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Characterization and Benchmarking Methodology for Power in Networking Devices
draft-ietf-bmwg-powerbench-03

Document Type Active Internet-Draft (bmwg WG)
Authors Carlos Pignataro , Romain Jacob , Giuseppe Fioccola , Qin Wu , Gen Chen , Shailesh Prabhu
Last updated 2026-09-30
Replaces draft-cprjgf-bmwg-powerbench
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draft-ietf-bmwg-powerbench-03
Benchmarking Methodology Working Group                      C. Pignataro
Internet-Draft                                       NC State University
Intended status: Standards Track                                R. Jacob
Expires: 3 April 2027                                         ETH Zürich
                                                             G. Fioccola
                                                                   Q. Wu
                                                                 G. Chen
                                                                  Huawei
                                                               S. Prabhu
                                                                   Nokia
                                                       30 September 2026

 Characterization and Benchmarking Methodology for Power in Networking
                                Devices
                     draft-ietf-bmwg-powerbench-03

Abstract

   This document defines a standard mechanism to measure, report, and
   compare power usage of different networking devices under different
   network configurations and conditions.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on 3 April 2027.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.

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   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
   and restrictions with respect to this document.  Code Components
   extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as
   described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Aim and Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Replicability and Comparability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     4.1.  Total Weighted Capacity of the interfaces . . . . . . . .   5
     4.2.  Total Weighted Power  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     4.3.  Energy Efficiency Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     4.4.  Total Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   5.  Energy Consumption Benchmarking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   6.  Test Methodology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     6.1.  Test Setup  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     6.2.  Traffic and Device Characterization . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   7.  Reporting Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   8.  Benchmarking Tests  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     8.1.  Throughput  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     8.2.  Base Power  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     8.3.  Idle Power  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     8.4.  Idle+ Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     8.5.  Typical Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
     8.6.  Power with Traffic Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
     8.7.  Energy Efficiency Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
   9.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
   10. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
   11. Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
   12. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
     12.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
     12.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19

1.  Introduction

   Energy efficiency is becoming increasingly important in the operation
   of network infrastructure.  Network devices are typically always on,
   but in some cases, they run at very low average utilization rates.
   Both network utilization and energy consumption of these devices can
   be improved, and that starts with a normalized characterization
   [RFC7460].

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   The benchmarking methodology defined here will help operators to get
   a more accurate idea of the power drawn by their network and will
   also help vendors to test the energy efficiency of their devices
   [RFC6988].

   There is no standard mechanism to benchmark the power utilization of
   networking devices like routers or switches.
   [I-D.manral-bmwg-power-usage] started to analyze the issue.

   This document focuses on the mechanism to correctly characterize and
   benchmark the energy consumption of networking devices to better
   estimate and compare their power usage in order to assess the
   performance over a set of well-defined scenarios.

1.1.  Requirements Language

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
   14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

2.  Aim and Scope

   Benchmarking can be understood to serve three related but different
   objectives:

      Assessing "which system performs best" over a set of well-defined
      scenarios.

      Measuring the contribution of sub-systems to the overall system's
      performance (also known as "micro-benchmark").

      Evaluating the evolution of a system's energy consumption profile
      against its own historical baseline to assess the impact of
      software updates, feature activation, or operational aging (also
      known as "longitudinal" or "self-referential" benchmarking).

   Achieving any of these objectives requires a well-defined set of
   principles prescribing what must be measured, how it must be
   measured, and which results must be reported.  Providing those
   principles is the objective of this document.  These are simply
   called "the benchmark" in the rest of this document.

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   The benchmark aims to compare the energy efficiency for individual
   devices (routers and switches belonging to similar device classes).
   In addition, it aims to showcase the effectiveness of various energy
   optimization techniques for a given device and load type, with the
   objective of fostering improvements in the energy efficiency of
   future generations of devices.

   This document defines a methodology for power benchmarking of
   networking devices under controlled laboratory conditions.  Power and
   energy measurements are obtained using an external Power Meter while
   the DUT is subjected to defined device, traffic, and environmental
   conditions.  This methodology is not intended to define an
   operational energy monitoring or energy management framework.  The
   benchmark results may, however, provide reproducible reference
   measurements that complement operational power and energy
   measurements.

3.  Replicability and Comparability

   Replicability is defined as achieving the same results with newly
   collected data.  Formally, it is a prerequisite for benchmarking.
   Benchmark results are meant to be compared, and this comparison is
   not sound if the individual results are not replicable.

