topic Re: Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores in General Topics

Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores

TomShanti — Mon, 04 May 2020 11:24:51 GMT

Hi,

in an effort to optimize performance on our new R80.30 kernel 3.1 cluster (16core open server) we changed the core assignement from 8/8 (SND/fw_worker) to 5/11. Sync interface has a dedicated SND assigned.

Now we do not understand the changes that happened on the system regarding CPU usage and SecureXL.

Performance with 8/8 config

CPU #1 - Sync interface - Max 60% CPU

CPU #2,3,4,9,10,11,12 - SNDs - max 20% CPU

CPU #5,6,7,8,13,14,15 - fw_worker - max 80% CPU

SecureXL accelerated conns: 50%

SecureXL accelerated packets: 67%

Performance with 5/11 config (core assignment change done two days ago)

CPU #1 - Sync interface - Max 85% CPU

CPU #2,3,4,9,10,11,12 - SNDs - max 50% CPU

CPU #5,6,7,8,13,14,15 - fw_worker - max 70% CPU

SecureXL accelerated conns: 4%

SecureXL accelerated packets: 60%

In general SNDs and fw_worker load changed as expected.

But can anyone explain why I can see a much higher load on the core assigned to the sync interface and also why I now have such a low value of accelerated connections ?

Maybe there is a connection between high load on sync cpu and low rate of accelerated conns ?

Thanks and regards

Thomas

Re: Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores

_Val_ — Mon, 04 May 2020 11:34:38 GMT

Hi @TomShanti The scenario does not make sense. Are you sure you did not change policy along with the Core split?

It seems that you have lost most of your templated acceleration. You need to figure out why. This is the main question

Less templated acceleration may then lead to higher load on sync, especially if you are using delayed sync for some services. That would explain higher CPU on sync interface.

On another subject, do you use open server listed in here https://www.checkpoint.com/support-services/hcl/ for 3.10 specifically?

Re: Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores

TomShanti — Mon, 04 May 2020 12:04:14 GMT

Hi Valeri,

"Are you sure you did not change policy along with the Core split? "

No change in policy

"Less templated acceleration may then lead to higher load on sync"

I expected something like this. From a config standpoint nothing has changed:

[Expert@FWxxxx:0]# fwaccel stat
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Id|Name |Status |Interfaces |Features |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|0 |SND |enabled |eth4,eth5,eth6,eth7, |
| | | |eth10,eth11,eth12,eth13, |
| | | |eth8,eth9 |Acceleration,Cryptography |
| | | | |Crypto: Tunnel,UDPEncap,MD5, |
| | | | |SHA1,NULL,3DES,DES,CAST, |
| | | | |CAST-40,AES-128,AES-256,ESP, |
| | | | |LinkSelection,DynamicVPN, |
| | | | |NatTraversal,AES-XCBC,SHA256 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Accept Templates : enabled
Drop Templates : enabled
NAT Templates : enabled

So the question is now how do I get into troubleshooting ?

Regards Thomas

PS: Server is fully HCL compliant - HP DL380 G10

Re: Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores

_Val_ — Mon, 04 May 2020 12:42:46 GMT

@Timothy_Hall , what's your take on that?

@TomShanti Is it 16 physical cores or 8 with multi-thread?

Re: Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores

TomShanti — Mon, 04 May 2020 12:55:36 GMT

It is a two socket (CPU) 8 core system.

So 16 physical cores. No Hyper-threading enabled.

Regards Thomas

Re: Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores

Timothy_Hall — Mon, 04 May 2020 19:05:40 GMT

What you are describing after the split change doesn't make sense, at least not to me. The way your cores are allocated would suggest that you actually do have SMT enabled, but that may just be the way you manually assigned them. Are you licensed for all 16 cores?

