Hardware requirements and performance

Minimum Requirements

SSG software runs on general purpose computers. However, due to deep code optimization and integration with the hardware, the hardware configuration has to meet some specific requirements:

The CPU and RAM parameters are determined according to the required bandwidth. We advise you to look through the Recommended Requirements and agree on the choice of software server with VAS EXPERTS's representatives or our partners to install the software.

CPU	One CPU supporting SSE 4.2 staring from Intel Nehalem and AMD EPYC Zen2 with 4 or more processor cores, 2.5 Ghz clockspeed and above. !SSG only works with one processor!
RAM	Not less than 8Gb, it is necessary to install memory modules in all processor channels on the motherboard
SSD Disks	To host the OS and SSG software, it is necessary to use 2 disks with a capacity of 256GB or more, combined in RAID 1 (mirror). It is necessary to use a hardware RAID controller. NVMe SSD disks (in M.2, U.2 form factor or PCI Express expansion cards) are a priority. If the platform does not support this type of media, we recommend using SATA/SAS SSD (DWPD>=1) instead of HDDs
Number of network ports	At least 3 ports are required: one for the remote management using SSH (any kind of chipset), the two other to process network traffic (network cards with DPDK support)
Supported network cards	It is recommended to use only tested cards on Intel chipsets ¹⁾ with 2, 4, or 6 ports ²⁾. The most popular models: 1GbE interfaces: - e1000 (82540, 82545, 82546) - e1000e (82571, 82572, 82573, 82574, 82583, ICH8, ICH9, ICH10, PCH, PCH2, I217, I218, I219) - igb (82573, 82576, 82580, I210, I211, I350, I354, DH89xx) - igc (I225) 10GbE interfaces: - ixgbe (82598, 82599, X520, X540, X550) - i40e (X710, XL710, X722, XXV710) - mlx5 25GbE interfaces: - i40e (XXV710) - mlx5 Many server platforms have bandwidth limitations for 40G/100G ports, we recommend purchasing equipment from our partners for these installations 40GbE interfaces: (the x8 PCIe 3.0 card has a maximum bandwidth of 64Gbps. Thus, a 2x40GbE port card can handle no more than 32Gbps in + 32Gbps out in inline mode. In on-stick mode, a 2x40GbE port card can handle no more than 64Gbps in+out across both ports. To avoid these limitations, it is recommended to use only one port on a two-port 40GbE card - i40e (X710, XL710, X722, XXV710) 100GbE interfaces, a motherboard with PCIe 4.0 x16 support is required: A 2x100GbE port card can handle no more than 50Gbps in + 50Gbps out per port in inline mode. In on-stick mode, a 2x100GbE port card can handle no more than 128Gbps in+out across both ports. To avoid these limitations, it is recommended to use only one port on a two-port 100GbE card - mlx5 (Mellanox ConnectX-4, ConnectX-5, ConnectX-6) - ice (Intel E810) - make sure the latest firmware is installed on the Intel card: earlier firmware versions did not support GRE tunnels For BRAS PPPoE, only 100G Intel E810 cards should be used (Mellanox cards do not support RSS for PPPoE traffic)
Bypass support	Bypass is supported for Silicom cards 100GbE, 40GbE, 10GbE and 1GbE

SSG platform operates only under control of the VEOS (VAS Experts Operating System)

Recommended Requirements

Server performance is determined based on peak traffic volume value on the channel. When choosing a CPU, RAM, it is necessary to take into account that the calculation is presented for asymmetric traffic. This means that when installing "in-line" for peak incoming traffic of 12 Gbps (Max IN traffic), you need to purchase a SSG-20 license and a platform with parameters: 1 CPU 16 cores and more, RAM 64GB and more.

