Test UPF Performance

This guide covers how to test the performance of the UPF.

Requirements

You will need for this test a working deployment of Charmed Aether SD-Core by following the Mastering Tutorial.

You will also require a machine on the data network to run the iperf3 server.

Setting up

Log in to the juju-controller VM:

lxc exec juju-controller -- su --login ubuntu

Disable the GNB simulator temporarily:

juju switch gnbsim
juju scale-application gnbsim 0

Connect to the gnbsim host:

ssh gnbsim

Install the required software:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install iperf3
sudo snap install ueransim --edge
sudo snap connect ueransim:network-control

Note down the IP of the gnbsim VM’s management interface:

ip a show dev enp5s0

Edit the UERANSIM’s gNodeB configuration file:

sudo vim /var/snap/ueransim/common/gnb.yaml

Edit the ngapIp field to the IP of the management interface noted above.

Edit the gtpIp field to 10.204.0.100.

Edit the address field under amfConfigs to amf.mgmt.local.

This section of the file should look like this:

linkIp: 127.0.0.1    # IP to use between UE and GNB
ngapIp: 10.201.0.103 # IP to use to communicate with the AMF
gtpIp:  10.204.0.100 # IP to use to communicate with the UPF

# List of AMF address information
amfConfigs:
  - address: amf.mgmt.local
    port: 38412

Running the simulator

Prepare 2 terminals connected to the gnbsim VM.

In the first one, run the gNodeB:

sudo ueransim.nr-gnb -c /var/snap/ueransim/common/gnb.yaml

The logs should report:

NG Setup procedure is successful

In the second terminal, run the UE:

sudo ueransim.nr-ue -c /var/snap/ueransim/common/ue.yaml

The logs should report:

Connection setup for PDU session[1] is successful, TUN interface[uesimtun0, 172.250.0.5] is up

The exact IP address might the UE gets might be different.

Test the connectivity

Open another terminal to the gnbsim VM. Run the command:

ping -I uesimtun0 8.8.8.8

The pings should get replies.

Test connectivity to host

Open a terminal to the host running the VMs. Note down its IP:

ip addr show

From the gnbsim VM, try to ping it through UE simulator:

ping -I uesimtun0 <IP address of the host>

Run performance test

On the host, install iperf3 and start an iperf3 server:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install iperf3
iperf3 -s

Note

You may need to use a different port if the default port is already in use.

Summary

The results above show the throughput of the connection between the UE and the host, going through the UPF. In this case, the results are:

  • Uplink: 7.23 Mbps/sec

  • Downlink: 191 Mbps/sec