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Date:      Fri, 12 Oct 2001 10:32:53 -0500 (CDT)
From:      Mike Silbersack <silby@silby.com>
To:        Alfred Perlstein <bright@mu.org>
Cc:        <freebsd-current@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: Some interrupt coalescing tests
Message-ID:  <20011012102437.H29732-100000@achilles.silby.com>
In-Reply-To: <20011012030519.N59854@elvis.mu.org>

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On Fri, 12 Oct 2001, Alfred Perlstein wrote:

> > The network is 100mbps, switched.  To simulate load, I used a syn flooder
> > aimed at an unused port.  icmp/rst response limiting was enabled.
>
> Actually, you might want to leave that on, it will generate more load.

I considered leaving it on, but I'm not sure if that would be constructive
or not.  The primary problem with doing that is related to my test setup -
as we see from the stable -> current attack, my current box couldn't take
the interrupt load of that many incoming packets, which would slow down
the outgoing packets.  If I had a better test setup, I'd like to try that.

> > Before: ~46000 ints/sec, 57-63% processor usage due to interrupts.
> > After: ~38000 ints/sec, 50-60% processor usage due to interrupts.
> >
> > In both cases, the box felt responsive.
>
> You need to get real hardware to run these tests, obviously you aren't
> saturating your line.  I would suspect a better test would be to see
> how many pps you get can at the point where cpu utlization reaches
> 100%.  Basically start at a base of 60,000pps, and see how many more
> it takes to drive them both to 100%.
>
> Even your limited tests show a mean improvement of something like
> 10%.
>
> 10% isn't earth shattering, but it is a signifigant improvement.

Yes, there is some improvement, but I'm not sure that the actual effect is
worthwhile.  Even with the 10% decrease, you're still going to kill the
box if the interrupt count goes much higher.

If you can setup a 4.4+this patch test of some sort with varying loads to
see the effect, maybe we could characterize the effect of the patch more.
With my setup, I don't think I can really take this testing any further.

Mike "Silby" Silbersack


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