BMWG                                                         G. Fioccola
Internet-Draft                                              E. Vasilenko
Intended status: Informational                                P. Volpato
Expires: 27 April 2023                               Huawei Technologies
                                                            L. Contreras
                                                              Telefonica
                                                         24 October 2022


           Benchmarking Methodology for IPv6 Segment Routing
                   draft-vfv-bmwg-srv6-bench-meth-04

Abstract

   This document defines a methodology for benchmarking Segment Routing
   (SR) performance for Segment Routing over IPv6 (SRv6).  It builds
   upon [RFC2544], [RFC5180], [RFC5695] and [RFC8402].

Requirements Language

   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],
   RFC 8174 [RFC8174].

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 27 April 2023.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2022 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.





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   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.
   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
   2.  SRv6 Forwarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   3.  Test Methodology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     3.1.  Test Setup  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     3.2.  Locator and Endpoint behaviors methods  . . . . . . . . .   7
     3.3.  Frame Formats and Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     3.4.  Protocol Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     3.5.  Trial Duration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     3.6.  Traffic Verification  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     3.7.  Buffer tests  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   4.  Reporting Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   5.  SRv6 Forwarding Benchmarking Tests  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     5.1.  Throughput  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
       5.1.1.  Throughput of a Source Node . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
       5.1.2.  Throughput of a Segment Endpoint Node . . . . . . . .  12
       5.1.3.  Throughput of a Transit Node  . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     5.2.  Buffers size  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     5.3.  Latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     5.4.  Frame Loss  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     5.5.  System Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     5.6.  Reset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   6.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   8.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   9.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     9.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
     9.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17

1.  Introduction

   Segment Routing (SR), defined in [RFC8402], leverages the source
   routing paradigm.  The headend node steers a packet through an SR
   Policy [I-D.ietf-spring-segment-routing-policy], instantiated as an
   ordered list of segments.  A segment, referred to by its Segment
   Identifier (SID), can have a semantic local to an SR node or global
   within an SR domain.  SR supports per-flow explicit routing while



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   maintaining per-flow state only at the ingress nodes to the SR
   domain.

   However, there is no standard method defined to compare and contrast
   the foundational SR packet forwarding capabilities of network
   devices.  This document aims to extend the efforts of [RFC1242] and
   [RFC2544] to SR network.

   The SR architecture can be instantiated on two data-plane: SR over
   MPLS (SR-MPLS) and SR over IPv6 (SRv6).  This document is limited to
   SRv6.

   This document is limited to Headend encapsulations (H.Encaps.xxx) and
   segment Endpoints (End, End.X).  It is expected that future documents
   may cover the benchmarking of SRv6 applications with decapsulation
   (End.Dxxx), Binding (End.Bxxx), Fast ReRoute
   [I-D.ietf-rtgwg-segment-routing-ti-lfa], etc.

   SR can be applied to the IPv6 architecture with a new type of routing
   header called the SR Header (SRH) [RFC8754].  An instruction is
   associated with a segment and encoded as an IPv6 address.  An SRv6
   segment is also called an SRv6 SID.  An SR Policy is instantiated as
   an ordered list of SRv6 SIDs in the routing header.  The active
   segment is indicated by the Destination Address (DA) of the packet.

   SRv6 involves 3 types of forwarding plane operations:

   *  PUSH consists of the insertion of one or more segments on top of
      the incoming packet.  It is the SRH attachment in the case of
      SRv6.

   *  NEXT consists of the inspection of the next segment.  The active
      segment is completed and the next segment is activated.  It is the
      copy of the next segment from the SRH to the destination address
      of the IPv6 header in SRv6.

   *  CONTINUE happens when the active segment is not completed; hence,
      it remains active.  It is the plain IPv6 forwarding action of a
      regular IPv6 packet according to its destination address in SRv6.

   SR list for PUSH operation is typically constructed by SR Policy in
   ingress node, see [I-D.ietf-spring-segment-routing-policy].

   [RFC5695] describes a methodology specific to the benchmarking of
   MPLS forwarding devices, by considering the most common MPLS packet
   forwarding scenarios and corresponding performance measurements.





