VPP/How To Use The Packet Generator and Packet Tracer
Introduction
The VPP platform includes packet generation and packet tracing facilities.
The following example shows steps that you might typically use to run a debug version of the vpp executable file, generate packets, and to analyze results.
Example with IP4 ARP Messages
In the following steps, the VPP executable does not need to be started with superuser permissions. The VPP executable will not discover physical devices when run as a normal user.
Step 1. Start a debug version of vpp
From the command line, make the VPP source directory the working directory and run VPP as shown in the following example.
In the following example, including the dpdk argument means that no physical interfaces will be discovered.
$ ./build-root/install-vpp_debug-native/vpp/bin/vpp unix interactive plugins { plugin dpdk_plugin.so { disable } }
Step 2. Execute the arp4 setup script
From the vpp debug command-line, execute the arp4 script.
DBGvpp# exec src/scripts/vnet/arp4
Step 3. Examine the setup script
Let's tale a look at the contents of the setup script that you just executed. The script .../vpp/vnet/etc/scripts/arp4 contains:
packet-generator new {
name x
limit 1
node ip4-input
size 64-64
no-recycle
data {
ICMP: 1.0.0.2 -> 2.0.0.2
ICMP echo_request
incrementing 100
}
}
trace add pg-input 100
loop create
loop create
set int state loop0 up
set int state loop1 up
set int ip address loop0 1.0.0.1/24
set int ip address loop1 2.0.0.1/24
The first stanza creates a packet generator stream called "x" which sends a single ipv4 icmp echo-request when enabled. The trace add command arranges to trace 100 packets originating at the pg-input graph node. If you want to trace packets originating at the "ethernet-input" node - which is probably the most typical real-world use-case - make the substitution for that graph node.
Finally, the script configures a couple of loopback interfaces; primarily, so that ip4-input / ip4-lookup won't immediately ditch the generated packet.
Step 4. Generate packets
On the vpp debug command-line, enable the packet generator.
DBGvpp# packet-generator enable
Step 5. Run the packet tracer
Use the show trace command to run the packet tracer.
DBGvpp# show trace
------------------- Start of thread 0 vpp_main -------------------
Packet 1
00:00:21:923147: pg-input
stream x, 64 bytes, sw_if_index 1
current data 0, length 64, buffer-pool 0, ref-count 1, trace handle 0x0
ICMP: 1.0.0.2 -> 2.0.0.2
tos 0x00, ttl 64, length 64, checksum 0x77ba dscp CS0 ecn NON_ECN
fragment id 0x0000
ICMP echo_request checksum 0x7a6e id 1
00:00:21:923216: ip4-input
ICMP: 1.0.0.2 -> 2.0.0.2
tos 0x00, ttl 64, length 64, checksum 0x77ba dscp CS0 ecn NON_ECN
fragment id 0x0000
ICMP echo_request checksum 0x7a6e id 1
00:00:21:923252: ip4-not-enabled
ICMP: 1.0.0.2 -> 2.0.0.2
tos 0x00, ttl 64, length 64, checksum 0x77ba dscp CS0 ecn NON_ECN
fragment id 0x0000
ICMP echo_request checksum 0x7a6e id 1
00:00:21:923261: error-drop
rx:pg0
00:00:21:923270: drop
null-node: blackholed packets
Step 6. Analyze the information
You can see in the trace above that the packet goes through "ip4-not-enabled" before being dropped. This is because the interface used to inject the packet (pg0 by default) has no IPv4 configuration and hence ARP is not enabled.
