# Getting Started with 'vsperf'

## Installation

Follow the [installation instructions] to install.
---
## Cloning and building src dependencies
In order to run VSPERF, you will need to download DPDK and OVS. You can do this manually and build them in a preferred location, or you could use vswitchperf/src. The vswitchperf/src directory contains makefiles that will allow you to clone and build the libraries that VSPERF depends on, such as DPDK and OVS. To clone and build simply:

```bash
cd src
make
```

To delete a src subdirectory and its contents to allow you to re-clone simply use:

```bash
make cleanse
```

## Configure the `./conf/10_custom.conf` file

The supplied `10_custom.conf` file must be modified, as it contains configuration items for which there are no reasonable default values.

The configuration items that can be added is not limited to the initial contents. Any configuration item mentioned in any .conf file in `./conf` directory can be added and that item will be overridden by the custom
configuration value.

## Using a custom settings file

Alternatively a custom settings file can be passed to `vsperf` via the `--conf-file` argument.

```bash
./vsperf --conf-file <path_to_settings_py> ...
```

Note that configuration passed in via the environment (`--load-env`) or via another command line argument will override both the default and your custom configuration files. This "priority hierarchy" can be described like so (1 = max priority):

1. Command line arguments
2. Environment variables
3. Configuration file(s)

---

## Executing tests
Before running any tests make sure you have root permissions by adding the following line to /etc/sudoers:
```
username ALL=(ALL)       NOPASSWD: ALL
```
username in the example above should be replaced with a real username.

To list the available tests:

```bash
./vsperf --list-tests
```

To run a group of tests, for example all tests with a name containing
'RFC2544':

```bash
./vsperf --conf-file=user_settings.py --tests="RFC2544"
```

To run all tests:

```bash
./vsperf --conf-file=user_settings.py
```

Some tests allow for configurable parameters, including test duration (in
seconds) as well as packet sizes (in bytes).

```bash
./vsperf --conf-file user_settings.py
    --tests RFC2544Tput
    --test-param "rfc2544_duration=10;packet_sizes=128"
```

For all available options, check out the help dialog:

```bash
./vsperf --help
```

---

[installation instructions]: installation.md