   As discussed later in this document, replicability in power
   measurements is complex as power is affected by a wide range of
   parameters, some of which are hard to control, e.g., the room
   temperature.

   Striving for "perfect" replicability would lead to prescribing
   extremely precisely all the power-impacting factors in the test
   setup.  We argue that this is unrealistic and counter-productive.  An
   overly prescriptive benchmark becomes more complicated to perform.
   Furthermore, results would then be comparable only across benchmark
   results obtained under the exact same test conditions, which becomes
   increasingly less likely as we prescribe more and more.

   Instead, the benchmark described in this document proposes to report
   on a number of power-impacting factors, but does not enforce specific
   values or settings for those.  The aim is to make the benchmark
   easier to perform.  The comparison between benchmark results MAY be
   somewhat less accurate or fair than with a more prescriptive
   benchmark, but the hope is to have many more comparison points
   available, which would ultimately provide a more robust image of the
   devices power demands and their evolution over time.

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   In short: this document argues it is better to have many benchmark
   results with a higher uncertainty than a few very precise but hardly
   comparable ones.

   Environmental conditions are an exception to this approach: specific
   values for temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure are
   prescribed in Section 5 to ensure a minimum level of comparability
   across results.

4.  Terminology

4.1.  Total Weighted Capacity of the interfaces

   The total weighted capacity of the interfaces (T) is the weighted sum
   of all interface throughputs.

   Definition:

      T = B1*T1 +...+ Bi*Ti +...+ Bm*Tm

   Discussion:

      Ti is the total capacity of the interfaces for a fixed
      configuration model and traffic load (the sum of the interface
      bandwidths).

      Bi is the weighted multiplier for different traffic levels (note
      that B1+...+Bj+...+Bm = 1; weight multipliers MAY be specified for
      router and switch differently; 3 typical weighted multipliers are
      0.1, 0.8, 0.1).

      m is the number of traffic load levels (if it is considered 100%,
      30%, 0%; m = 3).  Note that traffic load levels MAY be specified
      differently for router and switch, e.g., traffic level 100%, 10%,
      0% for access router, traffic level 100%, 30%, 0% for core router
      and data center switch.

   Measurement units:

      Gbps.

   Issues:

      The traffic loads and the weighted multipliers need to be clearly
      established a priori.

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      It is unclear if the definition of the Ti is/should be linked to
      the traffic load levels.  For a given port configuration (which
      may result in 50% of the total capacity a device can provide), one
      may be interested in traffic load of e.g., 5% or 10% or the total
      capacity (not only 50%).

   See Also:

      [ETSI-ES-203-136],[ITUT-L.1310] ,[ATIS-0600015.03.2013].

4.2.  Total Weighted Power

   The total weighted power (P) is the weighted sum of all power
   calculated for different traffic loads.

   Definition:

      P = B1*P1 +...+ Bi*Pi +...+ Bm*Pm

   Discussion:

      Pi is the power of the equipment in each traffic load level (e.g.,
      100%, 30%, 0%).

      Bi is the weighted multiplier for different traffic levels (note
      that B1+...+Bj+...+Bm = 1).

      m is the number of traffic load levels (if it is considered 100%,
      30%, 0%; m = 3).

   Measurement units:

      Watt.

   Issues:

      The traffic loads and the weighted multipliers need to be clearly
      established a priori.

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      Importantly, the traffic MUST be forwarded out of the correct
      port!  It would be easy to cut power down by dropping all traffic,
      and, naturally, we do not want that.  The default requirement is
      zero packet loss, consistent with Non-Drop Rate (NDR) as defined
      in [RFC2544] and as required by [ETSI-ES-203-136] and
      [ATIS-0600015.03.2013].  Any non-zero packet loss tolerance MUST
      be explicitly declared and justified in the test report.
      According to the measurement procedure in Section 6.5 of
      [ATIS-0600015.03.2013], the Equipment Under Test (EUT) MUST be
      able to return to full NDR load; failure to do so disqualifies the
      test results.

   See Also:

      [ETSI-ES-203-136],[ITUT-L.1310] ,[ATIS-0600015.03.2013].

4.3.  Energy Efficiency Ratio

   Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) is defined as the throughput forwarded
   by 1 watt and it is introduced in [ETSI-ES-203-136].  A higher EER
   corresponds to a better energy efficiency.

   The EER defined in this document is consistent with the general
   Energy Efficiency Ratio terminology defined in
   [I-D.ietf-green-terminology], while this document specifies the
   throughput, traffic-load weighting, and measurement methodology used
   for laboratory benchmarking of networking devices.

