Performance Modeling of Linux Network System with Open vSwitch

Open vSwitch (OVS) is a popular virtual switch implementing OpenFlow, which often works in Linux system. The development of Cloud and Edge datacenters accelerates its popularity, especially with the emergence of 5G mobile networks. Performance analysis of a network system with OVS could help uncovering of performance bottlenecks and improving system performance. Analytic modeling is an effective performance evaluation approach. Existing analytical models of OVS ignored the characteristics of the system where OVS works. Thus, it is hard, if not impossible, to detect performance bottlenecks. This paper proposes a novel analytical model to evaluate the performance of Linux network system with OVS. Different from exiting models, our model can capture key steps, each of which consumes CPU in the packet forwarding process. Our model also enables the computation of a set of performance measures, including packer sojourn time and blocking probability. The approximate accuracy of the proposed model is validated by comparing numerical results with simulation results under various system parameter settings.