Retire the ECN A/B test framing and record why suites are excluded

ecn-ab-test.sh was a -test.sh with no path to a failing result: it
asserts nothing, applies no threshold, and nothing invokes it. It also
could not have worked. It read a fixed sim-results/ecn-ab-on/ path while
the runner has written timestamped directories since 2026-03-20, and not
one ecn-ab result directory exists on disk, so it has found neither input
for months and the "+10.2% recv throughput" figure the README carried is
not reproducible from anything available.

Rename it to ecn-ab-compare.sh, fix the path resolution to glob the
timestamped directories, and stop swallowing a failed simulation with
|| true so a broken run cannot feed the comparison.

Deliberately not adding the threshold assertion that would make it
gateable. That needs a calibration corpus, and none exists precisely
because the tool has never produced a kept result; a number invented now
would assert a guess. The prerequisite is a calibration run set and a
decision about what ECN is expected to deliver, which is a protocol
question. Written in the script header rather than left implied.

Add the exclusion block to ci-local.sh naming every suite and scenario
neither runner runs, with the reason for each: interop, boringtun,
iperf-test, this comparison tool, mesh-lab, and the four chaos scenarios
outside CHAOS_SUITES. Until now "not in the suite list" was
indistinguishable from "forgotten".
This commit is contained in:
Johnathan Corgan
2026-07-23 13:40:53 +00:00
parent 1f149bda32
commit 2a6039995d
3 changed files with 81 additions and 11 deletions
+8 -2
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@@ -124,8 +124,14 @@ detection.
- **ecn-ab-on / ecn-ab-off**: Paired scenarios with identical conditions - **ecn-ab-on / ecn-ab-off**: Paired scenarios with identical conditions
(6-node tree, 10 Mbps egress, 1000 kbps ingress policing, 10ms link (6-node tree, 10 Mbps egress, 1000 kbps ingress policing, 10ms link
delay, 8 KB recv buffer) differing only in `ecn.enabled`. delay, 8 KB recv buffer) differing only in `ecn.enabled`.
`ecn-ab-test.sh` runs both and compares throughput and congestion `ecn-ab-compare.sh` runs both and prints a side-by-side of throughput
counters. Initial results: +10.2% recv throughput with ECN enabled. and congestion counters. It is a manual tool, not a test: it asserts
nothing and no runner invokes it. The "+10.2% recv throughput with ECN
enabled" figure once recorded here is not reproducible from anything on
disk — the script read a fixed `sim-results/ecn-ab-on/` path while the
runner has written timestamped directories since 2026-03-20, and no
ecn-ab result directory survives. The path bug is fixed; the figure is
left out until a run produces one.
### Ingress Traffic Control ### Ingress Traffic Control
@@ -1,10 +1,27 @@
#!/usr/bin/env bash #!/usr/bin/env bash
# ECN A/B Throughput Test # ECN A/B Throughput Comparison (a manual tool, NOT a test)
# #
# Runs two identical chaos scenarios — one with ECN enabled, one disabled — # Runs two identical chaos scenarios — one with ECN enabled, one disabled —
# and compares iperf3 throughput and congestion counter results. # and prints a side-by-side of iperf3 throughput and congestion counters.
# #
# Usage: ./ecn-ab-test.sh [--seed N] [--duration N] # Renamed from ecn-ab-test.sh on 2026-07-23. The old name claimed a verdict
# this has never produced: it asserts nothing, applies no threshold, and no
# runner invokes it. Naming it a test made it look like coverage.
#
# It also could not have worked. It read sim-results/ecn-ab-on/... while the
# runner has written sim-results/<timestamp>-<scenario>/ since 2026-03-20, so
# it has found neither input for at least four months, and there is not one
# archived ecn-ab result directory on disk. That path bug is fixed below.
#
# WHAT IS STILL MISSING, and why it was not added: turning this into a real
# test needs a threshold — how much throughput ECN should buy, or how much
# lower the congestion counters should run — and there is no corpus to derive
# one from, precisely because the tool has never produced a kept result. A
# number invented here would assert the author's guess. The prerequisite is a
# calibration run set, and that is a protocol question about what ECN is
# expected to deliver, not a harness one.
#
# Usage: ./ecn-ab-compare.sh [--seed N] [--duration N]
set -euo pipefail set -euo pipefail
