RFC4062

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Network Working Group V. Manral Request for Comments: 4062 SiNett Corp. Category: Informational R. White

                                                       Cisco Systems
                                                           A. Shaikh
                                                AT&T Labs (Research)
                                                          April 2005
           OSPF Benchmarking Terminology and Concepts

Status of This Memo

This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).

Abstract

This document explains the terminology and concepts used in OSPF benchmarking. Although some of these terms may be defined elsewhere (and we will refer the reader to those definitions in some cases) we include discussions concerning these terms, as they relate specifically to the tasks involved in benchmarking the OSPF protocol.

Introduction

This document is a companion to [BENCHMARK], which describes basic Open Shortest Path First [OSPF] testing methods. This document explains terminology and concepts used in OSPF Testing Framework Documents, such as [BENCHMARK].

Specification of Requirements

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 RFC2119. RFC2119 key words in this document are used to ensure methodological control, which is very important in the specification of benchmarks. This document does not specify a network-related protocol.

Common Definitions

Definitions in this section are well-known industry and benchmarking terms that may be defined elsewhere.

o White Box (Internal) Measurements

    -    Definition
         White box measurements are those reported and collected on
         the Device Under Test (DUT) itself.
    -    Discussion
         These measurements rely on output and event recording,
         along with the clocking and time stamping available on the
         DUT itself.  Taking measurements on the DUT may impact the
         actual outcome of the test, since it can increase processor
         loading, memory utilization, and timing factors.  Some
         devices may not have the required output readily available
         for taking internal measurements.
         Note: White box measurements can be influenced by the
         vendor's implementation of various timers and processing
         models.  Whenever possible, internal measurements should be
         compared to external measurements to verify and validate
         them.
         Because of the potential for variations in collection and
         presentation methods across different DUTs, white box
         measurements MUST NOT be used as a basis for comparison in
         benchmarks.  This has been a guiding principle of the
         Benchmarking Methodology Working Group.

o Black Box (External) Measurements

    -    Definition
         Black box measurements infer the performance of the DUT
         through observation of its communications with other
         devices.
    -    Discussion
         One example of a black box measurement is when a downstream
         device receives complete routing information from the DUT,
         it can be inferred that the DUT has transmitted all the
         routing information available.  External measurements of
         internal operations may suffer in that they include not
         just the protocol action times, but also propagation
         delays, queuing delays, and other such factors.
         For the purposes of [BENCHMARK], external techniques are
         more readily applicable.

o Multi-device Measurements

    -    Measurements assessing communications (usually in
         combination with internal operations) between two or more
         DUTs.  Multi-device measurements may be internal or
         external.

Terms Defined Elsewhere

Terms in this section are defined elsewhere and are included only as they apply to [BENCHMARK].

o Point-to-Point Links

    -    Definition
         See [OSPF], Section 1.2.
    -    Discussion
         A point-to-point link can take less time to converge than a
         broadcast link of the same speed because it does not have
         the overhead of DR election.  Point-to-point links can be
         either numbered or unnumbered.  However, in the context of
         [BENCHMARK] and [OSPF], the two can be regarded as the
         same.

o Broadcast Link

    -    Definition
         See [OSPF], Section 1.2.
    -    Discussion
         The adjacency formation time on a broadcast link can be
         greater than that on a point-to-point link of the same
         speed because DR election has to take place.  All routers
         on a broadcast network form adjacency with the DR and BDR.
         Asynchronous flooding also takes place through the DR.  In
         the context of convergence, it may take more time for an
         LSA to be flooded from one DR-other router to another
         because the LSA first has to be processed at the DR.

o Shortest Path First Execution Time

    -    Definition
         The time taken by a router to complete the SPF process, as
         described in [OSPF].
    -    Discussion
         This does not include the time taken by the router to
         install routes in the forwarding engine.
         Some implementations may force two intervals, the SPF hold
         time and the SPF delay, between successive SPF
         calculations.  If an SPF hold time exists, it should be
         subtracted from the total SPF execution time.  If an SPF
         delay exists, it should be noted in the test results.
    -    Measurement Units
         The SPF time is generally measured in milliseconds.

