how to work on the tocs paper

[Eddie Kohler]

Hi all, especially Robert & Frans. This mail is about how I believe we
should work on the TOCS paper and what needs to be done.

First, where is the paper? It is in the following CVS repository:

	cvs -d /home/butt/click/cvsroot co -d tocs-paper doc/tocs00

Second, what needs to be done? We need a testbed. This testbed can be a 700
MHz Pentium III or a 450 MHz Pentium III, I don't care. 450 MHz might be
easier because we could reuse some numbers from the SOSP paper. On the
other hand, we suffered i-cache misses on the 450 MHz, and did not on the
700 MHz.

Then, we need to compile and test the following Click distribution. It
consists of click-0.6 (Click as of the SOSP paper), plus the newest
ARPQuerier, plus the newest set of tools, plus the option to not use
PACKET_UPSTREAM.

	cvs -d /home/butt/click/cvsroot co -d click4tocs release/zero2

I have tested this release LIGHTLY. You might need to test it heavily.
PACKET_UPSTREAM is off by default. To use PACKET_UPSTREAM, change
`config.h' to add

	#define HAVE_PACKET_UPSTREAM 1

We should get the following numbers. I believe that if it is relatively
easy, we should take them all. The starred ones MUST be taken

	ENTIRE CURVES, FORWARDING RATE vs. INPUT RATE
	- Linux-2.2.x alone
	* Linux-2.2.x + Click FromDevice w/  PACKET_UPSTREAM
	* Linux-2.2.x + Click FromDevice w/o PACKET_UPSTREAM
		(For the remainder of the tests, choose either w/
		PACKET_UPSTREAM or w/o PACKET_UPSTREAM, whichever was
		faster.)
	- Linux-2.2.x + Click FromDevice SIMPLE
	- Linux-2.2.x + Click FromDevice ETHERNET SWITCH
	- Linux-2.2.x + Click FromDevice IPROUTER + RED
	- Linux-2.2.x + Click FromDevice IPROUTER + SFQ
	
	- Packet size vs. maximum forwarding rate, Linux & Click

	* Element-by-element breakdown of Click FromDevice
	  (don't need to count FromDevice and ToDevice)
	* Interrupt + IP processing + Device send or some similar table
	* i-cache and d-cache misses
	* IP processing time: Click IP router + click-xform
	* IP processing time: Click IP router + click-xform + 8 nulls
	* IP processing time: Click IP router + click-specialize
	  (to get a handle on virtual functions)

Perhaps there are other experiments we should take to get a handle on
Click's overhead.

I will help with whatever remains when I get back. I just wanted to let
this into the air, la la la

love,
ed