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   [RFC5180] provides benchmarking methodology recommendations that
   address IPv6-specific aspects, such as evaluating the forwarding
   performance of traffic containing extension headers.

   The purpose of this document is to describe a methodology specific to
   the benchmarking of Segment Routing over IPv6.  The methodology
   described is a complement for [RFC5180] and [RFC5695].

2.  SRv6 Forwarding

   An SRv6 SID is allocated in the form of an IPv6 address.  For the
   IPv6 data plane, a new type of IPv6 Routing Extension Header, called
   Segment Routing Header (SRH) has been defined [RFC8754].  The SRH
   contains the Segment List as an ordered list of IPv6 addresses: each
   address in the list is a SID.  A dedicated field, referred to as
   Segments Left, is used to maintain the pointer to the active SID of
   the Segment List.

   There are three different categories of nodes that may be involved in
   segment routing networks.

   The SR source node is the headend node and steers a packet into an SR
   Policy.  It can be a host originating an IPv6 packet or an SR domain
   ingress router encapsulating a received packet into an outer IPv6
   packet and inserts the SRH in the outer IPv6 header.  It sets the
   first SID of the SR Policy as the IPv6 Destination Address of the
   packet.

   The SR transit node forwards packets destined for a remote segment as
   a normal IPv6 packet based on the IPv6 destination address, because
   the IPv6 destination address does not locally match with a segment.
   Indeed, according to [RFC8200] the only node allowed to inspect the
   Routing Extension Header (and therefore the SRH) is the node
   corresponding to the destination address of the packet.

   The SR segment endpoint node receives packets whose IPv6 destination
   address is locally configured as a segment.  It creates Forwarding
   Information Base (FIB) entries for its local SIDs.  For each SR
   packet, it inspects the SRH, may prepare some actions (like
   forwarding through a particular port), then replaces the IPv6
   destination address with the new active segment.

   The operations applied by the SRv6 packet processing are different at
   the SR source, transit, and SR segment endpoint nodes.







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   The processing of the SR source node corresponds to the sequence of
   insertion of the SRH, composed of SIDs stored in reverse order, and
   setting of the IPv6 Destination Address as the first SID of the SR
   Policy.  It can be performed by encapsulating a packet into an outer
   IPv6 packet with an SRH.

   The processing of the SR segment endpoint node corresponds to the
   detection of the new active segment, which is the next segment in the
   Segment List and the related modification of the IPv6 destination
   address of the outer IPv6 header.  Then packets are forwarded on the
   basis of the IPv6 forwarding table.

   The processing of the SR transit node corresponds to normal
   forwarding of the packets containing the SR header.  In SRv6, the
   transit nodes do not need to be SRv6 aware, as every IPv6 router can
   act as an SRv6 transit node since any IPv6 node will maintain a plain
   IPv6 FIB entry for any prefix, no matter if the prefix represents a
   segment or not.

   [I-D.ietf-spring-segment-routing-policy] specifies the concepts of SR
   Policy and steering into an SR Policy.  The header of a packet
   steered in an SR Policy is augmented with the ordered list of
   segments associated with that SR Policy.  SR Policy state is
   instantiated only on the headend node, which steers a flow into an SR
   Policy.  Indeed intermediate and endpoint nodes do not require any
   state to be maintained.  SR Policies can be instantiated on the
   headend dynamically and on demand basis.  SR policy may be installed
   by PCEP [RFC8664], BGP [I-D.ietf-idr-segment-routing-te-policy], or
   via manual configuration on the router.  PCEP and BGP signaling of SR
   Policies can be the case of a controller-based deployment.

   In addition to the basic SRv6 packet processing, the SRv6 Network
   Programming model [RFC8986] describes a set of functions that can be
   associated to segments and executed in a given SRv6 node.

   Examples of such functions are described in [RFC8986], but, in
   practice, any behavior and function can be associated with a local
   SID in a node, to apply any special processing on the packet.  The
   definition of a standardized set of segment routing functions
   facilitates the deployment of SR domains with interoperable equipment
   from multiple vendors.