   Definition:

      EER = T/P

   Discussion:

      T is the total weighted sum of all interface throughputs.

      P is the weighted power for different traffic loads.

   Measurement units:

      Gbps/Watt.

   Issues:

      The traffic loads and the weighted multipliers need to be clearly
      established a priori.

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      Optionally, the total capacity of the interfaces (T) can be used
      in replacement of the total weighted capacity of the interfaces.
      The former is the sum of all interface throughputs and is not
      linked to traffic load levels.  This result EER is a scaled value
      proportional to the EER using the total weighted capacity of the
      interfaces (T).

   See Also:

      [ETSI-ES-203-136],[ITUT-L.1310] ,[ATIS-0600015.03.2013].

4.4.  Total Power

   The total power (Ptot) is the power of the entire equipment, measured
   as the sum of the power drawn by all of the equipment's power supply
   units.

   Definition:

      Ptot = Pu1 +...+ Pui +...+ Pun

   Discussion:

      Pui is the power that is drawn by one power supply unit of the
      equipment.

      n is the number of power supply units.

   Measurement units:

      Watt.

   Issues:

      The total power depends on many different factors, including the
      running configuration, the number and type of transceiver
      connected, the forwarded traffic volume and pattern, the version
      of the operating system, the room temperature and humidity/other
      environmental dimensions, the aging of parts, etc.  This metric
      does not allow comparing two pieces of equipment against each
      other, but it MAY be enough to assess the effect of a change on
      the same equipment; e.g., for optimizing the power draw by
      changing the running configuration.

      Importantly, the traffic MUST be forwarded out of the correct
      port!  It would be easy to cut power down by dropping all traffic,
      and, naturally, we do not want that.  The default requirement is
      zero packet loss, consistent with Non-Drop Rate (NDR) as defined

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      in [RFC2544] and as required by [ETSI-ES-203-136] and
      [ATIS-0600015.03.2013].  Any non-zero packet loss tolerance MUST
      be explicitly declared and justified in the test report.

5.  Energy Consumption Benchmarking

   The maximum power drawn by a device does not accurately reflect the
   power under a normal workload.  Indeed, the energy consumption of a
   networking device depends on its configuration, connected
   transceivers, and traffic load.  Relying merely on the maximum rated
   power can overestimate the total energy of the networking devices.

   A network device consists of many components, each of which draws
   power (e.g., the CPU, data forwarding ASIC, memory, fans, etc.).
   Therefore, it is important to formulate a consistent benchmarking
   method for network devices and consider the workload variation and
   test conditions.

   Enforcing controlled test conditions is important to ensure
   repeatable measurements.  The measurement conditions reported in
   [ATIS-0600015.2009] and [ITUT-L.1310] SHOULD be applied.  Power
   measurements SHALL be performed in a laboratory environment under the
   following conditions, consistent with Section 6.1 of
   [ETSI-ES-203-136]: room temperature 23°C to 27°C, relative humidity
   25% to 75%, and atmospheric pressure 812 hPa to 1060 hPa.

6.  Test Methodology

6.1.  Test Setup

   The test setup in general is compliant with [RFC2544].  The Device
   Under Test (DUT) is connected to a Tester and a Power Meter.  The
   Power Meter allows measurement of the device's energy consumption and
   can be used to measure power under various configurations and
   conditions.  Tests MUST be done by running one or several of the
   predefined traffic traces, which are crafted to test different power-
   intensive tasks related to packet processing.  The Tester is also a
   traffic generator that enables changing traffic conditions.  It is
   OPTIONAL to choose a non-equal proportion for upstream and downstream
   traffic.

   The Power Meter MUST have a documented measurement accuracy
   appropriate for the power range being measured.  The applicable
   accuracy specification of the Power Meter MUST be recorded as part of
   the test setup.

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                               +----------+
                       +-------|  Tester  |<-------+
                       | +-----|          |<-----+ |
                       | |     +----------+      | |
                       | |                       | |
                       | |      +--------+       | |
                       | +----->|        |-------+ |
                       +------->|  DUT   |---------+
                                |        |
                                +--------+
                                    |
                                    |
                               +----------+
                               |  Power   |
                               |  Meter   |
                               +----------+

                            Figure 1: Test Setup

   The DUT also dissipates significant heat.  A part of the power is
   used for actual work while the rest is dissipated as heat.  This
   heating can lead to more power drawn by fans or compressors for
   cooling the devices.  The benchmarking methodology does not measure
   the power drawn by external cooling infrastructure.  The Power Meter
   measures the electrical power drawn by the DUT at its power input.
   Nevertheless, the device's temperature change MUST be known.  It is
   useful to know whether the device's heat management plays a role in
   the observed differences in energy efficiency and can be correlated
   to the amount of external power drawn to cool the device.

