[Feature Request] Performance analysis: Multi-threading in 1.14.1 doubles throughput, potential for further improvement

[jklop123]

1.14.1 adds multi-threading support, which after adjustment, improves performance from 1.5 to 3 / 5 (unencrypted) Gbits/sec in the same environment 🎉

Test environment: PVE; Intel Xeon Gold 6330; Linux x64;

• Client: 4c4t 8G; ZeroTier 1.14.1
• Server: 16c16t 16G; ZeroTier 1.14.1
• Client and server connected directly via PVE vmbr, not a bottleneck. iperf3 code test speed results are 30 Gbits/sec

iperf3 speed test, 8 or more TCP streams, lasting 30s.

With multi-threading disabled on both client and server, performance is around 1.5 Gbits/sec.

With multi-threading enabled and "trustedPathId" configured for no encryption (optional):

Client configuration:

{
    "physical":
    {
        "192.168.0.0/24":
        {
            "trustedPathId": 101010024
        }
    },
    "settings":
    {
        "multicoreEnabled": true,
        "concurrency": 4,
        "cpuPinningEnabled": true,
    }
}

Server configuration:

{
    "physical":
    {
        "192.168.0.0/24":
        {
            "trustedPathId": 101010024
        }
    },
    "settings":
    {
        "multicoreEnabled": true,
        "concurrency": 8,
        "cpuPinningEnabled": true,
    }
}

Bandwidth reaches 3 / 5 (unencrypted) Gbits/sec 🎉

• When multiple clients test simultaneously, the result remains 3 / 5 (unencrypted) Gbits/sec

1.14.1 Performance Bottleneck

Performance bottleneck analysis may contain errors. Please point out any inaccuracies, thank you very much.

• The multi-threading added in this commit does not include decryption; there's still only one thread for decryption.
• int bucket = flowId % _concurrency; always results in only one thread executing.
• In the test scenario, the decryption thread is fully loaded, so performance cannot stack. Below are flame graphs of this thread:

A straightforward idea is to add more decryption threads to resolve this bottleneck.

Conclusion

It can be verified that the addition of multi-threading in 1.14.1 has resulted in a 2x performance improvement for ZeroTier. Thanks to the developers for their work.

• Requires Linux platform and multi-threading enabled on both sides.

Based on preliminary analysis, the bottleneck in 1.14.1's multi-threading appears to be the single decryption thread. Perhaps adding more decryption threads could be a direct improvement.