   According to [RFC8986], 128 bit SID can be logically split into three
   fields and interpreted as LOCATOR:FUNCTION:ARGS (in short
   LOC:FUNCT:ARG) where LOC includes the L most significant bits, FUNCT
   the following F bits and ARG the remaining A bits, where L+F+A=128.
   The LOC corresponds to an IPv6 prefix (for example with a length of
   48, 56, or 64 bits) that can be distributed by the routing protocols



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   and provides the reachability of a node that hosts some functions.
   All the different functions residing in a node have a different FUNCT
   code, so that their SIDs will be different.  The ARG bits are used to
   provide information (arguments) to a function.  From the routing
   point of view, the solution is scalable, as a single prefix is
   distributed for a node, which implements a potentially large number
   of functions and related arguments.

3.  Test Methodology

3.1.  Test Setup

   The test setup in general is compliant with section 6 of [RFC2544]
   but augmented by the methodology specified in section 4 of [RFC5695]
   using many ports.  It is needed to test the packet forwarding engine
   that may have different performance based on the number of ports
   served.  The Device Under Test (DUT) may have oversubscribed ports,
   then traffic for such ports should be proportionally decreased
   according to the specific DUT oversubscription ratio.  All ports
   served by a particular packet forwarding engine should be loaded in
   reverse proportion to the claimed oversubscription ratio.  Tests
   SHOULD be done with bidirectional traffic that better reflects the
   real environment for SRv6 nodes.  It is OPTIONAL to choose a non-
   equal proportion for upstream and downstream traffic for some
   specific aggregation nodes.

   The RECOMMENDED topology for SRv6 Forwarding Benchmarking should be
   the same as MPLS and it is described in section 4 of [RFC5695].  Port
   numbers involved in the tests and their oversubscription ratio MUST
   be reported.  This document is benchmarking only "source routing".
   Hence, SIDs represent only Headend encapsulation (H.Encaps.xxx) or
   segment Endpoint (End, End.X) that may be carried in IGP extensions.
   In general, Functions of the last SID (called "behavior" in
   [RFC8986]) may be used to encode services (similar to L2/L3 VPNs and
   much more) but it is out of the scope of this document.

   It is OPTIONAL to test SRH in the combination with any other
   extension headers (fragmentation, hop-by-hop, destination options,
   etc.) but in all tests, the SRH header should be present for the test
   to be relevant for SRv6.  It is RECOMMENDED to follow section 5.3 of
   [RFC5180] to introduce other extension headers in proportion 1%, 10%,
   50% that may better reflect real use cases.

   Segment Routing may also be implemented as a software network
   function in an NFV Infrastructure and, in this case, additional
   considerations should be done.  [ETSI-GR-NFV-TST-007] describes test
   guidelines for NFV capabilities that require interactions between the
   components implementing NFV functionality.



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   Special capabilities SHOULD NOT exist in the DUT/SUT specifically for
   benchmarking purposes.

3.2.  Locator and Endpoint behaviors methods

   As specified in [RFC8986], topological segments have the structure
   that consists of Locator and Endpoint behavior (End, End.X, etc), the
   latter may have a few different flavors (PSP, USP, USD).

   It is RECOMMENDED that the DUT and test tool support at least one
   option for SID stack construction:

   *  IS-IS Extensions to Support Segment Routing over IPv6 Dataplane
      [I-D.ietf-lsr-isis-srv6-extensions]

   *  OSPFv3 Extensions for SRv6 [I-D.ietf-lsr-ospfv3-srv6-extensions]

   *  Segment Routing Policy Architecture
      [I-D.ietf-spring-segment-routing-policy].

   A routing protocol (OSPF or ISIS) SHOULD be used for the construction
   of the simplest SRH with 1 SID.  It is RECOMMENDED that SR policy
   should be used for the construction of SRH with 2 SIDs.  It is
   possible to test longer SRH if there is an interest.

