testing: add boringtun throughput benchmark and iperf ref-compare harness

New testing/boringtun/ harness runs two Cloudflare BoringTun userspace
WireGuard containers with iperf3 between them, giving a single-hop
userspace tunnel baseline for comparison against FIPS throughput
numbers. Local WG key generation runs through the harness image so the
host needs no wireguard-tools.

New testing/static/scripts/iperf-compare-refs.sh builds two git refs
into separate fips-test:* images via git worktree and runs the same
static iperf topology against both, with RUNS-based repetition and
aggregate avg/min/max reporting.

testing/static/scripts/iperf-test.sh gains DURATION, PARALLEL,
SETTLE_SECONDS, IPERF_TIMEOUT env knobs and a per-path iperf timeout.
testing/static/docker-compose.yml selects the image under test via
FIPS_TEST_IMAGE; testing/scripts/build.sh respects CARGO_TARGET_DIR.

Author benchmark on aarch64 Docker Desktop:
  boringtun bob -> alice : 1000.13 Mbits/sec
This commit is contained in:
Martti Malmi
2026-05-15 18:03:42 +00:00
committed by Johnathan Corgan
parent 09eb5ad6bf
commit b05c80e5f5
12 changed files with 470 additions and 10 deletions

1
testing/boringtun/.gitignore vendored Normal file
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generated/

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# Minimal boringtun-cli image for throughput benchmarking against FIPS.
# Userspace WireGuard (boringtun) + wireguard-tools + iperf3 in one
# image. Run two containers on a docker bridge, configure a WG peer
# between them, then iperf3 client→server across the tunnel.
FROM rust:1-bookworm AS build
# 0.6.0 (crates.io HEAD) is from 2022 and turns in ~1.7 Mbps in
# this harness — clearly broken. Pull the boringtun-cli binary from
# the cloudflare HEAD instead; it gets the post-0.6 perf fixes and
# the multi-threaded recv loop.
RUN git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cloudflare/boringtun /usr/src/boringtun \
&& cargo install --path /usr/src/boringtun/boringtun-cli
FROM debian:bookworm-slim
ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
RUN apt-get update \
&& apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
iperf3 \
iproute2 \
wireguard-tools \
iputils-ping \
netcat-openbsd \
ca-certificates \
&& rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
COPY --from=build /usr/local/cargo/bin/boringtun-cli /usr/local/bin/boringtun-cli
COPY entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh
RUN chmod +x /entrypoint.sh
ENTRYPOINT ["/entrypoint.sh"]

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@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
# BoringTun Throughput Baseline
This harness runs two userspace WireGuard peers with Cloudflare BoringTun and
measures single-stream TCP throughput with `iperf3`. It is intended as a simple
baseline for comparing FIPS tunnel throughput against another userspace tunnel.
```bash
docker build -t boringtun-test:latest testing/boringtun
testing/boringtun/scripts/generate-keys.sh
docker compose -f testing/boringtun/docker-compose.yml up -d
testing/boringtun/scripts/bench.sh
docker compose -f testing/boringtun/docker-compose.yml down
```
The generated WireGuard key material is written under
`testing/boringtun/generated/` and is ignored by git.
For FIPS-to-FIPS revision comparisons, use the static topology comparison
script:
```bash
testing/static/scripts/iperf-compare-refs.sh origin/master HEAD mesh
```
That script builds each ref into a separate `fips-test:*` image, runs the
same static `iperf3` topology against both images, and prints a bandwidth
summary for each path. Override `DURATION`, `PARALLEL`, `SETTLE_SECONDS`, or
`IPERF_TIMEOUT` in the environment when needed. Set `RUNS=3` or similar to
repeat each ref and print aggregate results.

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# Minimal 2-node boringtun setup for iperf3 throughput comparison.
# Both containers join the same docker bridge; each runs a boringtun
# userspace WireGuard tunnel and they peer with each other over UDP.
# Inner WG IPs: 10.99.0.1/24 (alice) <-> 10.99.0.2/24 (bob).
networks:
bt-net:
driver: bridge
ipam:
config:
- subnet: 172.99.0.0/24
x-boringtun-common: &boringtun-common
image: boringtun-test:latest
cap_add:
- NET_ADMIN
devices:
- /dev/net/tun:/dev/net/tun
sysctls:
- net.ipv4.conf.all.forwarding=1
restart: "no"
env_file:
- ./generated/peers.env
services:
alice:
<<: *boringtun-common
container_name: bt-alice
hostname: alice
environment:
- ROLE=alice
- PEER_HOST=bob
networks:
bt-net:
ipv4_address: 172.99.0.10
bob:
<<: *boringtun-common
container_name: bt-bob
hostname: bob
environment:
- ROLE=bob
- PEER_HOST=alice
networks:
bt-net:
ipv4_address: 172.99.0.11

