137. softnic PMD

137.1. Description

The SoftNIC allows building custom NIC pipelines in SW. The Soft NIC pipeline is configurable through firmware (DPDK Packet Framework script).

137.2. Prerequisites

  1. The DUT must have one 10G Ethernet port connected to a port on tester that are controlled by the traffic generator:

    dut_port_0 <---> tester_port_0

    Assume the DUT 10G Ethernet port’s pci device id is as the following:

    dut_port_0 : "0000:05:00.0"

    Bind it to dpdk igb_uio driver:

    ./usertools/dpdk-devbind.py -b igb_uio 05:00.0

  2. Change ./drivers/net/softnic/firmware.cli to meet the specific test environment.

  3. Start softnic with following command line:

    ./x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc/app/testpmd -c 0x7 -s 0x4 -n 4 \
--vdev 'net_softnic0,firmware=./drivers/net/softnic/firmware.cli,cpu_id=1,conn_port=8086' \
-- -i --forward-mode=softnic --portmask=0x2
testpmd> start

    Set the thread id consistent to the service core:

    thread 2 pipeline PIPELINE0 enable

137.3. Test Case 1: softnic performance

  1. Start softnic:

    ./x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc/app/testpmd -c 0x7 -s 0x4 -n 4 \
--vdev 'net_softnic0,firmware=./drivers/net/softnic/firmware.cli,cpu_id=1,conn_port=8086' \
-- -i --forward-mode=softnic --portmask=0x2
testpmd> start

  2. Send packet at line rate from traffic generator (IXIA or other) with packet size from 64~1518B.

  3. Check performance number is same as the physical NIC’s performance number, no performance drop.

137.4. Test Case 2: shaping for pipe

  1. The specifications of the default Hierarchical Scheduler are as follows:

    Root node (x1, level 0) Subport node (x1, level 1) Pipe node (x4096, level 2) Traffic Class node (x16348, level 3) Queue node (x65536, level 4)

  2. Start softnic with the default hierarchy Qos:

    ./x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc/app/testpmd -c 0x7 -s 0x4 -n 4 \
--vdev 'net_softnic0,firmware=./drivers/net/softnic/tm_firmware.cli,cpu_id=1,conn_port=8086' \
-- -i --forward-mode=softnic --portmask=0x2
testpmd> start

  3. Send per flow traffic with 100% line rate, verify output flow rate is 1/4096 subport rate.

137.5. Test Case 3: NAT

  1. Set SNAT with proto tcp test, edit nat_firmware.cli to change “table action” as below:

    table action profile AP0 ipv4 offset 270 fwd nat src proto tcp

(a). Start softnic:

./x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc/app/testpmd -c 0x7 -s 0x4 -n 4 \
--vdev 'net_softnic0,firmware=./drivers/net/softnic/nat_firmware.cli,cpu_id=1,conn_port=8086' \
-- -i --forward-mode=softnic --portmask=0x2
testpmd> start

(b). Sent packet, verify the received packet’s ipaddr and port was changed as expected.

  1. Set DNAT with proto tcp test, edit nat_firmware.cli to change “table action” as below:

    table action profile AP0 ipv4 offset 270 fwd nat dst proto tcp

    Then re-run step (a) & step (b).

  2. Set SNAT with proto udp test, edit nat_firmware.cli to change “table action” as below:

    table action profile AP0 ipv4 offset 270 fwd nat src proto udp

    Then re-run step (a) & step (b).

  3. Set DNAT with proto udp test, edit nat_firmware.cli to change “table action” as below:

    table action profile AP0 ipv4 offset 270 fwd nat dst proto udp

    Then re-run step (a) & step (b).