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¶

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.

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
    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.

Uplink¶

On the gnbsim terminal, run the iperf3 client:

iperf3 -c <IP address of the host> --bind-dev uesimtun0

You should see the throughput reported. For example:

ubuntu@gnbsim:~$ iperf3 -c 10.42.0.13 -p 1234 --bind-dev uesimtun0
Connecting to host 10.42.0.13, port 1234
[  5] local 172.250.0.5 port 59850 connected to 10.42.0.13 port 1234
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec   512 KBytes  4.19 Mbits/sec  132   10.5 KBytes       
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec   384 KBytes  3.14 Mbits/sec   67   6.58 KBytes       
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec   640 KBytes  5.24 Mbits/sec   77   3.95 KBytes       
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  2.12 MBytes  17.8 Mbits/sec  213   2.63 KBytes       
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  2.50 MBytes  21.0 Mbits/sec  189   2.63 KBytes       
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec   768 KBytes  6.30 Mbits/sec  124   3.95 KBytes       
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec   512 KBytes  4.19 Mbits/sec   84   3.95 KBytes       
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec   384 KBytes  3.15 Mbits/sec   71   9.21 KBytes       
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec   384 KBytes  3.15 Mbits/sec  117   1.32 KBytes       
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec   512 KBytes  4.19 Mbits/sec   76   10.5 KBytes       
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  8.62 MBytes  7.23 Mbits/sec  1150             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  8.25 MBytes  6.92 Mbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.

Downlink¶

On the gnbsim terminal, run the iperf3 client with the -R flag:

iperf3 -c <IP address of the host> --bind-dev uesimtun0 -R

You should see the throughput reported. For example:

ubuntu@gnbsim:~$ iperf3 -c 10.42.0.13 -p 1234 --bind-dev uesimtun0 -R
Connecting to host 10.42.0.13, port 1234
Reverse mode, remote host 10.42.0.13 is sending
[  5] local 172.250.0.5 port 52354 connected to 10.42.0.13 port 1234
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  23.0 MBytes   193 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  22.9 MBytes   192 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  21.8 MBytes   183 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  22.8 MBytes   191 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  23.0 MBytes   193 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  23.0 MBytes   193 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  22.8 MBytes   191 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  22.8 MBytes   191 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  23.1 MBytes   194 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  22.9 MBytes   192 Mbits/sec                  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   228 MBytes   191 Mbits/sec  20524             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   228 MBytes   191 Mbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.

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