • test durations;
  • tolerated loss;

Default values exist.

pre-test conditions

For Openstack test case image (yardstick-samplevnfs) needs to be installed into Glance with Prox and Dpdk included in it. The test need multi-queue enabled in Glance image.

For Baremetal tests cases Prox and Dpdk must be installed in the hosts where the test is executed. The pod.yaml file must have the necessary system and NIC information

test sequence description and expected result
step 1

For Baremetal test: The TG and VNF are started on the hosts based on the pod file.

For Heat test: Two host VMs are booted, as Traffic generator and VNF(Load Balancer workload) based on the test flavor.

step 2 Yardstick is connected with the TG and VNF by using ssh. The test will resolve the topology and instantiate the VNF and TG and collect the KPI’s/metrics.
step 3

The TG will send packets to the VNF. If the number of dropped packets is more than the tolerated loss the line rate or throughput is halved. This is done until the dropped packets are within an acceptable tolerated loss.

The KPI is the number of packets per second for 78 bytes packet size with an accepted minimal packet loss for the default configuration.

step 4

In Baremetal test: The test quits the application and unbind the dpdk ports.

In Heat test: Two host VMs are deleted on test completion.

test verdict The test case will achieve a Throughput with an accepted minimal tolerated packet loss.