2. DAO Liquid Crypto Performance Application

The dao-liquid-crypto-perf-test tool is a performance benchmarking utility designed to evaluate the performance characteristics of the LiquidCrypto card. Currently, it supports throughput performance testing, enabling users to measure the card’s data processing capabilities under various configurations.

The tool is capable of performing different types of operations, including asymmetric cryptographic operations such as RSA encryption and decryption, as well as passthrough operations that allow data to be sent through the card without modification. The application is built on the DAO framework and leverages the Liquid Crypto library to interact with the LiquidCrypto hardware.

2.1. Running the Application

The application provides several command-line options to customize its behavior:

dao-liquid-crypto-perf-test [EAL Options] -- [Application Options]

2.1.1. EAL Options

The following are the EAL command-line options that can be used in conjunction with the dao-liquid-crypto-perf-test application:

  • -c <COREMASK> or -l <CORELIST>

    Specify the cores to use for the application. The COREMASK is a hexadecimal bitmask representing the cores, while the CORELIST is a comma-separated list of core indices.

2.1.2. Application Options

The following are the application-specific command-line options:

  • --ptest <type>

    Specify the type of performance test to run. The type can be:

    throughput

    This option determines the nature of the performance evaluation.

  • --total-ops <n>

    Specify the total number of operations to execute during the performance test. Replace <n> with the desired number of operations. This option allows users to control the workload size for benchmarking purposes.

  • --optype <name>

    Specify the type of operation to perform. The name can be one of the following:

    passthrough
   Perform a passthrough operation where data is sent through the card without modification.

rsa
   Perform RSA cryptographic operations, including encryption and decryption.

  • --desc-nb <n>

    Specify the number of descriptors to allocate for each LiquidCrypto device. This option allows users to control the number of descriptors used during the performance test, which can impact the throughput and resource utilization.

  • --asym-op <pub-encrypt|pub-decrypt|prv-encrypt|prv-decrypt>

    Specify the asymmetric cryptographic operation mode to use. Available options are:

    • pub-encrypt: Perform public key encryption.

    • pub-decrypt: Perform public key decryption.

    • prv-encrypt: Perform private key encryption.

    • prv-decrypt: Perform private key decryption.

    The default operation mode is pub-encrypt.

  • --rsa-priv-keytype <exp|qt>

    Specify the RSA private key type to use for asymmetric cryptographic operations. This option is applicable only for RSA operations: prv-encrypt and prv-decrypt. Available key types are:

    • exp: Use the exponent-based private key.

    • qt: Use the quintuple-based private key.

  • --rsa-modlen <n>

    Specify the RSA modulus length (in bits) for asymmetric cryptographic operations in the Liquid Crypto performance test. This option is applicable only for RSA operations. Supported lengths are:

    • 256: 256 bits

    • 1024: 1024 bits (default)

    • 2048: 2048 bits

    • 4096: 4096 bits

    • 8192: 8192 bits

2.2. Examples

The following are examples of how to use the dao-liquid-crypto-perf-test application for various performance tests:

  1. Throughput Test for Passthrough Operation

    Perform a throughput test for the passthrough operation with one million total operations and 2048 descriptors:

    dao-liquid-crypto-perf-test -c 0x3 -- --total-ops 1000000 --desc-nb 2048 --optype passthrough --ptest throughput
  2. Throughput Test for RSA Encryption

    Perform a throughput test for RSA public key encryption with 50,000 total operations, 1024-bit modulus length, and 1024 descriptors:

    dao-liquid-crypto-perf-test -c 0x3 -- --total-ops 50000 --desc-nb 1024 --optype rsa --asym-op pub-encrypt --rsa-modlen 1024 --ptest throughput
  3. Throughput Test for RSA Decryption

    Perform a throughput test for RSA private key decryption using the quintuple-based private key, with 25,000 total operations and 1024 descriptors:

    dao-liquid-crypto-perf-test -c 0x3 -- --total-ops 25000 --desc-nb 1024 --optype rsa --asym-op prv-decrypt --rsa-priv-keytype qt --ptest throughput

2.3. Optional Command-Line Options

The following optional command-line options are available:

  • -h, --help

    Display usage information and exit.