Inspecting the error counters you see what we might expect in light of the packet tracer output:
DBGvpp# sh err
Count Node Reason Severity
1 null-node blackholed packets error
You can enable IPv4 on pg0 by configuring it as eg. unnumbered:
DBGvpp# set int unnumbered pg0 use loop0
And look at the result when re-injecting the packet:
DBGvpp# clear trace
DBGvpp# trace add pg-input 10
DBGvpp# packet-generator enable-stream
DBGvpp# show trace
------------------- Start of thread 0 vpp_main -------------------
Packet 1
00:05:44:786471: pg-input
stream x, 64 bytes, sw_if_index 1
current data 0, length 64, buffer-pool 0, ref-count 1, trace handle 0x0
ICMP: 1.0.0.2 -> 2.0.0.2
tos 0x00, ttl 64, length 64, checksum 0x77ba dscp CS0 ecn NON_ECN
fragment id 0x0000
ICMP echo_request checksum 0x7a6e id 1
00:05:44:786501: ip4-input
ICMP: 1.0.0.2 -> 2.0.0.2
tos 0x00, ttl 64, length 64, checksum 0x77ba dscp CS0 ecn NON_ECN
fragment id 0x0000
ICMP echo_request checksum 0x7a6e id 1
00:05:44:786513: ip4-lookup
fib 0 dpo-idx 3 flow hash: 0x00000000
ICMP: 1.0.0.2 -> 2.0.0.2
tos 0x00, ttl 64, length 64, checksum 0x77ba dscp CS0 ecn NON_ECN
fragment id 0x0000
ICMP echo_request checksum 0x7a6e id 1
00:05:44:786523: ip4-glean
ICMP: 1.0.0.2 -> 2.0.0.2
tos 0x00, ttl 64, length 64, checksum 0x77ba dscp CS0 ecn NON_ECN
fragment id 0x0000
ICMP echo_request checksum 0x7a6e id 1
00:05:44:786547: ip4-drop
ICMP: 1.0.0.2 -> 2.0.0.2
tos 0x00, ttl 64, length 64, checksum 0x77ba dscp CS0 ecn NON_ECN
fragment id 0x0000
ICMP echo_request checksum 0x7a6e id 1
00:05:44:786568: error-drop
rx:pg0
00:05:44:786591: drop
ip4-glean: ARP requests sent
Convert a PCAP file to a PG file
The below is a ping PCAP capture converted into Packet Generator (PG) format.
1. Use the PCAP2PG converter utility in the source tree
cd /vpp/build-root/build-vpp_debug-native/vnet/ ./pcap2pg -i vpp1.pcap > vpp1.pg edit vpp1.pg
2. Each line in the PCAP file is wrapped in Packet-Generator specific information:
packet-generator new {
name s0
limit 1
size 98-98
node ethernet-input
data {
0x0800: b66a.2a78.efb3 -> 02fe.6613.e729
hex 0x45000054c622400040011962ac100102ac1002020800cb807f4f00016cf0f756000000008514050000000000101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f202122232425262728292a2b2c2d2e2f3031323334353637 }
}
packet-generator new {
name s1
limit 1
size 98-98
node ethernet-input
data {
0x0800: 02fe.6613.e729 -> b66a.2a78.efb3
hex 0x450000543fee00003f01e096ac100202ac1001020000d3807f4f00016cf0f756000000008514050000000000101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f202122232425262728292a2b2c2d2e2f3031323334353637 }
}
packet-generator new {
name s2
limit 1
size 98-98
node ethernet-input
data {
0x0800: b66a.2a78.efb3 -> 02fe.6613.e729
hex 0x45000054c63540004001194fac100102ac10020208006d837f4f00026df0f75600000000e210050000000000101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f202122232425262728292a2b2c2d2e2f3031323334353637 }
}
3. Remove any lines of PCAP and add an interface. You can also change the limit to increase the number of packets (useful for testing dual loop)
packet-generator new {
name s0
limit 1
size 98-98
node ethernet-input
interface GigabitEthernet0/8/0
data {
0x0800: b66a.2a78.efb3 -> 02fe.6613.e729
hex 0x45000054c622400040011962ac100102ac1002020800cb807f4f00016cf0f756000000008514050000000000101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f202122232425262728292a2b2c2d2e2f3031323334353637 }
}
4. Proceed as per above example
DBGvpp# exec <fullpath>/vpp1.pg DBGvpp# packet-generator enable etc etc