Platform Configuration

Before benchmarking, you should check whether the platform configuration is optimal for the target benchmark. The optimal configuration can vary by benchmark, but there are some common high-level settings of which you should be aware. Most platforms benefit from the settings shown below.

Linux Kernel

The following Linux kernel command line options are recommended for performance:

• init_on_alloc=0: Do not fill newly allocated pages and heap objects with zeroes by default.
• acpi_power_meter.force_cap_on=y: Enable ACPI power meter and with power capping.
• numa_balancing=disable: Disable automatic NUMA balancing.

You can confirm these command line options are set by reading /proc/cmdline:

cat /proc/cmdline | tr ' ' '\n'

BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.2.0-1012-nvidia-64k
root=UUID=76c84c6d-a59f-4a8d-903e-4cb9ef69b970
ro
rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau
nouveau.modeset=0
earlycon
module_blacklist=nouveau
acpi_power_meter.force_cap_on=y
numa_balancing=disable
init_on_alloc=0
preempt=none

CPU and Memory

• Use the performance CPU frequency governor:

  echo performance | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
  

• Disable address space layout randomization (ASLR):

  sudo sysctl -w kernel.randomize_va_space=0
  

• Drop the caches:

  echo 3 | sudo tee /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
  

• Set the kernel dirty page values to the default values:

  echo 10 | sudo tee /proc/sys/vm/dirty_ratio
  echo 5 | sudo tee /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_ratio
  

• To reduce disk I/O, check for dirty page writeback every 60 seconds:

  echo 6000 | sudo tee /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs
  

• Disable the NMI watchdog:

  echo 0 | sudo tee /proc/sys/kernel/watchdog
  

• Optional, allow unprivileged users to measure system events. Note that this setting has implications for system security. See https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/perf-security.html for additional information.

  echo 0 | sudo tee /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid
  

Networking

• Set the networking connection tracking size:

  echo 512000 | sudo tee /proc/sys/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_max
  

• Before starting the test, allow the kernel to reuse TCP ports which may be in a TIME_WAIT state:

  echo 1 | sudo tee /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_tw_reuse
  

Device I/O

• For full power for generic devices:

  for i in `find /sys/devices/*/power/control` ; do
      echo 'on' > ${i}
  done
  

• For full power for PCI devices:

  for i in `find /sys/bus/pci/devices/*/power/control` ; do
      echo 'on' > ${i}
  done