["Ronnie Sahlberg" <ronnie_sahlberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

That is very interesting.  Very interesting.
compare_proto_id() needs to be looked at.


Could you also run the test once more and
load the capture, then just filte the trace 10 times using the filter "smb"

To reduce the poisioning from the stuff that ethereal needs to do the first
time it sees a packet from the things
it do every time it walks the packet list.

thanks

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Newbie"
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2003 4:36 PM
Subject: Re: [Ethereal-dev] Performance. Ethereal is slow whenusing
largecaptures.


> Ronnie,
>
> I haven't done a "formal" test, per se, but I ran a couple of quick
> tests out of curiosity and thought I'd share the results.
>
> I used a file I had sitting around - a 124,568 packet trace containing
> primarily CIFS traffic.
>
> I ran two tests with profiling enabled:  One where I simply opened the
> file, then exited the program, and another where I opened the file, then
> refiltered using "smb" as a display filter, then exited the program.
>
> Both tests gave me nearly identical results as far as the most "costly"
> procedures, so I'll concentrate just on the second test.
>
> The function consuming the most time was epan/proto.c:compare_proto_id,
> at 22.9%, 8.14s, and 777,148,074 calls (nearly more calls, I believe,
> than to all other functions combined).
>
> add_packet_to_packet_list actually came in at #5, with 7.6%, 2.64s -
> including time spend in its child functions (epan_dissect_run, mostly
> (5.1%/1.8s), which in turn spent the majority of its time in
> dissect_packet (5.1%, 1.71s)).
>
> compare_proto_id appeared to be a called by g_list_find_custom.  It
> accounted for an additional 5.9%/2.11s, for a total of 28.8% spent in
> this particular function (when added to the time spent in its child
> function, compare_proto_id)
>
> proto_tree_add_pi appeared to be more "expensive" (10.0%, 2.82s) than
> add_packet_to_packet_list, and proto_tree_add_uint (6.7%, 2.01s).
>
> The test system is an Apple G5 running OS X 10.3, with GTK+ 1.2.10,
> Ethereal 0.9.16 with no special GCC flags and
"configure --without-plugins".
>
> Let me know if you want me to do a more "formal" test, and upload the
> trace to some shared area (perhaps Gerald wouldn't mind setting up an
> area temporarily on ftp.ethereal.com, or do we already have something
> like that?).
>
> Ian
>
>
> Ronnie Sahlberg wrote:
>
> >Good point.
> >I never noticed that the number of sessions affected the refilter speed.
> >The type of traffic (some reassembled PDUs take much longer than others
to
> >dissect) I know would affect it but never knew the number of sessions
> >did.
> >
> >The problem now is that fore VERY large captures, ethereal is always slow
> >under all circumstances.
> >So let us start with just a simple random generic capture and measure for
it
> >to try to keep the number of variables low.
> >(If it is as you say the number of sessions affect it as well,  do you
mean
> >the number of TCP sessions or what kind of sessions?
> > At some point, when the worst performance problem has been addressed
this
> >would be a very interesting area to look at.
> > (I could create different synthetic capture files to measure with,
same
> >number of packets, same payload just different number of sessions)
> > Make a note that you have observed the number of sessions to possibly
have
> >an effect on the dissection speed so we dont forget to look at
> >  it furhter down the track
> >)
> >
> >
> >I currently belive that during refiltering of a capture, most time would
be
> >spent inside file.c/add_packet_to_packet_list().
> >It would be VERY VERY useful to verify that this assumption is correct.
> >I would really like someone to look at gprof data and analyze where most
> >time is consumed to either verify my claim  add_packet_to_packet_list()
> >or to invalidate it.
> >
> >The thing inside this function I think consumes the most cpu I belive
would
> >be where we call epan_dissect_run() and perform a full dissection of the
> >packet.
> >
> >
> >As I see it, apart from the initial time we encounter the packet during
file
> >read (or live capture) there are not that many instances where we really
> >must
> >dissect the packet at all.
> >OK. If we select a packet in the list so it gets displayed in the dissect
> >pane that might be an exception but that is not something that we do
100.000
> >times
> >per capture anyway so the performance of that is irrelevant.
> >We might also need to do a full rescan/redissect of all packets IF we
have
> >changed the preferences in such a way that the packets will be dissected
> >differently  or when we have changed stuff using  DecodeAs.
> >
> >However, for me and many other users, the MAIN reason ethereal rescans
the
> >packet list is because we have applied or changed a filter. Some users
will
> >filter and refilter a capture file over and over and over, ten, twenty,
> >thirty if not more times for each capture they work with.
> >Or see when a ConversationList dislog or a ServiceResponseTime dialog is
> >opened.
> >
> >
> >Well enough of that. To my idea:
> >
> >Hypothesis:  A significant part of the slowness of ethereal when
refiltering
> >a capture file comes from the expensive calls to epan_dissect_run()
called
> >from add_packet_to_packet_list() in file.c
> >Potential fix: Reduce the number of calls made to epan_dissect_run() at
the
> >expense of additional memory requirements (enabled by a preference)
> >
> >Assuming that most of the time we perform a full rescan/redissect of the
> >capture file is when we really just want to reapply a display filter.
(and
> >are not doing anything that affects how a packet is dissected).
> >
> >What do we need in order to refilter the packet list  if we do not allow
> >calling epan_dissect_run()?
> >1, We need to remember all COL values for all packets so that we can just
> >reapply them when adding the packet to the packetlist without calling the
> >dissector and recreating them that way.   This will consume additional
> >memory.
> >2, For every packet we need to keep a list of all the hf_fields that were
> >encountered in the packet.
> >    This list contains the index of the hf variable as well as the value
it
> >has.
> >    Nothing else needs to be stored there (in order to reduce the impact
on
> >memory)
> >    This list may NOT be pruned as the edt structs are. This is because
we
> >want to be able to still use this list even after the filters have
changed
> >and thus
> >the pruning would be different.   No pruning.
> >The "ApplyFilterToEdtStructure" fucntions would need to be changed (or
> >duplicated) so they could operate on the list in 2 instead of the edt
> >structure.
> >This function might also need to be looked at so that it would be
efficient
> >even for very large lists (no pruning)
> >
> >
> >1 would allow us to rebuild the packet list without needing to call the
> >dissector (?)
> >2 would allow us to refilter the entire trace without calling any
> >dissectors.
> >
> >ideas, comments?
> >
> >
> >Right now it would be nice if someone could create a capture as I
proposed
> >earlier and use GPROF to check where most of the CPU is spent when
> >refiltering the capture. To verify if my assumptions are correct or
> >invalidate them.
> >
> >
> >(
> >As a nice benefit in the future, IF we were to have that list of fields
for
> >each packet, easily available, we could do things like merging this list
> >between packets.
> >Say #6 is the Call and #27 is the Response.
> >Since these packets are paired we could merge the lists from these two
> >packets into a single one.
> >Then when searcing for something that occured in the Response packet, we
> >would automatically also pick up the matching Call packet sinte their
lists
> >were merged.
> >I.e filtering for smb.error==foo   would both find the Response that
barfed
> >saying foo  but also teh matched Call to this Response.
> >That would also be useful.
> >)
> >
> >
>
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