Please provide the output of the Super Seven commands along with enabled_blades for analysis.

https://community.checkpoint.com/t5/General-Topics/Super-Seven-Performance-Assessment-Commands-s7pac/m-p/40528

Re: Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores

TomShanti — Mon, 04 May 2020 19:51:43 GMT

Hi Timothy,

as far as I can read lscpu my open server has two physical CPUs with 8 cores each:

[Expert@FW02-EMEA:0]# lscpu
Architecture: x86_64
CPU op-mode(s): 32-bit, 64-bit
Byte Order: Little Endian
CPU(s): 16
On-line CPU(s) list: 0-15
Thread(s) per core: 1
Core(s) per socket: 8
Socket(s): 2
NUMA node(s): 4
Vendor ID: GenuineIntel
CPU family: 6
Model: 85
Model name: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6134 CPU @ 3.20GHz
Stepping: 4
CPU MHz: 3200.000
BogoMIPS: 6400.00
Virtualization: VT-x
L1d cache: 32K
L1i cache: 32K
L2 cache: 1024K
L3 cache: 25344K
NUMA node0 CPU(s): 0-3
NUMA node1 CPU(s): 4-7
NUMA node2 CPU(s): 8-11
NUMA node3 CPU(s): 12-15
Flags: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf eagerfpu pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid dca sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch epb cat_l3 cdp_l3 invpcid_single intel_pt spec_ctrl ibpb_support tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm cqm mpx rdt_a avx512f avx512dq rdseed adx smap clflushopt clwb avx512cd avx512bw avx512vl xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 cqm_llc cqm_occup_llc cqm_mbm_total cqm_mbm_local dtherm ida arat pln pts

So no Hyperthreading involved as far as I can see

cmd1

Accept Templates : enabled
Drop Templates : enabled
NAT Templates : enabled

cmd2

[Expert@FWxxxxx:0]# fwaccel stats -s

Accelerated conns/Total conns : 10138/205848 (4%)

Accelerated pkts/Total pkts : 26047385330/42303022874 (61%)

F2Fed pkts/Total pkts : 270320445/42303022874 (0%)

F2V pkts/Total pkts : 190564992/42303022874 (0%)

CPASXL pkts/Total pkts : 0/42303022874 (0%)

PSLXL pkts/Total pkts : 15985317099/42303022874 (37%)

QOS inbound pkts/Total pkts : 0/42303022874 (0%)

QOS outbound pkts/Total pkts : 0/42303022874 (0%)

Corrected pkts/Total pkts : 0/42303022874 (0%)

cmd3

[Expert@FWxxxxx:0]# grep -c ^processor /proc/cpuinfo
16

cmd4

[Expert@FWxxxxx:0]# fw ctl affinity -l -r
CPU 0: eth7
CPU 1:
CPU 2:
CPU 3: fw_9
mpdaemon fwd pdpd lpd pepd in.acapd dtlsd vpnd in.asessiond rtmd dtpsd cprid cpd
CPU 4: fw_7
mpdaemon fwd pdpd lpd pepd in.acapd dtlsd vpnd in.asessiond rtmd dtpsd cprid cpd
CPU 5: fw_5
mpdaemon fwd pdpd lpd pepd in.acapd dtlsd vpnd in.asessiond rtmd dtpsd cprid cpd
CPU 6: fw_3
mpdaemon fwd pdpd lpd pepd in.acapd dtlsd vpnd in.asessiond rtmd dtpsd cprid cpd
CPU 7: fw_1
mpdaemon fwd pdpd lpd pepd in.acapd dtlsd vpnd in.asessiond rtmd dtpsd cprid cpd
CPU 8:
CPU 9:
CPU 10: fw_10
mpdaemon fwd pdpd lpd pepd in.acapd dtlsd vpnd in.asessiond rtmd dtpsd cprid cpd
CPU 11: fw_8
mpdaemon fwd pdpd lpd pepd in.acapd dtlsd vpnd in.asessiond rtmd dtpsd cprid cpd
CPU 12: fw_6
mpdaemon fwd pdpd lpd pepd in.acapd dtlsd vpnd in.asessiond rtmd dtpsd cprid cpd
CPU 13: fw_4
mpdaemon fwd pdpd lpd pepd in.acapd dtlsd vpnd in.asessiond rtmd dtpsd cprid cpd
CPU 14: fw_2
mpdaemon fwd pdpd lpd pepd in.acapd dtlsd vpnd in.asessiond rtmd dtpsd cprid cpd
CPU 15: fw_0
mpdaemon fwd pdpd lpd pepd in.acapd dtlsd vpnd in.asessiond rtmd dtpsd cprid cpd
All:
Interface eth4: has multi queue enabled
Interface eth5: has multi queue enabled
Interface eth6: has multi queue enabled
Interface eth10: has multi queue enabled
Interface eth11: has multi queue enabled
Interface eth12: has multi queue enabled
Interface eth13: has multi queue enabled
Interface eth8: has multi queue enabled
Interface eth9: has multi queue enabled