o Hello Interval

    -    Definition
         See [OSPF], Section 7.1.
    -    Discussion
         The hello interval must be the same for all routers on a
         network.
         Decreasing the hello interval can allow the router dead
         interval (below) to be reduced, thus reducing convergence
         times in those situations where the router dead interval's
         timing out causes an OSPF process to notice an adjacency
         failure.  Further discussion of small hello intervals is
         given in [OSPF-SCALING].

o Router Dead Interval

    -    Definition
         See [OSPF], Section 7.1.
    -    Discussion
         This is advertised in the router's Hello Packets in the
         Router-DeadInterval field.  The router dead interval should
         be some multiple of the HelloInterval (perhaps 4 times the
         hello interval) and must be the same for all routers
         attached to a common network.

Concepts

The Meaning of Single Router Control Plane Convergence

A network is termed as converged when all the devices within the network have a loop-free path to each possible destination. However, because we are not testing network convergence but testing performance for a particular device within a network, this definition needs to be streamlined to fit within a single device view.

In this case, convergence will mean the point in time when the DUT has performed all actions needed in order to react to the change in the topology represented by the test condition. For instance, an OSPF device must flood any new information it has received, rebuild its shortest path first (SPF) tree, and install any new paths or destinations in the local routing information base (RIB, or routing table).

Note that the word "convergence" has two distinct meanings: the process of a group of individuals meeting at the same place, and the process of an individual coming to the same place as an existing group. This work focuses on the second meaning of the word, so we consider the time required for a single device to adapt to a network change to be Single Router Convergence.

This concept does not include the time required for the control plane of the device to transfer the information required to forward packets to the data plane. It also does not include the amount of time between when the data plane receives that information and when it is able to forward traffic.

Measuring Convergence

Obviously, there are several elements to convergence, even under the definition given above for a single device, including (but not limited to) the following:

o The time it takes for the DUT to pass the information about a

    network event on to its neighbors.

o The time it takes for the DUT to process information about a

    network event and to calculate a new Shortest Path Tree (SPT).

o The time it takes for the DUT to make changes in its local RIB

    reflecting the new shortest path tree.

Types of Network Events

A network event is an event that causes a change in the network topology.

o Link or Neighbor Device Up

    The time needed for an OSPF implementation to recognize a new
    link coming up on the device, to build any necessary
    adjacencies, to synchronize its database, and to perform all
    other actions necessary to converge.

o Initialization

    The time needed for an OSPF implementation to be initialized, to
    recognize any links across which OSPF must run, to build any
    needed adjacencies, to synchronize its database, and to perform
    other actions necessary to converge.

o Adjacency Down

    The time needed for an OSPF implementation to recognize a link
    down/adjacency loss based on hello timers alone, to propagate
    any information as necessary to its remaining adjacencies, and
    to perform other actions necessary to converge.

o Link Down

    The time needed for an OSPF implementation to recognize a link
    down based on layer 2-provided information, to propagate any
    information as needed to its remaining adjacencies, and to
    perform other actions necessary to converge.

Security Considerations

This document does not modify the underlying security considerations in [OSPF].

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Howard Berkowitz ([email protected]), Kevin Dubray ([email protected]), Scott Poretsky ([email protected]), and Randy Bush ([email protected]) for their discussion, ideas, and support.

Normative References

[BENCHMARK] Manral, V., White, R., and A. Shaikh, "Benchmarking

              Basic OSPF Single Router Control Plane Convergence",
              RFC 4061, April 2005.

[OSPF] Moy, J., "OSPF Version 2", STD 54, RFC 2328, April

              1998.

RFC2119 Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate

              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

Informative References

[OSPF-SCALING] Choudhury, Gagan L., Editor, "Prioritized Treatment of

              Specific OSPF Packets and Congestion Avoidance", Work
              in Progress, August 2003.

Authors' Addresses

Vishwas Manral, SiNett Corp, Ground Floor, Embassy Icon Annexe, 2/1, Infantry Road, Bangalore, India

EMail: [email protected]

Russ White Cisco Systems, Inc. 7025 Kit Creek Rd. Research Triangle Park, NC 27709

EMail: [email protected]

Aman Shaikh AT&T Labs (Research) 180 Park Av, PO Box 971 Florham Park, NJ 07932

EMail: [email protected]

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