72
testing/boringtun/entrypoint.sh Executable file
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#!/bin/bash
# Bring up a boringtun-userspace WireGuard tunnel and then sleep
# indefinitely so the benchmark scripts can drive it via docker exec.
#
# Required env:
# ROLE "alice" or "bob"
# ALICE_WG_IP WG inner IP for alice (e.g. 10.99.0.1/24)
# BOB_WG_IP WG inner IP for bob (e.g. 10.99.0.2/24)
# ALICE_PUB alice's WG public key
# BOB_PUB bob's WG public key
# ALICE_PRIV alice's WG private key
# BOB_PRIV bob's WG private key
# PEER_HOST the other container's hostname on the docker bridge
# PEER_PORT the other container's WG UDP port (default 51820)
#
# boringtun-cli runs in foreground (--foreground) so wg-quick-style
# configuration is done manually via `ip`, `wg`, and `wg set`.
set -e
PORT="${PEER_PORT:-51820}"
case "$ROLE" in
alice)
OUR_IP="$ALICE_WG_IP"
OUR_PRIV="$ALICE_PRIV"
PEER_PUB="$BOB_PUB"
;;
bob)
OUR_IP="$BOB_WG_IP"
OUR_PRIV="$BOB_PRIV"
PEER_PUB="$ALICE_PUB"
;;
*)
echo "ROLE must be alice or bob, got '$ROLE'" >&2
exit 1
;;
esac
echo "[$ROLE] starting boringtun-cli foreground on wg0"
# `--foreground` keeps the userspace driver in the container
# foreground. boringtun-cli sets WG_TUN_NAME_FILE to /tmp/wg0.name
# when --foreground; we just hardcode the device name.
boringtun-cli --foreground --disable-drop-privileges wg0 &
BORINGTUN_PID=$!
# wait for the tun device to appear
for i in $(seq 1 50); do
if ip link show wg0 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
break
fi
sleep 0.1
done
echo "[$ROLE] configuring wg0 with $OUR_IP listening on $PORT"
PRIV_FILE=$(mktemp)
chmod 600 "$PRIV_FILE"
printf '%s' "$OUR_PRIV" >"$PRIV_FILE"
wg set wg0 private-key "$PRIV_FILE" listen-port "$PORT"
rm -f "$PRIV_FILE"
ip address add "$OUR_IP" dev wg0
ip link set up dev wg0
echo "[$ROLE] adding peer pubkey, endpoint $PEER_HOST:$PORT"
wg set wg0 peer "$PEER_PUB" allowed-ips 10.99.0.0/24 endpoint "$PEER_HOST:$PORT" persistent-keepalive 25
echo "[$ROLE] ready"
wg show wg0
# Park here so the container stays up; we'll run iperf3 etc via
# docker exec.
wait $BORINGTUN_PID

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#!/bin/bash
# End-to-end iperf3 bandwidth test between two boringtun containers.
# Output mirrors testing/static/scripts/iperf-test.sh so the FIPS
# numbers are directly comparable.
set -euo pipefail
DURATION="${DURATION:-10}"
PARALLEL="${PARALLEL:-1}"
echo "=== boringtun iperf3 throughput (single TCP stream, ${DURATION}s) ==="
# Run iperf3 server on alice (background), client on bob.
docker exec -d bt-alice iperf3 -s -1 -B 10.99.0.1 -p 5201
sleep 1
# wait for tun handshake to settle (boringtun + WG keepalive)
sleep 2
# Client: bob → alice over WG (10.99.0.1)
OUT=$(docker exec bt-bob iperf3 -c 10.99.0.1 -p 5201 -t "$DURATION" -P "$PARALLEL" -J)
# Pull SUM bps.
MBPS=$(echo "$OUT" | python3 -c "import json,sys; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print(f\"{d['end']['sum_received']['bits_per_second'] / 1_000_000:.2f}\")")
echo "boringtun bob -> alice : ${MBPS} Mbits/sec"