Equipment calculation depending on traffic and functionality

Total traffic (in+out) Gbps	Max incoming traffic Gbps	Stingray SG Version	Number of cores per CPU with a frequency of 2.5 GHz	RAM, GB necessary to install memory modules in all processor channels on the motherboard	Minimal number of physical ports	Number of Public IPs in a NAT pool	Packet per second in Million base CPU frequency from 2,5GHz
2	1,5	SSG-2	4	12	4x1G, 2x10G	100	1M pps
4	3	SSG-4	4	16	6x1G, 2x10G	500	1,5M pps
6	5	SSG-6	6	32	2x10G	1000	3-4M pps
10	8	SSG-10	12	48	2x10G	2000	6M pps
20	15	SSG-20	16	64	4x10G	3000	9M pps
40	30	SSG-40	18 Intel 6242R	96	6x10G, 4x25G, 4x40G, 2x100G	4000	12M pps
60	45	SSG-60	28 Intel 6258R, Intel 5320, 32 AMD 7502P	128	10x10G, 4x25G, 4x40G, 2x100G	5000	15M pps
80	60	SSG-80	64 AMD 7702P	160	12x10G, 6x25G, 6x40G, 4x100G	6000	18M pps
100	75	SSG-100	64 AMD 7702P	192	20x10G, 8x25G, 8x40G, 4x100G	7000	20M pps
120	90	SSG-120	64 AMD 9534	256	20x10G, 8x25G, 8x40G, 4x100G	10000	22M pps
160	120	SSG-160	96 AMD 9654	384	24x10G, 16x25G, 10x40G, 6x100G	12000	30M pps
240	180	SSG-240	128 AMD 9654	512	16x25G, 10x40G, 8x100G	15000	45M pps

Important when selecting a server:
1.The Stingray SG uses only one processor because of the impact on performance of NUMA for dual-processor configurations.
2.When choosing a CPU, it is necessary to take into account the base frequency , the higher the frequency, the greater the performance.
3.When using Stingray SG as L2 BRAS (DHCP/ARP/PPPoE authorization) it is necessary to take into account the additional load associated with the analysis of each packet by additional parameters. This leads to an increase in CPU power consumption. In such cases it is recommended to increase the number of CPU cores by 30%. For a SSG-40 license implement the SSG-60 platform.
4.The use of 100G interfaces is possible only when the platform is delivered through a partner in order to control the server specification.
5.Using the option Common and Virtual Channels Policing involves additional internal locks, which reduces system performance to 40G of total traffic, regardless of the number of cores.
6.Every 256 public IP addresses in NAT Pool (/24 subnet) consume 5GB of RAM. /22 = 10GB, /21 = 20GB, /20 = 80GB, /19 = 160GB.

Requirements for Installation on a Virtual Machine

SSG software can be installed on a Virtual Machine (VM).
VM has the following requirements:

Hypervisor: VMware, KVM
CPU of at least 4 cores with a frequency of 2.5 GHz
RAM of 8 Gb and more
Storage space of 20 Gb and more

Check VM preparation for test:

OS CentOS: cat /etc/redhat-release

CentOS Linux release 8.5.2111 (Core)

OS VEOS: cat /etc/*releas* or cat /etc/system-release

VEOS release 8.7 (Sakhalin)

RAM: cat /proc/meminfo

MemTotal:       16254744 kB

Checking whether all cores belong to one CPU: grep "physical id" /proc/cpuinfo |sort -u

physical id     : 0

Number of cores: grep "cores" /proc/cpuinfo |sort -u

cpu cores       : 4

There must be at least three interfaces (two for traffic and one for administration): lspci | grep Ethernet

0b:00.0 Ethernet controller: VMware VMXNET3 Ethernet Controller (rev 01)
13:00.0 Ethernet controller: VMware VMXNET3 Ethernet Controller (rev 01)
1b:00.0 Ethernet controller: VMware VMXNET3 Ethernet Controller (rev 01)

For SSG to work in a virtual environment, in the Security settings of virtual networks in which in_dev and out_dev are composed, you need to enable:

Promiscuous mode Accept
MAC address changes Accept
Forged transmits Accept

System requirements for Soft-Router

Depending on the amount of routing information, an additional 4-8 GB of memory will be required.

¹⁾

if your card is not on the tested list, software adaptation, development, and additional testing will be required

²⁾

a specific model list is not provided, as there is a very large selection of manufacturers for these cards: from Intel itself to branded options like Huawei, HP, Dell, Silicom, Advantech, Lanner, Supermicro, Silicom, and dozens of others, as well as built-in cards on motherboards or as part of SOC

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