206. Power PBF Tests¶

PBF(Priority Base Frequency) is new power feature on some Intel CPU SKU. This feature can support some core in core list have garenteed higher base frequency DPDK start support this feature from 19.05

206.1. Preparation work¶

Check the SKU of Processor: 6230N, 6252N and 5218N can support this feature 1. Turn on Speedstep option in BIOS 2. Set C-State to C0/C1 3. Turn on Turbo in BIOS 4. Turn on PBF in BIOS 5. Set HW Pstate to “Native Mode without Legacy Support” 6. Turn on RAPL Prioritization 7. Modprobe msr module 8. DON’T set intel_pstate to disable in grub 9. Turn on the debug log for DPDK power lib, CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_POWER_DEBUG=y 10. Install the Jansson development package, apt-get install libjansson-dev or dnf -y install jansson-devel.

206.2. Test Case1 : Check High Priority Core Can Be Recognized By Power Lib¶

Step 1. Create powermonitor fold for:

Create power monitor channel folder, /tmp/powermonitor, give permission for read and write

Step 2. Compile DPDK with Power Lib debug info on, then Luanch VM power manager sample:

./<build_target>/examples/dpdk-vm_power_manager -l 1-46 -n 4 --file-prefix=power --no-pci

Check two different base_max frequency will be shown in log, for example on Intel 6230N Processor:
The log will be like as following
POWER: power_get_available_freqs: sys min 800000, sys max 3900000, base_max 2300000
POWER: power_get_available_freqs: sys min 800000, sys max 3900000, base_max 2700000

For each core, get following 3 frequency item, cross check frequency in the VM_power out put log:
sys_min=sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu{}/cpufreq/cpuinfo_min_freq
sys_max=sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu{}/cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq
base_max=sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu{}/cpufreq/base_frequency

Take Intel 6230N Processor as example:
sys_min=800000
sys_max=3900000
base_max=2700000(high priority Core) base_max=2300000 (Normal Core)

The high priority core has max frequency at 27000000
Normal core has max frequency at 2300000

206.3. Test Case2 : CPU MIN and MAX Freq Test for the High Priority Core¶

Step 1. Create powermonitor fold for:

Create monitor channel folder, /tmp/powermonitor, give permission for read and write

Step 2. Compile DPDK with Power Lib debug info on, then aunch VM power manager sample:

./<build_target>/examples/dpdk-vm_power_manager -l 1-46 -n 4 --file-prefix=power --no-pci

Step 3. Prepare different command in JSON format:

From Test Case1, can get the high priority core list. We pick one core from this list
Command JSON file template:
{"instruction": {
"name": "policy1",
"command": "power",
"unit": "SCALE_MIN",
}}

Step 4: Send different command to power sample, then check the frequency:

Command Steps: ENABLE_TURBO-> SCALE_MAX-> SCALE_DOWN-> SCALE_MIN
Send action JSON file to dpdk-vm_power_manager's fifo channel, each core will have it's own channel:
cat command.json >/tmp/powermonitor/fifo{core_number}

Check the CPU frequency is changed accordingly in previous list by following method:
min=sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu{}/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
max=sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu{}/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
Step SCALE_MAX: min=max=sys_max
Step SCALE_DOWN: min=max=base_max
Step SCALE_MIN: min=max=sys_min


More info about the command:
:"SCALE_MAX": Scale frequency of this core to maximum
:"SCALE_MIN": Scale frequency of this core to minimum
:"SCALE_UP": Scale up frequency of this core
:"SCALE_DOWN": Scale down frequency of this core
:"ENABLE_TURBO": Enable Turbo Boost for this core
:"DISABLE_TURBO": Disable Turbo Boost for this core

206.4. Test Case3 : Check “DISABLE_TURBO” Action When Core is In Turbo Status for High Priority Core¶

Step 1. Create powermonitor fold for:

Create monitor channel folder, /tmp/powermonitor, give permission 777

Step 2. Compile DPDK with Power Lib debug info on, then launch VM power manager sample:

./<build_target>/examples/dpdk-vm_power_manager -l 1-46 -n 4 --file-prefix=power --no-pci

Step 3. Prepare Several command in JSON format then send it to the fifo channel for the high priority core:

{"instruction": {
"name": "policy2",
"command": "power",
"unit": "SCALE_MIN",
}}
cat command.json >/tmp/powermonitor/fifo{core_number}

Command Steps: ENABLE_TURBO -> SCALE_MAX ->DISABLE_TURBO

Step 4. Check the CPU frequency will be set to No turbo max frequency when turbo is off:

min=sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu{}/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
max=sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu{}/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
Check point of Step SCALE_MAX: min=max=sys_max
Check point of Step DISABLE_TURBO: min=max=base_max

206.5. Test Case4: Check Distributor Sample Use High Priority Core as Distribute Core¶

Step 1. Get the Priority core list on DUT in test case 1:

For example:
6,7,13,14,15,16,21,26,27,29,36,38
On one Intel 6230N Processor
Note: the high base frequency core location of each processor is different.

Step 2. Launch distributor with 1 priority core, check the high priority core will be picked as the distributor core:

Two worker:
./distributor_app -l 1-6  -n 4 -- -p 0x1

Check the high priority core is assigned as distributor core in log, for example:
"Core 6 acting as distributor core."

206.6. Test Case5: Check Distributor Sample Will use High priority core for distribute core and rx/tx core¶

Step 1. Get the Priority core list on DUT in test case 1:

Using pbf.py to check, or check from kernel
For example:
6,7,13,14,15,16,21,26,27,29,36,38
On one intel 6230N Processor
Note: the high base frequency core location of each processor are different.

Step 2. Launch distributor with 3 priority core, check the high priority core will be picked as the distributor core, rx and tx core:

For example, the high priority core is" 6,7 13"
./distributor_app -l 1-6,7,13  -n 4 -- -p 0x1

Step 3. Check the high priority core is assigned as distributor core in log, for example:

Distributor on priority core 6

Step 4. Check the high priority core are assigned as tx/rx core in log, for example:

Core 13 doing packet TX.
Core 7 doing packet RX.