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@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
#!/bin/bash
# Generate WG keypairs for alice and bob and write the
# generated/peers.env file the docker-compose.yml reads.
# Idempotent: skips if file already exists.
set -e
SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
OUT_DIR="$SCRIPT_DIR/../generated"
ENV_FILE="$OUT_DIR/peers.env"
if [ -f "$ENV_FILE" ]; then
echo "$ENV_FILE already exists; reusing keys"
exit 0
fi
mkdir -p "$OUT_DIR"
# Use the built boringtun-test image to generate keys — host may
# not have wireguard-tools installed. The `pubkey` step needs `-i`
# so stdin is piped through; `genkey` doesn't need it but matching
# flags keeps the two calls symmetric.
GEN_CMD="docker run --rm --entrypoint wg boringtun-test:latest"
PUB_CMD="docker run --rm -i --entrypoint wg boringtun-test:latest"
ALICE_PRIV=$($GEN_CMD genkey)
ALICE_PUB=$(printf '%s' "$ALICE_PRIV" | $PUB_CMD pubkey)
BOB_PRIV=$($GEN_CMD genkey)
BOB_PUB=$(printf '%s' "$BOB_PRIV" | $PUB_CMD pubkey)
cat >"$ENV_FILE" <<EOF
ALICE_PRIV=$ALICE_PRIV
ALICE_PUB=$ALICE_PUB
BOB_PRIV=$BOB_PRIV
BOB_PUB=$BOB_PUB
ALICE_WG_IP=10.99.0.1/24
BOB_WG_IP=10.99.0.2/24
PEER_PORT=51820
EOF
chmod 600 "$ENV_FILE"
echo "wrote $ENV_FILE"

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@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ done
UNAME_S=$(uname -s)
CARGO_TARGET="x86_64-unknown-linux-musl"
TARGET_ROOT="${CARGO_TARGET_DIR:-$PROJECT_ROOT/target}"
if [ "$UNAME_S" = "Darwin" ]; then
echo "Detected macOS host — using cross-compilation for Linux..."
@@ -57,12 +59,12 @@ if [ "$UNAME_S" = "Darwin" ]; then
echo "Building FIPS for Linux (release) using cargo-zigbuild..."
cargo zigbuild --release --target "$CARGO_TARGET" --manifest-path="$PROJECT_ROOT/Cargo.toml" "${CARGO_BUILD_ARGS[@]}"
TARGET_DIR="$PROJECT_ROOT/target/$CARGO_TARGET/release"
TARGET_DIR="$TARGET_ROOT/$CARGO_TARGET/release"
else
echo "Building FIPS (release)..."
cargo build --release --manifest-path="$PROJECT_ROOT/Cargo.toml" "${CARGO_BUILD_ARGS[@]}"
TARGET_DIR="$PROJECT_ROOT/target/release"
TARGET_DIR="$TARGET_ROOT/release"
fi
echo "Copying binaries to $DOCKER_DIR/"

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@@ -270,6 +270,19 @@ Runs iperf3 with:
- Parallel streams: 8 (`-P 8`)
- Protocol: TCP over IPv6
For before/after measurements across commits or branches:
```bash
./testing/static/scripts/iperf-compare-refs.sh origin/master HEAD mesh
```
The comparison script builds each ref into a separate Docker image, runs the
same topology and `iperf3` settings for both images, and prints a bandwidth
summary. Override `DURATION`, `PARALLEL`, `SETTLE_SECONDS`, `IPERF_TIMEOUT`,
or `RUNS` in the environment when needed. `RUNS` is the total number of
measurements per ref; for example, `RUNS=3` runs each ref three times and
prints both per-run and aggregate tables.
## Network Impairment
The `netem.sh` script simulates adverse network conditions using `tc`/`netem`

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@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ networks:
- subnet: fd02::/64
x-fips-common: &fips-common
image: fips-test:latest
image: ${FIPS_TEST_IMAGE:-fips-test:latest}
cap_add:
- NET_ADMIN
devices:

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#!/bin/bash
# Build two git refs into separate FIPS test images and run the same static
# iperf3 topology against each one. This keeps performance PR evidence
# repeatable: compare origin/master with a candidate branch using identical
# configs, topology, duration, and parallelism.
#
# Usage:
# ./testing/static/scripts/iperf-compare-refs.sh <base-ref> <candidate-ref> [mesh|chain]
#
# Environment:
# DURATION=10 iperf3 duration passed through to iperf-test.sh
# PARALLEL=8 iperf3 parallel streams passed through to iperf-test.sh
# SETTLE_SECONDS=3 topology startup delay passed through to iperf-test.sh
# IPERF_TIMEOUT per-path timeout, defaults to DURATION + 30
# RUNS=1 total measurement runs per ref
set -euo pipefail
if [ "$#" -lt 2 ] || [ "$#" -gt 3 ]; then
echo "Usage: $0 <base-ref> <candidate-ref> [mesh|chain]" >&2
exit 2
fi
BASE_REF="$1"
CANDIDATE_REF="$2"
PROFILE="${3:-mesh}"
RUNS="${RUNS:-1}"
if ! [[ "$RUNS" =~ ^[1-9][0-9]*$ ]]; then
echo "RUNS must be a positive integer" >&2
exit 2
fi
SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
PROJECT_ROOT="$(cd "$SCRIPT_DIR/../../.." && pwd)"
COMPOSE_FILE="$PROJECT_ROOT/testing/static/docker-compose.yml"
TMP_DIR="$(mktemp -d "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/fips-iperf-compare.XXXXXX")"
WORKTREES=()
FAILED_RUNS=0
cleanup() {
docker compose -f "$COMPOSE_FILE" --profile "$PROFILE" down >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
for wt in "${WORKTREES[@]}"; do
git -C "$PROJECT_ROOT" worktree remove --force "$wt" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
done
rm -rf "$TMP_DIR"
}
trap cleanup EXIT
slug_ref() {
echo "$1" \
| tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]' \
| sed 's/[^a-z0-9_.-]/-/g; s/^-*//; s/-*$//' \
| cut -c1-48
}
image_tag() {
local label="$1"
local ref="$2"
local slug
slug="$(slug_ref "$ref")"
[ -n "$slug" ] || slug="ref"
printf 'fips-test:compare-%s-%s\n' "$label" "$slug"
}
build_ref_image() {
local label="$1"
local ref="$2"
local tag="$3"
local wt="$TMP_DIR/$label"
local target_dir="$PROJECT_ROOT/target/iperf-compare-$label-$(slug_ref "$ref")"
echo ""
echo "=== Building $label: $ref -> $tag ==="
git -C "$PROJECT_ROOT" worktree add --detach "$wt" "$ref"
WORKTREES+=("$wt")
mkdir -p "$target_dir"
ln -s "$target_dir" "$wt/target"
(
cd "$wt"
CARGO_TARGET_DIR="$wt/target" ./testing/scripts/build.sh
)
docker tag fips-test:latest "$tag"
}
run_profile() {
local label="$1"
local image="$2"
local run="$3"
local log="$TMP_DIR/$label-run-$run.log"
local duration="${DURATION:-10}"
local parallel="${PARALLEL:-8}"
local settle_seconds="${SETTLE_SECONDS:-3}"
local iperf_timeout="${IPERF_TIMEOUT:-$((duration + 30))}"
echo ""
echo "=== Running $label run $run/$RUNS with $image ==="
FIPS_TEST_IMAGE="$image" docker compose -f "$COMPOSE_FILE" --profile "$PROFILE" up -d --force-recreate
if DURATION="$duration" PARALLEL="$parallel" \
SETTLE_SECONDS="$settle_seconds" IPERF_TIMEOUT="$iperf_timeout" \
"$SCRIPT_DIR/iperf-test.sh" "$PROFILE" | tee "$log"; then
:
else
local status="$?"
echo "=== $label exited with status $status ===" | tee -a "$log"
FAILED_RUNS=1
fi
docker compose -f "$COMPOSE_FILE" --profile "$PROFILE" down
}
print_summary() {
local label="$1"
local run="$2"
local log="$TMP_DIR/$label-run-$run.log"
[ -f "$log" ] || return 0
awk -v label="$label" -v run="$run" '
/^=== .* ===$/ && $0 !~ /FIPS iperf3 Bandwidth Test/ && $0 !~ /Results:/ {
test=$0
sub(/^=== /, "", test)
sub(/ ===$/, "", test)
}
/^Bandwidth:/ {
print label "\t" run "\t" test "\t" $2 " " $3
}
' "$log"
}
print_aggregate() {
local summary="$1"
awk -F '\t' '
NR == 1 { next }
function to_mbps(value, unit) {
if (unit ~ /^Gbits/) return value * 1000
if (unit ~ /^Mbits/) return value
if (unit ~ /^Kbits/) return value / 1000
return value
}
{
split($4, parts, " ")
mbps = to_mbps(parts[1] + 0, parts[2])
key = $1 SUBSEP $3
if (!(key in seen)) {
seen[key] = 1
order[++order_len] = key
refs[key] = $1
tests[key] = $3
min[key] = mbps
max[key] = mbps
}
count[key]++
sum[key] += mbps
if (mbps < min[key]) min[key] = mbps
if (mbps > max[key]) max[key] = mbps
}
END {
print "ref\ttest\truns\tavg_mbps\tmin_mbps\tmax_mbps"
for (i = 1; i <= order_len; i++) {
key = order[i]
printf "%s\t%s\t%d\t%.0f\t%.0f\t%.0f\n",
refs[key], tests[key], count[key],
sum[key] / count[key], min[key], max[key]
}
}
' "$summary"
}
"$SCRIPT_DIR/generate-configs.sh" "$PROFILE"
BASE_IMAGE="$(image_tag base "$BASE_REF")"
CANDIDATE_IMAGE="$(image_tag candidate "$CANDIDATE_REF")"
build_ref_image base "$BASE_REF" "$BASE_IMAGE"
build_ref_image candidate "$CANDIDATE_REF" "$CANDIDATE_IMAGE"
for run in $(seq 1 "$RUNS"); do
run_profile base "$BASE_IMAGE" "$run"
run_profile candidate "$CANDIDATE_IMAGE" "$run"
done
echo ""
echo "=== Summary ==="
SUMMARY_FILE="$TMP_DIR/summary.tsv"
{
printf 'ref\trun\ttest\tbandwidth\n'
for run in $(seq 1 "$RUNS"); do
print_summary base "$run"
print_summary candidate "$run"
done
} | tee "$SUMMARY_FILE"
echo ""
echo "=== Aggregate ==="
print_aggregate "$SUMMARY_FILE"
exit "$FAILED_RUNS"

