Methodology for ATM Benchmarking
RFC 3116

Network Working Group                                            J. Dunn
Request for Comments: 3116                                     C. Martin
Category: Informational                                        ANC, Inc.
                                                               June 2001

                    Methodology for ATM Benchmarking

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 (2001).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This document discusses and defines a number of tests that may be
   used to describe the performance characteristics of ATM (Asynchronous
   Transfer Mode) based switching devices.  In addition to defining the
   tests this document also describes specific formats for reporting the
   results of the tests.

   This memo is a product of the Benchmarking Methodology Working Group
   (BMWG) of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   2. Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   2.1. Test Device Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   2.2. Systems Under Test (SUTs). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   2.3. Test Result Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   2.4. Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   2.5. Test Configurations for SONET. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   2.6. SUT Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   2.7. Frame Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   2.8. Frame Sizes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   2.9. Verifying Received IP PDU's. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   2.10. Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   2.10.1. Management IP PDU's . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   2.10.2. Routing Update IP PDU's . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
   2.11. Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
   2.11.1. Filter Addresses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   2.12. Protocol Addresses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Dunn & Martin                Informational                      [Page 1]
RFC 3116            Methodology for ATM Benchmarking           June 2001

   2.13. Route Set Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
   2.14. Bidirectional Traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
   2.15. Single Stream Path. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
   2.16. Multi-port. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   2.17. Multiple Protocols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   2.18. Multiple IP PDU Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   2.19. Testing Beyond a Single SUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   2.20. Maximum IP PDU Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   2.21. Busty Traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   2.22. Trial Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   2.23. Trial Duration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   2.24. Address Resolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   2.25. Synchronized Payload Bit Pattern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   2.26. Burst Traffic Descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   3. Performance Metrics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   3.1. Physical Layer-SONET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   3.1.1. Pointer Movements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   3.1.1.1. Pointer Movement Propagation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   3.1.1.2. Cell Loss due to Pointer Movement. . . . . . . . . . . . 19
   3.1.1.3. IP Packet Loss due to Pointer Movement . . . . . . . . . 20
   3.1.2. Transport Overhead (TOH) Error Count . . . . . . . . . . . 21
   3.1.2.1. TOH Error Propagation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
   3.1.2.2. Cell Loss due to TOH Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
   3.1.2.3. IP Packet Loss due to TOH Error. . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
   3.1.3. Path Overhead (POH) Error Count. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
   3.1.3.1. POH Error Propagation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
   3.1.3.2. Cell Loss due to POH Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
   3.1.3.3. IP Packet Loss due to POH Error. . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
   3.2. ATM Layer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
   3.2.1. Two-Point Cell Delay Variation (CDV) . . . . . . . . . . . 27
   3.2.1.1. Test Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
   3.2.1.2. Two-point CDV/Steady Load/One VCC. . . . . . . . . . . . 27
   3.2.1.3. Two-point CDV/Steady Load/Twelve VCCs. . . . . . . . . . 28