   It is RECOMMENDED that the top SID on the list should have an End.X
   flavor type to emulate traffic engineering scenario.  In all cases,
   SID stack configuration SHOULD happen before packet forwarding would
   be started.  Control plane convergence speed is not the subject of
   the present tests.

   The Locator and Endpoint construction method and SR policy
   construction method used MUST be reported according to Section 4.

3.3.  Frame Formats and Sizes

   SRv6 tests will use Frame characteristics similarly to section 4.1.5
   of [RFC5695], except the need for a bigger MTU to accommodate SRH.

   It is to be noted that [RFC5695] requires exactly a single entry in
   the MPLS label stack in an MPLS packet that is not enough to simulate
   a typical SR SID list.  The number of entries in SRH MUST be
   reported.

   According to section 4.1.4.2 of [RFC5695], the payload is RECOMMENDED
   to have an IP packet (IPv6 or IPv4 with UDP or TCP) to better
   represent the real environment.




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   It is assumed that the test would be for Ethernet media only.  Other
   media is possible (see section 4.1.5.2 of [RFC5695] for the POS
   example).  Some layer 2 technologies (like POS/PPP) have bit- or
   byte- stuffing then [RFC4814] may help to calculate real performance
   more accurately or else 1-2% error is expected.  The most popular
   layer 2 technology for SR is Ethernet, it does not have stuffing.

   RECOMMENDED frame sizes are presented below.  Any other frame sizes
   may be added if suspected of abnormal behavior.  For example, some
   architectures may allocate buffer memory in big fixed chunks that may
   drop performance if frame sizes are chosen just a few octet more than
   the fixed chunk size (the second chunk would have a very low memory
   utilization).

   RECOMMENDED frame sizes are the following:

   *  Ethernet Minimal: 64+8+n*16

   *  DUT Minimal Wire Speed: 128-256 (it depends on the DUT
      specification)

   *  Ethernet Typical: 1518+8+n*16

   *  DUT Maximum Wire Speed: 9000

   where n is the number of labels (SID Depth).

   Note that 8 octets are added in the previous calculations for the SRH
   header itself.  While n*16 octets are added to accommodate SID
   entries.  The typical frame size values are listed above for the DUT
   minimal and maximum wire speed, but they can be modified according to
   the DUT characteristics.  Indeed, the minimum wire speed frame size
   can be considered based on the DUT specification but, in some cases,
   many tests may be needed in the search for the real minimum wire
   speed frame size.  VLAN tag may additionally increase the frame size.
   VLAN tag tests are OPTIONAL.

3.4.  Protocol Addresses

   IANA reserved an IPv6 address block 2001:0200::/48 for use with IPv6
   benchmark testing (see section 8 of [RFC5180]).  IPv6 source and
   destination addresses for the test streams SHOULD belong to the IPv6
   range assigned by IANA.  It is not principal what Locator blocks
   would be chosen for tests.  It may be /52, /56, /64, or even bigger.
   It is possible to test a few different Locator blocks if there is a
   need.





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   As it is discussed in section 3.1, there is a need to load the whole
   forwarding engine (on all ports).  [RFC4814] discusses the importance
   to have many flows with address randomization for acceptable hash-
   based load balancing that is implemented in all forwarding engines.
   In the context of this document, it may also be relevant for SIDs,
   because SIDs may be used for hash to choose the next link (depending
   on DUT default or desired configuration).  It is important to check
   what exactly is used for the hash load balancing algorithm on the DUT
   to keep these numbers sufficiently random and at volume.  It is very
   often that IP addresses and transport protocol ports are used instead
   of SIDs.

3.5.  Trial Duration

   The test portion of each trial must take into account the respective
   protocol configuration.  IGP protocols typically have a shorter hold
   time, while some BGP default configurations may be up to 180 seconds.
   It is needed to check the default hold time of the DUT for the
   respective protocol used.

   In general, the test portion of each trial SHOULD be no less than 250
   seconds, which is a reasonable value based on common hold time
   values.  But a test can also adapt to the real setup and select a
   different value if default configuration has been changed.  The test
   portion of each trial can be chosen at least 10 seconds longer than
   the hold time to verify that the DUT can maintain a stable control
   plane when the data-forwarding plane is under stress.

