Kubernetes CNI Benchmark With iPerf3

To compare the network performance between Calico and Cilium in your Kubernetes cluster, you can follow these steps:

1. Prepare your Kubernetes Cluster:

   • Ensure your Kubernetes cluster is properly set up and running with Calico as the CNI.
   • Verify that you have admin access to your cluster.

2. Deploy a Network Performance Benchmarking Tool:

You can use tools like iperf, netperf, or wrk to measure network performance. iperf is commonly used and can be deployed as a pod in your cluster to measure throughput between nodes.

3. Benchmark with Calico:

   • Deploy iPerf3 pods in your cluster.
   • Run network performance tests and collect data.

4. Migrate from Calico to Cilium:

   • Safely migrate your CNI from Calico to Cilium.
   • Ensure your applications and services are running smoothly after the migration.

5. Benchmark with Cilium:

   • Repeat the deployment of iperf pods and run the same network performance tests.
   • Collect data for comparison.

Using iperf3-to-influxdb and Grafana

Step 1: Create InfluxDB And iperf Database

Deploy InfluxDB in your Kubernetes cluster: influxdb.yaml

kubectl apply -f influxdb.yaml
# create database
kubectl exec -it deploy/influxdb -- influx -execute 'CREATE DATABASE iperf'
# list databases
kubectl exec -it deploy/influxdb -- influx -execute 'SHOW DATABASES'

Step 2: Create the iperf3 Server Deployment and Service

Ensure the iperf server is running and accessible as described earlier: iperf-server.yaml

kubectl apply -f iperf-server.yaml

Step 3: Create the ConfigMap for the Script

Create a ConfigMap that contains the iperf-to-influx.sh script: iperf-to-influx-configmap.yaml

kubectl apply -f iperf-to-influx-configmap.yaml

Step 4: Create a CronJob to Schedule the Parallel Job

Create a CronJob that schedules the above Job template periodically: iperf-client-cronjob.yaml

kubectl apply -f iperf-client-cronjob.yaml

Step 5: Visualize Data in Grafana

Create datasource in grafana namespace

## EDIT grafana-datasource.yaml  to Update influxdb namespace by replacing: YOUR_NAMESPACE

kubectl create -f grafana-datasource.yaml  -n monitoring

kubectl create cm iperf-dashboard --from-file=grafana-dashboard.json && kubectl label configmap/iperf-dashboard grafana_dashboard="1"