Benchmarking the Neighbor Discovery Protocol
RFC 8161

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                        W. Cerveny
Request for Comments: 8161                                Arbor Networks
Category: Informational                                        R. Bonica
ISSN: 2070-1721                                                R. Thomas
                                                        Juniper Networks
                                                                May 2017

              Benchmarking the Neighbor Discovery Protocol

Abstract

   This document provides benchmarking procedures for the Neighbor
   Discovery Protocol (NDP).  It also proposes metrics by which an NDP
   implementation's scaling capabilities can be measured.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
   approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8161.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2017 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
   (http://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 Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Cerveny, et al.               Informational                     [Page 1]
RFC 8161                    NDP Benchmarking                    May 2017

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................2
      1.1. Requirements Language ......................................4
   2. Test Setup ......................................................4
      2.1. Device Under Test (DUT) ....................................4
           2.1.1. Interfaces ..........................................4
           2.1.2. Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) ...................5
           2.1.3. Routing .............................................5
      2.2. Tester .....................................................6
           2.2.1. Interfaces ..........................................6
           2.2.2. Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) ...................6
           2.2.3. Routing .............................................6
           2.2.4. Test Traffic ........................................7
           2.2.5. Counters ............................................8
   3. Tests ...........................................................8
      3.1. Baseline Test ..............................................8
           3.1.1. Procedure ...........................................9
           3.1.2. Baseline Test Procedure Flow Chart ..................9
           3.1.3. Results ............................................11
      3.2. Scaling Test ..............................................11
           3.2.1. Procedure ..........................................11
           3.2.2. Scaling Test Procedure Flow Chart ..................13
           3.2.3. Results ............................................15
   4. Measurements Explicitly Excluded ...............................15
      4.1. DUT CPU Utilization .......................................15
      4.2. Malformed Packets .........................................15
   5. IANA Considerations ............................................16
   6. Security Considerations ........................................16
   7. Normative References ...........................................16
   Acknowledgments ...................................................16
   Authors' Addresses ................................................17

1.  Introduction

   When an IPv6 node forwards a packet, it executes the following
   procedure:

   o  Identifies the outbound interface and IPv6 next hop.

   o  Queries a local Neighbor Cache (NC) to determine the IPv6 next
      hop's link-layer address.

   o  Encapsulates the packet in a link-layer header.  The link-layer
      header includes the IPv6 next hop's link-layer address.

   o  Forwards the packet to the IPv6 next hop.

Cerveny, et al.               Informational                     [Page 2]
RFC 8161                    NDP Benchmarking                    May 2017