6.2.  Traffic and Device Characterization

   The traffic load supported by a device affects its energy
   consumption.  Therefore, the benchmark MUST include different traffic
   loads.

   The traffic load MUST specify packet sizes and packet rates, as these
   MAY affect the energy consumption of network devices
   [ATIS-0600015.2009].  To enable replicable and comparable results,
   the benchmark MUST use well-defined traffic traces.  A realistic
   mixture of packet sizes, such as the IMIX Genome distribution
   specified in [RFC6985], satisfies this repeatability requirement and
   is consistent with ATIS and ETSI traffic specifications.

   There are different interface types on a network device and the power
   usage also depends on the kind of connector or transceiver used.  The
   interface type used MUST also be specified.

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   Power measurements SHOULD be performed only after the DUT and the
   applied traffic condition have reached a stable operating state.
   Stability in this context refers to the absence of transient effects
   associated with traffic changes, configuration updates, or device
   thermal and cooling behavior.

   The stabilization interval, defined as the time between applying a
   traffic load or configuration and the start of power measurement,
   MUST be reported.

   The measurement interval, defined as the averaging window over which
   input power is recorded, and the averaging method used MUST also be
   reported.

   This methodology does not mandate specific durations for
   stabilization or measurement intervals, as these MAY depend on device
   class, implementation, and test environment; however, reporting these
   intervals is required to support comparability of results.

7.  Reporting Format

   The benchmark focuses on data that is either controllable (e.g., the
   number of active ports) or that can be externally measured (e.g., the
   total power).  Factors that are not measurable externally (e.g., CPU
   load, PSU efficiency) are intentionally left out.

   Network Device Hardware and Software versions:
      For the benchmarking tests, the hardware and software versions
      MUST be specified.

   Number and type of line cards:
      For each test the total number of line cards and their types can
      be varied and MUST be specified.

   Number of enabled ports:
      For each test the number of enabled and disabled ports MUST be
      specified.

   Number of active ports:
      For each test the number of active and inactive ports MUST be
      specified.

   Port settings and interface types:
      For each test the port configuration and settings MUST be
      specified.

   Port Utilization:

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      For each test the port utilization of each port MUST be specified.
      The actual traffic load can use the information defined in
      [RFC2544].  To characterize power consumption under realistic
      traffic conditions, the actual traffic load can use variable
      packet size distributions as specified in [RFC6985].

   Traffic trace:
      For each test, the traffic trace used (amongst those prescribed by
      the benchmark) MUST be specified.

   Power measurement:
      For each test it MUST be specified.  All power measurements are
      done in Watts.

   Power Meter Accuracy:
      For each benchmarking test, the applicable measurement accuracy of
      the Power Meter MUST be reported.

   Stabilization and measurement intervals:
      For each power measurement, the stabilization interval and the
      measurement interval (averaging window) MUST be reported.  The
      stabilization interval is the time between applying a traffic load
      or configuration and the start of power measurement.  The
      measurement interval and the averaging method used to obtain the
      reported power value MUST also be specified.  If these intervals
      differ by load level, the values per load level MUST be reported.

   Programmable data-plane configuration (if applicable):
      For devices with a programmable data plane (e.g., P4-based or
      FPGA-based switches), the following SHOULD be reported, as they
      can influence observed power consumption: the installed program or
      workload under test, the compiler or toolchain version, and a
      high-level description of the tables or stateful operations used.

8.  Benchmarking Tests

   The power benchmarking tests defined in this section characterize the
   DUT under different measurement conditions, including device
   configuration and offered traffic load.  These measurement
   conditions, such as Base Power, Idle Power, Idle+ Power, Typical
   Power, and Power with Traffic Load, are distinct from the Power
   States of the DUT or its components.  A DUT may remain in the same
   Power State, or transition between Power States, while different
   benchmark measurement conditions are applied.  Where the Power State
   of the DUT or relevant components is externally observable or
   explicitly configured, it SHOULD be reported as additional context
   for the corresponding power measurement.  Power State terminology,
   when used, SHOULD be consistent with [I-D.ietf-green-terminology].

