> From: Bruce Richardson [mailto:bruce.richard...@intel.com] > Sent: Tuesday, 14 December 2021 15.58 > > On Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 02:12:30PM +0000, Ronan Randles wrote: > > This patchset introduces a Gen library for DPDK. This library > provides an easy > > way to generate traffic in order to test software based network > components. > > > > This library enables the basic functionality required in the traffic > generator. > > This includes: raw data setting, packet Tx and Rx, creation and > destruction of a > > Gen instance and various types of data parsing. > > This functionality is implemented in "lib/gen/rte_gen.c". IPv4 > parsing > > functionality is also added in "lib/net/rte_ip.c", this is then used > in the gen > > library. > > > > A sample app is included in "examples/generator" which shows the use > of the gen > > library in making a traffic generator. This can be used to generate > traffic by > > running the dpdk-generator generator executable. This sample app > supports > > runtime stats reporting (/gen/stats) and line rate limiting > > (/gen/mpps,<target traffic rate in mpps>) through telemetry.py. > > > > As more features are added to the gen library, the sample application > will > > become more powerful through the "/gen/packet" string parameter > > (currently supports IP and Ether address setting). This will allow > every > > application to generate more complex traffic types in the future > without > > changing API. > > > > I think this is great to see, and sounds a good addition to DPDK. One > thing > to address in any v2 is to add more documentation for both the library > and > the example app. You need a chapter on the lib added to the programmers > guide to help others use the library from their code, and a chapter on > the > generator example in the example apps guide. > > More general question - if we do have a traffic generator in DPDK, > would it > be better in the "app" rather than the examples one? If it's only going > to > ever stay a simple example of using the lib, examples might be fine, > but I > suspect that it will get quite complicated if people start using it and > adding more features, in which case a move to the "app" folder might be > more appropriate. Thoughts? > > /Bruce
If adding a traffic generator lib/app to DPDK itself, it should be able to evolve freely, unencumbered by the DPDK ABI/API stability requirements. Also, it MUST be optional when building DPDK for production purposes. Consider the security perspective: If a network appliance based on DPDK is compromised by a hacker, you don't want it to include a traffic generator. -Morten