cd "$(dirname "$0")" cd "$(dirname "$0")"
@@ -24,12 +41,12 @@ echo ""
# --- Run A: ECN ON --- # --- Run A: ECN ON ---
echo "--- Phase A: ECN ENABLED ---" echo "--- Phase A: ECN ENABLED ---"
sudo python3 -m sim scenarios/ecn-ab-on.yaml "${EXTRA_ARGS[@]}" || true sudo python3 -m sim scenarios/ecn-ab-on.yaml "${EXTRA_ARGS[@]}"
echo "" echo ""
# --- Run B: ECN OFF --- # --- Run B: ECN OFF ---
echo "--- Phase B: ECN DISABLED ---" echo "--- Phase B: ECN DISABLED ---"
sudo python3 -m sim scenarios/ecn-ab-off.yaml "${EXTRA_ARGS[@]}" || true sudo python3 -m sim scenarios/ecn-ab-off.yaml "${EXTRA_ARGS[@]}"
echo "" echo ""
# --- Compare results --- # --- Compare results ---
@@ -37,7 +54,27 @@ echo "=== Results ==="
echo "" echo ""
python3 - <<'PYEOF' python3 - <<'PYEOF'
import glob
import json import json
def latest(scenario, filename):
"""Newest run directory for a scenario, or None.
The runner writes sim-results/<timestamp>-<scenario>/, so a fixed path
such as sim-results/ecn-ab-on/ has never matched anything. Sorting the
glob works because the timestamp is the leading, fixed-width component.
"""
dirs = sorted(glob.glob(f"sim-results/*-{scenario}"))
if not dirs:
print(f" no run directory found for {scenario}")
return None
path = f"{dirs[-1]}/{filename}"
if not glob.glob(path):
print(f" {scenario}: {filename} missing from {dirs[-1]}")
return None
return path
import os import os
import sys import sys
@@ -92,8 +129,10 @@ def print_sessions(label, sessions):
print(f" {'':>14} completed={n} incomplete={incomplete}") print(f" {'':>14} completed={n} incomplete={incomplete}")
return total_recv / n return total_recv / n
on_results = load_results("sim-results/ecn-ab-on/iperf3-results.json") on_path = latest("ecn-ab-on", "iperf3-results.json")
off_results = load_results("sim-results/ecn-ab-off/iperf3-results.json") off_path = latest("ecn-ab-off", "iperf3-results.json")
on_results = load_results(on_path) if on_path else []
off_results = load_results(off_path) if off_path else []
on_sessions = extract_throughput(on_results) on_sessions = extract_throughput(on_results)
off_sessions = extract_throughput(off_results) off_sessions = extract_throughput(off_results)
@@ -111,8 +150,10 @@ if avg_on and avg_off:
# Congestion counters # Congestion counters
print("Congestion Counters (final snapshot):") print("Congestion Counters (final snapshot):")
for label, path in [("ECN ON", "sim-results/ecn-ab-on/congestion-snapshot-final.json"), for label, scenario in [("ECN ON", "ecn-ab-on"), ("ECN OFF", "ecn-ab-off")]:
("ECN OFF", "sim-results/ecn-ab-off/congestion-snapshot-final.json")]: path = latest(scenario, "congestion-snapshot-final.json")
if path is None:
continue
snap = load_congestion(path) snap = load_congestion(path)
if not snap: if not snap:
print(f" {label}: no snapshot") print(f" {label}: no snapshot")
+23
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@@ -40,6 +40,29 @@
# Opt-in (require --with-tor; depend on live Tor network): # Opt-in (require --with-tor; depend on live Tor network):
# tor-socks5, tor-directory # tor-socks5, tor-directory
# #
# Deliberately not run by either runner, with the reason for each. Recorded
# here so that "not in the suite list" stops being indistinguishable from
# "forgotten", which is what it was until 2026-07-23:
# interop/ Manual. Driven by interop-stress.sh, which runs N
# repetitions serially under netem and takes far longer
# than a CI slot. No CI-sized entry point exists yet;
# writing one is the work, not adding a line here.
# boringtun/ Comparative benchmark against a non-FIPS implementation.
# Measures rather than asserts, and needs a boringtun
# build CI does not have.
# iperf-test.sh Bandwidth measurement, no pass/fail. Driven manually by
# iperf-compare-refs.sh.
# ecn-ab-compare.sh Manual A/B comparison, renamed from ecn-ab-test.sh
# because it asserts nothing. Making it gateable needs a
# calibration corpus that does not exist; see its header.
# mesh-lab/ Long-running multi-host lab, not a suite.
# ecn-ab-on, ecn-ab-off, maelstrom, maelstrom-sparse
# Chaos scenarios excluded from CHAOS_SUITES. The two
# ecn-ab ones are halves of the manual comparison above.
# The two maelstrom ones are 600 s stress runs kept for
# manual investigation. All four still load-check and
# carry the default max_errors ceiling if run by hand.
#
# Exit codes: # Exit codes:
# 0 — all stages passed # 0 — all stages passed
# 1 — one or more stages failed # 1 — one or more stages failed