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@@ -18,8 +18,10 @@ if [ "$2" = "--live" ] || [ "$1" = "--live" ]; then
[ "$1" = "--live" ] && PROFILE="mesh"
fi
DURATION=10
PARALLEL=8
DURATION="${DURATION:-10}"
PARALLEL="${PARALLEL:-8}"
SETTLE_SECONDS="${SETTLE_SECONDS:-3}"
IPERF_TIMEOUT="${IPERF_TIMEOUT:-$((DURATION + 30))}"
PASSED=0
FAILED=0
@@ -47,7 +49,7 @@ iperf_test() {
if [ "$LIVE_OUTPUT" = true ]; then
# Show live output
echo "Running iperf3 test (live output):"
if docker exec "fips-$client_node" iperf3 -c "${dest_npub}.fips" -t "$DURATION" -P "$PARALLEL"; then
if docker exec "fips-$client_node" timeout "$IPERF_TIMEOUT" iperf3 -c "${dest_npub}.fips" -t "$DURATION" -P "$PARALLEL"; then
PASSED=$((PASSED + 1))
else
echo "FAIL"
@@ -57,7 +59,7 @@ iperf_test() {
# Capture and summarize output
echo -n "Running iperf3 test... "
local output
if output=$(docker exec "fips-$client_node" iperf3 -c "${dest_npub}.fips" -t "$DURATION" -P "$PARALLEL" 2>&1); then
if output=$(docker exec "fips-$client_node" timeout "$IPERF_TIMEOUT" iperf3 -c "${dest_npub}.fips" -t "$DURATION" -P "$PARALLEL" 2>&1); then
# Check if we got valid results
if echo "$output" | grep -q "sender"; then
# Extract and display results (get SUM line for aggregate bandwidth)
@@ -83,8 +85,8 @@ echo "=== FIPS iperf3 Bandwidth Test ($PROFILE topology) ==="
echo ""
# Wait for nodes to converge
echo "Waiting 3s for mesh convergence..."
sleep 3
echo "Waiting ${SETTLE_SECONDS}s for mesh convergence..."
sleep "$SETTLE_SECONDS"
if [ "$PROFILE" = "mesh" ] || [ "$PROFILE" = "mesh-public" ]; then
# Test key paths in mesh topology
@@ -120,4 +122,4 @@ fi
echo ""
echo "=== Results: $PASSED passed, $FAILED failed ==="
[ "$FAILED" -eq 0 ] && exit 0 || exit 1
[ "$FAILED" -eq 0 ] && exit 0 || exit 1