The KVM4NFV testing, especially the latency, requires special test environment setup, which includes BIOS setup, kernel configuration, kernel parameter and run time environment.

As currently there is no test bed assigned to kvm4nfv project yet. This section describes the hardware platform environment that is used to conduct the baseline performance data collection. In future, this will be updated for testbed.

 
processor       : 35
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 63
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2699 v3 @ 2.30GHz
stepping        : 2
microcode       : 0x2d
cpu MHz         : 2294.795
cache size      : 46080 KB
physical id     : 1
siblings        : 18
core id         : 27
cpu cores       : 18
apicid          : 118
initial apicid  : 118
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 15
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf eagerfpu pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid dca sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm arat epb pln pts dtherm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid cqm xsaveopt cqm_llc cqm_occup_llc
bugs            :
bogomips        : 4595.54
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 46 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

 
[nfv@otcnfv02 ~]$ lscpu
Architecture:          x86_64
CPU op-mode(s):        32-bit, 64-bit
Byte Order:            Little Endian
CPU(s):                36
On-line CPU(s) list:   0-35
Thread(s) per core:    1
Core(s) per socket:    18
Socket(s):             2
NUMA node(s):          2
Vendor ID:             GenuineIntel
CPU family:            6
Model:                 63
Model name:            Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2699 v3 @ 2.30GHz
Stepping:              2
CPU MHz:               2294.795
BogoMIPS:              4595.54
Virtualization:        VT-x
L1d cache:             32K
L1i cache:             32K
L2 cache:              256K
L3 cache:              46080K
NUMA node0 CPU(s):     0-17
NUMA node1 CPU(s):     18-35

 
[nfv@otcnfv02 ~]$ lspci |grep Ether
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller X540-AT2 (rev 01)
03:00.1 Ethernet controller: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller X540-AT2 (rev 01)
81:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller X710 for 10GbE SFP+ (rev 01)
81:00.1 Ethernet controller: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller X710 for 10GbE SFP+ (rev 01)
81:00.2 Ethernet controller: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller X710 for 10GbE SFP+ (rev 01)
81:00.3 Ethernet controller: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller X710 for 10GbE SFP+ (rev 01)

Carefully BIOS setup is important to achieve real time latency. Different platform has different BIOS setup, below is the important BIOS setting on the platform collecting the baseline performance data.

CPU Power and Performance <Performance>

CPU C-State <Disabled> 

C1E Autopromote <Disabled>

Processor C3 <Disabled>

Processor C6 <Disabled>

Select Memory RAS <Maximum Performance>

NUMA Optimized <Enabled>

Cluster-on-Die <Disabled>

Patrol Scrub <Disabled>

Demand Scrub <Disabled>

Correctable Error <10>

Intel(R) Hyper-Threading <Disabled>

Active Processor Cores <All>

Execute Disable Bit <Enabled>

Intel(R) Virtualization Technology <Enabled>

Intel(R) TXT <Disabled>

Enhanced Error Containment Mode <Disabled>

USB Controller <Enabled>

USB 3.0 Controller <Auto>

Legacy USB Support <Disabled>

Port 60/64 Emulation <Disabled>