3.6.  Traffic Verification

   Traffic verification is following section 4.1.8 of [RFC5695].

3.7.  Buffer tests

   Back-to-back test was initially discussed in section 26.4 [RFC2544]
   and later improved in [RFC9004] which is considered the comprehensive
   reference for Back-to-back test.  Modern forwarding engines are
   typically flexible in the buffer distribution between different
   ports.  Hence, like for all other benchmarking tests, it is important
   to stress the forwarding engine on all ports.  It should be necessary
   to perform throughput tests first because only frame sizes that
   stress DUT below wire-speed can be used for back-to-back tests.
   Buffers would be filled with the rate equal to the difference between
   the theoretical maximum frame rate (wire-speed) and DUT measured
   throughput for the respective frame size.






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   The test time could be much shorter than recommended in [RFC9004]
   because typical SR DUT is hardware-based with claimed buffers between
   30ms to 100ms.  It is better to consult with the vendor to find a
   good starting search point.  If DUT is software-based then [RFC9004]
   recommendation for 2-30 seconds is applied.

   Queuing SHOULD NOT have weighted random early detection (WRED) or any
   other mechanism that may start dropping packets before the buffer is
   filled.  Queuing SHOULD be configured for the tail drop which is
   typically a non-default configuration.  Back-to-back test is rather
   complex and expensive (50 runs for every frame size).  Hence, it is
   OPTIONAL for SRv6.

4.  Reporting Format

   There are a few parameters that must be changed in section 5 of
   [RFC5695] for SRv6 tests.  New parameters that MUST be reported are:

   *  Port numbers involved in the tests and their respective
      oversubscription ratio.

   *  Upstream/downstream traffic proportion (equal bidirectional or
      some other split).

   *  SRv6 Forwarding Operations (PUSH/ NEXT/ CONTINUE).

   *  Number of Segments considered in the SRH and the type of behavior
      used (according to [RFC8986]).

   *  SR Policy construction method (PCEP, BGP, manual configuration).

   *  Type of the payload (IPv6/IPv4, UDP/TCP).

   *  Tested buffers size in frames with respective frame size (for the
      optional back-to-back test); it is possible to record calculated
      buffer time for wire-speed throughput.

   Some parameters MAY be changed:

   *  Label Distribution protocol and IGP are the same in the context of
      SRv6.  Hence, it is called "Locator and Endpoint behaviors
      methods".

   *  Port media type may be reported only one time for all tests if
      only Ethernet media would be tested






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5.  SRv6 Forwarding Benchmarking Tests

   In general, tests are compliant with [RFC2544] but the important
   correction discussed in section 6 of [RFC2544] is applied: ports
   chosen for every test MUST stress all ports served by one forwarding
   engine.  It is better to check the DUT specification for the
   relationship between ports and the forwarding engine to minimize the
   number of ports involved.  But it is possible to understand the worst
   case by looking at the throughput and latency from the trial tests.
   If any doubt exists about how full is the offered load for the
   forwarding engine then it is better to stress all ports of the line
   card or all ports for the whole router with a centralized forwarding
   engine.  A partial load on the forwarding engine would show
   optimistic results.  Controllable traffic distribution between many
   ports (as specified in section 4 of [RFC5695]) would need separate
   SID announcements for separate ports.

   As specified in section 6 of [RFC5695], the traffic is sent from test
   tool Tx port(s) to the DUT at a constant load for a fixed-time
   interval, and is received from the DUT on test tool Rx port(s).  If
   any frame loss is detected, then a new iteration is needed where the
   offered load is decreased and the sender will transmit again.  An
   iterative search algorithm MUST be used to determine the maximum
   offered frame rate with a zero frame loss (No-Drop Rate - NDR).  Each
   iteration should involve varying the offered load of the traffic,
   while keeping the other parameters (test duration, number of ports,
   number of addresses, frame size, etc.) constant, until the maximum
   rate at which none of the offered frames are dropped is determined.

