Package: npf
Network Performance FrameworkRun performance tests on network and system software by running snippets of bash scripts on a cluster
following a simple definition file. For instance, the following configuration to test iPerf2 performance:%info
IPerf2ThroughputExperiment

%confign_runs=5var_names={PARALLEL:Numberofparallelconnections,WINDOW:Windowsize(kB),THROUGHPUT:Throughput}%variablesPARALLEL=[1-8]WINDOW={16,512}TIME=2%script@server
iperf-s

%script@clientdelay=1//Launchtheprogram,copytheoutputtoalog
iperf-c${server:0:ip}-w${WINDOW}k-t$TIME-P$PARALLEL2>&1|teeiperf.log
//Parsethelogtofindthethroughputresult=$(catiperf.log|grep-ioE"[0-9.]+ [kmg]bits"|tail-n1)//GivethethroughputtoNPFthroughstdoutecho"RESULT-THROUGHPUT$result"When launching NPF with:npf-run--testtests/tcp/01-iperf.npf--clusterclient=machine01.cluster.comserver=machine02.cluster.comNPF will automatically produce the following graph. Configuration options enables to change the graph type, and many other options easily,check the wikito see different graphs displaying the same data.Test files allow to define a matrix of parameters to try many combinations of
variables (seeherefor a description of the possible definitions such as values, ranges, ...) for each test and report performance results and evolution for each combination of variables.Finally, a graph will be built and statistical results may be computed for each test
showing the difference between variables values, different softwares, or the evolution of
performances through commits.Test files are simple to write, and easy to share, as such we encourage
users to share their ".npf" scripts with their code to allow other users to reproduce
their results, and graphs.NPF supports running the given test across a custer, allowing to try your tests
in multiple different configuration very quickly and on serious hardware.DocumentationThe documentation is available onread the docs!Quick InstallationNPF is built using Python 3, and is published on pypi, so it can be installed
with pip using:pip3install--usernpfAt run-time, NPF uses SSH and can benefit from usage of sudo and NFS, see therun-time dependenciesin the documentation for more information.Big pictureYour.npftest file is composed of a serie of sections, as in the example given above. The sections describe the scripts to run, where to run them, what variables should be tested, what are their ranges, configuration parameters such as timeout or graph colors, etc. Each section is described in more details inthe "writing test script" documentation.When launching NPF, you will also give the name of one or morerepositories, which are files located in therepofolder describing software to download, install and compile so everything is in place when your experiment is launched. They follow a format descrived inrepo/README.md. It can also be ignored using thelocalfake repository.Your test script will also define a few scriptroles, such asclientorserveras in the example above. When you actually launch your experiment, you must tell which machine (physical or virtual) will take the role. For simple cases, passing the address of a machine with the--cluster role=machinewill be enough. When you'd like to define parameters such as IPs and MAC addresses, you can define aclusterfile that will describe details about each machines. See thecluster documentationfor more details.Where to continue from here?Have you read thewriting tests documentation? Then, inspire yourself from the test script files intests/, and write your own!How to distribute your test scripts, modules and repo files?We welcome merge requests for generic stuffs! But you can keep your files in your "experimentation" folder. Indeed, NPF will always look for a file first in "./repo" for repo files, "./modules" for modules and "./cluster" for machines definition.