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nfv-kvm-tuning

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Base Platform and Environment

Please refer to kvmfornfv test page for details.

Configuration

A right configuration is critical for improving the NFV performance/latency. Even on the same codebase, different configrations can make completely different performance/latency result.

There are many combinations of configurations, from hardware configuration to Operating System configuration and application level configuration. And there is no one simple configuration that works for every case. To tune a specific scenario, it's important to know the behaviors of different configurations and their impact.

Platform Configuration

Some hardware features can be configured through firmware interface(e.g. BIOS) but others may not be configurable (e.g. SMI on most platforms).

  • Power management: Most power management related features save power on the expensive of latency. These features includes: Intel®Turbo Boost Technology, Enhanced Intel®SpeedStep, Processor C state and P state.Normarlly they should be disabled. But depending on the real-time application design and latency requirements,there might be some featues can be enabled if the impact on deterministic execution of workload is small.
  • Hyper-Threading: The logic cores that share resource with other logic cores can introduce latency so the feature is recommended to disable for realtime case.
  • Legacy USB Support/Port 60/64 Emulation: These features involve some emulation in firmware and can introduce randome latency. It is recommended to disable.

Operating System Configuration

Performance/Latency Tuning

nfv-kvm-tuning.1451884120.txt.gz · Last modified: 2016/01/04 05:08 by Chao Peng