5.1.  Throughput

   This section contains a description of the tests that are related to
   the characterization of a DUT's SRv6 traffic forwarding throughput.

   The list of segments for SRv6 is represented as a list of IPv6
   addresses, included in the SRH.  There are three distinct types of
   nodes that are involved in segment routing networks.

5.1.1.  Throughput of a Source Node

   Objective: To obtain the DUT's Throughput during the packet
   processing of a Source Node.  It is when the Source SR node, which
   corresponds to the headend node, encapsulates a received packet into
   an outer IPv6 packet and inserts the SR Header (SRH) as a Routing
   Extension Header in the outer IPv6 header.  The Segment List in the
   SRH is composed of SIDs and the Source SR node sets the first SID of
   the SR Policy as the IPv6 Destination Address of the packet.




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   Procedure: Similar to [RFC5695] with potential extension to test SID
   list longer than 1 SID (2 are RECOMMENDED, many are possible).  The
   test tool must advertise and learn the IP prefix(es), as per
   Section 3.4, and must use one option for SID stack construction, as
   per Section 3.2, on its receive ports and transmit ports towards the
   DUT.

   Reporting Format: Similar to [RFC5180] with the additional parameters
   specified in Section 4.

5.1.2.  Throughput of a Segment Endpoint Node

   Objective: To obtain the DUT's Throughput during the packet
   processing of a Segment Endpoint Node.  It is when the SR Segment
   Endpoint node receives packets whose IPv6 destination address is
   locally configured as a segment.  The SR Segment Endpoint node
   inspects the SR header: it detects the new active segment, i.e. the
   next segment in the Segment List, modifies the IPv6 destination
   address of the outer IPv6 header and forwards the packet on the basis
   of the IPv6 forwarding table.

   Procedure: Similar to [RFC5695] with potential extension to test SID
   list longer than 1 SID (2 are RECOMMENDED, many are possible).  The
   test tool must advertise and learn the IP prefix(es), as per
   Section 3.4, and must use one option for SID stack construction, as
   per Section 3.2, on its receive ports and transmit ports towards the
   DUT.

   Reporting Format: Similar to [RFC5180] with the additional parameters
   specified in Section 4.

5.1.3.  Throughput of a Transit Node

   Objective: To obtain the DUT's Throughput during the packet
   processing of a Transit Node.  It is when a Transit node forwards the
   packet containing the SR header as a normal IPv6 packet because the
   IPv6 destination address does not locally match with a segment.

   Procedure: Similar to [RFC5695] with potential extension to test SID
   list longer than 1 SID (2 are RECOMMENDED, many are possible).  The
   test tool must advertise and learn the IP prefix(es), as per
   Section 3.4, and must use one option for SID stack construction, as
   per Section 3.2, on its receive ports and transmit ports towards the
   DUT.

   Reporting Format: Similar to [RFC5180] with the additional parameters
   specified in Section 4.




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5.2.  Buffers size

   Back-to-back test is OPTIONAL and SHOULD be performed only after
   throughput tests because it SHOULD use only frame sizes that DUT is
   not capable to forward wire-speed, as further explained in a previous
   section.

   Objective: To determine the buffer size as defined in section 6 of
   [RFC9004] for each of the SRv6 forwarding operations.

   Procedure: Similar to [RFC9004] with 2 SIDs RECOMMENDED (many SIDs
   are possible).

   Reporting Format: Similar to [RFC5180] with the additional parameters
   specified in Section 4.

5.3.  Latency

   Objective: To determine the latency as defined in section 6.2 of
   [RFC5695] for each of the SRv6 forwarding operations.

   Procedure: Similar to [RFC5695] with potential extension to test SID
   list longer than 1 SID (2 are RECOMMENDED, many are possible).  It is
   OPTIONAL to improve the procedure according to section 7.2 [RFC8219]
   measuring 500 frames in one test with calculations for typical and
   worst-case latency.

   Reporting Format: Similar to [RFC5180] with the additional parameters
   specified in Section 4.