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   Different devices may define different Power States, and the power
   consumption measured under a given measurement condition may vary
   depending on the Power State in which the DUT operates.  Where a
   measurement is performed under a specified Power State, the Power
   State and the mechanism used to configure or verify it SHOULD be
   reported as additional measurement context.  Such measurements are
   supplementary to the standardized benchmarking procedures defined in
   this document.

8.1.  Throughput

   Objective:

      To determine the DUT throughput according to [RFC2544], and to
      characterize throughput under realistic traffic patterns using
      variable packet size distributions as specified in [RFC6985].

   Procedure:

      The test is done using a multi-port setup as specified in
      Section 16 and Section 26.1 of [RFC2544].  To assess throughput
      under realistic Internet traffic conditions, the test is performed
      using the IMIX Genome packet size distributions specified in
      [RFC6985].

   Reporting format:

      The results of the throughput SHOULD be reported according to
      Section 7.

8.2.  Base Power

   Objective:

      To determine the base power drawn by the network device in its
      factory settings.

   Procedure:

      The measurement is done with the device in its factory settings,
      after it finished booting with all boards and components active,
      and without any transceiver plugged in.

   Reporting format:

      The results of the power measurement SHOULD be reported according
      to Section 7.

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   Note:

      This measurement is useful to assess the energy efficiency of
      default settings.

8.3.  Idle Power

   Objective:

      To determine the power drawn by the network device in normal
      operation but without forwarding traffic.

   Procedure:

      The measurement is done with the device fully configured to
      forward traffic but without any traffic actually present.  All
      interfaces MUST be up.

      Control-plane, management-plane, and background system functions
      MAY remain active during this measurement unless explicitly
      disabled for the purpose of the test.  Examples include routing
      protocol adjacencies, control signaling, telemetry processes, and
      thermal management mechanisms.  The operational state of these
      functions during the measurement MUST be reported, as they can
      influence the observed power consumption.

   Reporting format:

      The results of the power measurement SHOULD be reported according
      to Section 7.

   Note:

      This measurement is useful to assess the energy used to activate
      the internal components used by the device to forward traffic.  It
      may also capture power-saving behavior in which the DUT or some of
      its components transition to a lower-power operational state when
      there is no traffic to forward.

8.4.  Idle+ Power

   Objective:

      To determine the power drawn by the network device in normal
      operation with very small but non-zero traffic to forward.

   Procedure:

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      The measurement is done with the device fully configured and the
      "minimum" traffic trace.

      Control-plane, management-plane, and background system functions
      MAY remain active during this measurement unless explicitly
      disabled for the purpose of the test.  Examples include routing
      protocol adjacencies, control signaling, telemetry processes, and
      thermal management mechanisms.  The operational state of these
      functions during the measurement MUST be reported, as they can
      influence the observed power consumption.

   Reporting format:

      The results of the power measurement SHOULD be reported according
      to Section 7.

   Note:

      The "minimum" traffic trace creates a bidirectional flow of 1 pps
      on all active interfaces.  The 1 pps rate is chosen to be the
      smallest non-zero traffic load that activates the forwarding plane
      on all interfaces without introducing measurable dynamic power
      from packet processing.  By comparison with the "Idle Power"
      measurement, this measurement may capture the additional power
      associated with activating the forwarding plane and, where
      applicable, transitioning the DUT or its components from a lower-
      power operational state.

8.5.  Typical Power

   Objective:

      To determine the power drawn by the network device under a
      representative, realistic traffic load.

   Procedure:

      The measurement is done with the device fully configured and a
      bidirectional traffic load at a specified percentage of the
      maximum throughput (e.g., 30%), using the packet size distribution
      specified in [RFC6985].

   Reporting format:

      The results of the power measurement SHOULD be reported according
      to Section 7.

   Note:

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      This measurement complements Base, Idle, and Idle+ Power by
      capturing power at a representative operational point, and is
      useful for comparing devices under realistic workloads.

8.6.  Power with Traffic Load

   Objective:

      To determine the power drawn by a device.  The dynamic power,
      which is added to the idle+ power, SHOULD be proportional to its
      traffic load.

   Procedure:

      A specific number of packets at a specific rate are sent to
      specific ports or linecards of the DUT.  All DUT ports MUST
      operate under a specific traffic load, which is a percentage of
      the maximum throughput.

      Power SHOULD be recorded only after the DUT and the offered load
      have reached a stable operating state.  The stabilization interval
      and the measurement interval MUST be reported as described in
      Section 7.

