Ubuntu Manpage: ovs-test - check Linux drivers for performance, vlan and L3 tunneling problems

Provided by: openvswitch-test_2.0.2-0ubuntu0.14.04.3_all

NAME

       ovs-test - check Linux drivers for performance, vlan and L3 tunneling problems

SYNOPSIS

       ovs-test -s port

       ovs-test -c server1 server2 [-b targetbandwidth] [-i testinterval] [-d] [-l vlantag] [-t tunnelmodes]

       Common options:
              [-h | --help] [-V | --version]

DESCRIPTION

The ovs-test program may be used to check for problems sending 802.1Q or GRE traffic that Open vSwitch
may uncover. These problems, for example, can occur when Open vSwitch is used to send 802.1Q traffic
through physical interfaces running certain drivers of certain Linux kernel versions. To run a test,
configure IP addresses on server1 and server2 for interfaces you intended to test. These interfaces could
also be already configured OVS bridges that have a physical interface attached to them. Then, on one of
the nodes, run ovs-test in server mode and on the other node run it in client mode. The client will
connect to ovs-test server and schedule tests between both of them. The ovs-test client will perform UDP
and TCP tests.

UDP tests can report packet loss and achieved bandwidth for various datagram sizes. By default target
bandwidth for UDP tests is 1Mbit/s.

TCP tests report only achieved bandwidth, because kernel TCP stack takes care of flow control and packet
loss. TCP tests are essential to detect potential TSO related issues.

To determine whether Open vSwitch is encountering any problems, the user must compare packet loss and
achieved bandwidth in a setup where traffic is being directly sent and in one where it is not. If in the
802.1Q or L3 tunneled tests both ovs-test processes are unable to communicate or the achieved bandwidth
is much lower compared to direct setup, then, most likely, Open vSwitch has encountered a pre-existing
kernel or driver bug.

Some examples of the types of problems that may be encountered are:

• When NICs use VLAN stripping on receive they must pass a pointer to a vlan_group when reporting
the stripped tag to the networking core. If no vlan_group is in use then some drivers just drop
the extracted tag. Drivers are supposed to only enable stripping if a vlan_group is registered
but not all of them do that.

• On receive, some drivers handle priority tagged packets specially and don't pass the tag onto the
network stack at all, so Open vSwitch never has a chance to see it.

• Some drivers size their receive buffers based on whether a vlan_group is enabled, meaning that a
maximum size packet with a VLAN tag will not fit if no vlan_group is configured.

• On transmit, some drivers expect that VLAN acceleration will be used if it is available, which can
only be done if a vlan_group is configured. In these cases, the driver may fail to parse the
packet and correctly setup checksum offloading or TSO.

Client Mode
An ovs-test client will connect to two ovs-test servers and will ask them to exchange test traffic. It is
also possible to spawn an ovs-test server automatically from the client.

Server Mode
To conduct tests, two ovs-test servers must be running on two different hosts where the client can
connect. The actual test traffic is exchanged only between both ovs-test servers. It is recommended that
both servers have their IP addresses in the same subnet, otherwise one would have to make sure that
routing is set up correctly.

OPTIONS

-s port
--server port
Run in server mode and wait for the client to establish XML RPC Control Connection on this TCP
port. It is recommended to have ethtool(8) installed on the server so that it could retrieve
information about the NIC driver.

-c server1 server2
--client server1 server2
Run in client mode and schedule tests between server1 and server2, where each server must be given
in the following format - OuterIP[:OuterPort],InnerIP[/Mask][:InnerPort]. The OuterIP must be
already assigned to the physical interface which is going to be tested. This is the IP address
where client will try to establish XML RPC connection. If OuterIP is 127.0.0.1 then client will
automatically spawn a local instance of ovs-test server. OuterPort is TCP port where server is
listening for incoming XML/RPC control connections to schedule tests (by default it is 15531). The
ovs-test will automatically assign InnerIP[/Mask] to the interfaces that will be created on the
fly for testing purposes. It is important that InnerIP[/Mask] does not interfere with already
existing IP addresses on both ovs-test servers and client. InnerPort is port which will be used
by server to listen for test traffic that will be encapsulated (by default it is 15532).

-b targetbandwidth
--bandwidth targetbandwidth
Target bandwidth for UDP tests. The targetbandwidth must be given in bits per second. It is
possible to use postfix M or K to alter the target bandwidth magnitude.

-i testinterval
--interval testinterval
How long each test should run. By default 5 seconds.

-h
--help Prints a brief help message to the console.

-V
--version
Prints version information to the console.

Test Modes

       The  following  test  modes  are  supported  by ovs-test. It is possible to combine multiple of them in a
       single ovs-test invocation.

       -d
       --direct
              Perform direct tests between both OuterIP addresses. These tests could be used as a  reference  to
              compare 802.1Q or L3 tunneling test results.

       -l vlantag
       --vlan-tag vlantag
              Perform  802.1Q  tests  between  both  servers. These tests will create a temporary OVS bridge, if
              necessary, and attach a VLAN tagged port to it for testing purposes.

       -t tunnelmodes
       --tunnel-modes tunnelmodes
              Perform L3 tunneling tests. The given argument is a comma separated string that specifies all  the
              L3  tunnel modes that should be tested (e.g. gre). The L3 tunnels are terminated on interface that
              has the OuterIP address assigned.

EXAMPLES