5.4.  Frame Loss

   Objective: To determine the frame-loss rate (as defined in section
   6.3 of [RFC5695]) for each of the SRv6 forwarding operations of a DUT
   throughout the entire range of input data rates and frame sizes.

   Procedure: Similar to [RFC5695] with potential extension to test SID
   list longer than 1 SID (2 are RECOMMENDED, many are possible).

   Reporting Format: Similar to [RFC5180] with the additional parameters
   specified in Section 4.

5.5.  System Recovery

   Objective: To characterize the speed at which a DUT recovers from an
   overload condition for each of the SRv6 forwarding operations.

   Procedure: Similar to section 6.4 of [RFC5695].



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   Reporting Format: Similar to [RFC5180] with the additional parameters
   specified in Section 4.

5.6.  Reset

   Objective: To characterize the speed at which a DUT recovers from a
   device or software reset for each of the SRv6 forwarding operations.

   Procedure: Similar to section 4 of [RFC6201] where the types of
   resets considered are Hardware resets, Software resets and Power
   interruption.  They have a different impact on the forwarding
   behavior of the device.

   Reporting Format: Similar to [RFC6201] with the additional parameters
   specified in Section 4.

   The Reset tests SHOULD be extended according to [RFC6201] in order to
   reset only part of the DUT: only line card reset, only process reset
   (for example ISIS), only one routing engine reset in the
   configuration with routing engine redundancy, full power
   interruption, partial power interruption, etc.

6.  Security Considerations

   Benchmarking methodologies are limited to technology characterization
   in a laboratory environment, with dedicated address space and
   constraints.  Special capabilities SHOULD NOT exist in the DUT/SUT
   specifically for benchmarking purposes.  Any implications for network
   security arising from the DUT/SUT SHOULD be identical in the lab and
   production networks.  The benchmarking network topology is an
   independent test setup and MUST NOT be connected to devices that may
   forward the test traffic into a production network or misroute
   traffic to the test management network.

   There are no specific security considerations within the scope of
   this document.

7.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no IANA actions.

8.  Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to thank Al Morton, Gabor Lencse, Boris
   Khasanov for the precious comments and suggestions.

9.  References




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9.1.  Normative References

   [RFC1242]  Bradner, S., "Benchmarking Terminology for Network
              Interconnection Devices", RFC 1242, DOI 10.17487/RFC1242,
              July 1991, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1242>.

   [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>.

   [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>.

   [RFC4814]  Newman, D. and T. Player, "Hash and Stuffing: Overlooked
              Factors in Network Device Benchmarking", RFC 4814,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4814, March 2007,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4814>.

   [RFC5180]  Popoviciu, C., Hamza, A., Van de Velde, G., and D.
              Dugatkin, "IPv6 Benchmarking Methodology for Network
              Interconnect Devices", RFC 5180, DOI 10.17487/RFC5180, May
              2008, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5180>.

   [RFC5695]  Akhter, A., Asati, R., and C. Pignataro, "MPLS Forwarding
              Benchmarking Methodology for IP Flows", RFC 5695,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5695, November 2009,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5695>.

   [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>.

   [RFC8219]  Georgescu, M., Pislaru, L., and G. Lencse, "Benchmarking
              Methodology for IPv6 Transition Technologies", RFC 8219,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8219, August 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8219>.

   [RFC8402]  Filsfils, C., Ed., Previdi, S., Ed., Ginsberg, L.,
              Decraene, B., Litkowski, S., and R. Shakir, "Segment
              Routing Architecture", RFC 8402, DOI 10.17487/RFC8402,
              July 2018, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8402>.







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   [RFC8754]  Filsfils, C., Ed., Dukes, D., Ed., Previdi, S., Leddy, J.,
              Matsushima, S., and D. Voyer, "IPv6 Segment Routing Header
              (SRH)", RFC 8754, DOI 10.17487/RFC8754, March 2020,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8754>.