   Reporting format:

      The results of the power measurement SHOULD be reported according
      to Section 7.

8.7.  Energy Efficiency Ratio

   Objective:

      To determine the energy efficiency of the DUT.

   Procedure:

      Collect the data for all the traffic loads and apply the formula
      of Section 4.  For example, with all DUT ports operating stably
      under a percentage of the maximum throughput (e.g. 100%, 30%, 0%),
      record the average input power and calculate the total weighted
      power P and then the EER.

      The stabilization interval and measurement interval used to obtain
      the recorded average input power MUST be reported as described in
      Section 7.

   Reporting format:

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      The results of the energy efficiency ratio SHOULD be reported
      according to Section 7.

9.  Security Considerations

   The benchmarking characterization described in this document is
   constrained to a controlled environment (as a laboratory) and
   includes controlled stimuli.  The network under benchmarking MUST NOT
   be connected to production networks.

   Beyond these, there are no specific security considerations within
   the scope of this document.

10.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no IANA actions.

11.  Acknowledgements

   We wish to thank the authors of [I-D.manral-bmwg-power-usage] for
   their analysis and start on this topic.

   The authors would like to thank Marisol Palmero, Chen Gen, and
   members of the GREEN Working Group for their review and feedback.

   The authors would like to thank Longlong Zhu for their suggestion on
   reporting items for programmable data-plane devices.

12.  References

12.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

12.2.  Informative References

   [ATIS-0600015.03.2013]
              ATIS, "ATIS-0600015.03.2013: Energy Efficiency for
              Telecommunication Equipment: Methodology for Measurement
              and Reporting for Router and Ethernet Switch Products",
              2013.

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   [ATIS-0600015.2009]
              ATIS, "ATIS-0600015.2009: Energy Efficiency for
              Telecommunication Equipment: Methodology for Measurement
              and Reporting - General Requirements", 2009.

   [ETSI-ES-203-136]
              ETSI, "ETSI ES 203 136: Environmental Engineering (EE);
              Measurement methods for energy efficiency of router and
              switch equipment", 2017, <https://www.etsi.org/deliver/
              etsi_es/203100_203199/203136/01.02.00_50/
              es_203136v010200m.pdf>.

   [I-D.ietf-green-terminology]
              Chen, G., Boucadair, M., Wu, Q., Contreras, L. M., and M.
              P. Palmero, "Terminology for Energy Efficiency Network
              Management", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-
              green-terminology-02, 30 June 2026,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-green-
              terminology-02>.

   [I-D.manral-bmwg-power-usage]
              Manral, V., Sharma, P., Banerjee, S., and Y. Ping,
              "Benchmarking Power usage of networking devices", Work in
              Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-manral-bmwg-power-usage-
              04, 12 March 2013, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/
              draft-manral-bmwg-power-usage-04>.

   [ITUT-L.1310]
              ITU-T, "L.1310 : Energy efficiency metrics and measurement
              methods for telecommunication equipment", 2020,
              <https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-L.1310/en>.

   [RFC2544]  Bradner, S. and J. McQuaid, "Benchmarking Methodology for
              Network Interconnect Devices", RFC 2544,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2544, March 1999,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2544>.

   [RFC6985]  Morton, A., "IMIX Genome: Specification of Variable Packet
              Sizes for Additional Testing", RFC 6985,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6985, July 2013,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6985>.

   [RFC6988]  Quittek, J., Ed., Chandramouli, M., Winter, R., Dietz, T.,
              and B. Claise, "Requirements for Energy Management",
              RFC 6988, DOI 10.17487/RFC6988, September 2013,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6988>.

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   [RFC7460]  Chandramouli, M., Claise, B., Schoening, B., Quittek, J.,
              and T. Dietz, "Monitoring and Control MIB for Power and
              Energy", RFC 7460, DOI 10.17487/RFC7460, March 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7460>.

Authors' Addresses

   Carlos Pignataro
   North Carolina State University
   United States of America
   Email: cpignata@gmail.com, cmpignat@ncsu.edu

   Romain Jacob
   ETH Zürich
   Switzerland
   Email: jacobr@ethz.ch

   Giuseppe Fioccola
   Huawei
   Italy
   Email: giuseppe.fioccola@huawei.com

   Qin Wu
   Huawei
   China
   Email: bill.wu@huawei.com

   Gen Chen
   Huawei
   China
   Email: chengen@huawei.com

   Shailesh Prabhu
   Nokia
   India
   Email: shailesh.prabhu@nokia.com

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