   [RFC8986]  Filsfils, C., Ed., Camarillo, P., Ed., Leddy, J., Voyer,
              D., Matsushima, S., and Z. Li, "Segment Routing over IPv6
              (SRv6) Network Programming", RFC 8986,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8986, February 2021,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8986>.

9.2.  Informative References

   [ETSI-GR-NFV-TST-007]
              ETSI, "ETSI GR NFV-TST 007: Network Functions
              Virtualisation (NFV) Release 3; Testing; Guidelines on
              Interoperability Testing for MANO", 2020,
              <https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gr/NFV-
              TST/001_099/007/02.06.01_60/gr_nfv-tst007v020601p.pdf>.

   [I-D.ietf-idr-segment-routing-te-policy]
              Previdi, S., Filsfils, C., Talaulikar, K., Mattes, P.,
              Jain, D., and S. Lin, "Advertising Segment Routing
              Policies in BGP", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-
              ietf-idr-segment-routing-te-policy-20, 27 July 2022,
              <https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-ietf-idr-segment-
              routing-te-policy-20.txt>.

   [I-D.ietf-lsr-isis-srv6-extensions]
              Psenak, P., Filsfils, C., Bashandy, A., Decraene, B., and
              Z. Hu, "IS-IS Extensions to Support Segment Routing over
              IPv6 Dataplane", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-
              ietf-lsr-isis-srv6-extensions-18, 20 October 2021,
              <https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-ietf-lsr-isis-srv6-
              extensions-18.txt>.

   [I-D.ietf-lsr-ospfv3-srv6-extensions]
              Li, Z., Hu, Z., Talaulikar, K., and P. Psenak, "OSPFv3
              Extensions for SRv6", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft,
              draft-ietf-lsr-ospfv3-srv6-extensions-08, 14 September
              2022, <https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-ietf-lsr-
              ospfv3-srv6-extensions-08.txt>.









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   [I-D.ietf-rtgwg-segment-routing-ti-lfa]
              Litkowski, S., Bashandy, A., Filsfils, C., Francois, P.,
              Decraene, B., and D. Voyer, "Topology Independent Fast
              Reroute using Segment Routing", Work in Progress,
              Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-rtgwg-segment-routing-ti-lfa-
              08, 21 January 2022, <https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/
              draft-ietf-rtgwg-segment-routing-ti-lfa-08.txt>.

   [I-D.ietf-spring-segment-routing-policy]
              Filsfils, C., Talaulikar, K., Voyer, D., Bogdanov, A., and
              P. Mattes, "Segment Routing Policy Architecture", Work in
              Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-spring-segment-
              routing-policy-22, 22 March 2022,
              <https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-ietf-spring-
              segment-routing-policy-22.txt>.

   [RFC6201]  Asati, R., Pignataro, C., Calabria, F., and C. Olvera,
              "Device Reset Characterization", RFC 6201,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6201, March 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6201>.

   [RFC8200]  Deering, S. and R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6
              (IPv6) Specification", STD 86, RFC 8200,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8200, July 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8200>.

   [RFC8664]  Sivabalan, S., Filsfils, C., Tantsura, J., Henderickx, W.,
              and J. Hardwick, "Path Computation Element Communication
              Protocol (PCEP) Extensions for Segment Routing", RFC 8664,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8664, December 2019,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8664>.

   [RFC9004]  Morton, A., "Updates for the Back-to-Back Frame Benchmark
              in RFC 2544", RFC 9004, DOI 10.17487/RFC9004, May 2021,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9004>.

Authors' Addresses

   Giuseppe Fioccola
   Huawei Technologies
   Riesstrasse, 25
   80992 Munich
   Germany
   Email: giuseppe.fioccola@huawei.com







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   Eduard Vasilenko
   Huawei Technologies
   17/4 Krylatskaya str.
   Moscow
   Email: vasilenko.eduard@huawei.com


   Paolo Volpato
   Huawei Technologies
   Via Lorenteggio, 240
   20147 Milan
   Italy
   Email: paolo.volpato@huawei.com


   Luis Miguel Contreras Murillo
   Telefonica
   Spain
   Email: luismiguel.contrerasmurillo@telefonica.com
































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