cmd5

[Expert@FWxxxxx:0]# netstat -ni
Kernel Interface table
Iface MTU Met RX-OK RX-ERR RX-DRP RX-OVR TX-OK TX-ERR TX-DRP TX-OVR Flg
eth4 1500 0 2434625 0 25534 0 2287137 0 0 0 BMRU
eth4.3xxx 1500 0 2399507 0 9 0 2287450 0 0 0 BMRU
eth5 1500 0 8762159 0 6381 0 4964024 0 0 0 BMRU
eth5.3xxx 1500 0 1305085 0 0 0 792359 0 0 0 BMRU
eth5.3xxx 1500 0 401611 0 0 0 1489 0 0 0 BMRU
eth5.3xxx 1500 0 3156978 0 0 0 1743269 0 0 0 BMRU
eth5.3xxx 1500 0 273200 0 0 0 43901 0 0 0 BMRU
eth5.3xxx 1500 0 261594 0 0 0 12321 0 0 0 BMRU
eth5.3xxx 1500 0 138487 0 0 0 68 0 0 0 BMRU
eth5.3xxx 1500 0 181043 0 0 0 1027 0 0 0 BMRU
eth5.3xxx 1500 0 138489 0 0 0 3105 0 0 0 BMRU
eth5.3xxx 1500 0 2773936 0 77 0 2366561 0 0 0 BMRU
eth6 1500 0 911627 11 6380 0 532714 0 0 0 BMRU
eth6.4xx 1500 0 627401 0 0 0 532734 0 0 0 BMRU
eth7 1500 0 78849528 0 0 0 26406053 0 0 0 BMRU
eth8 1500 0 32826906 0 6381 0 6552656 0 0 0 BMRU
eth8.3xxx 1500 0 11505957 0 39 0 2161112 0 0 0 BMRU

eth8.3xxx 1500 0 14825428 0 267 0 1597151 0 0 0 BMRU
eth8.3xxx 1500 0 354828 0 9 0 2768 0 0 0 BMRU
eth8.3xxx 1500 0 1255742 0 0 0 1844956 0 0 0 BMRU
eth8.3xxx 1500 0 102552 0 0 0 1859 0 0 0 BMRU
eth8.3xxx 1500 0 295471 0 195 0 192740 0 0 0 BMRU
eth8.3xxx 1500 0 239986 0 39 0 95922 0 0 0 BMRU
eth8.3xxx 1500 0 99658 0 0 0 67 0 0 0 BMRU
eth8.3xxx 1500 0 220546 0 0 0 134983 0 0 0 BMRU
eth8.3xxx 1500 0 625625 0 0 0 521212 0 0 0 BMRU
eth9 1500 0 172080171 0 6381 0 180826059 0 0 0 BMRU
eth9.xx 1500 0 171085697 0 316 0 180126064 0 0 0 BMRU
eth9.3xxx 1500 0 960794 0 636 0 701633 0 0 0 BMRU
eth10 1500 0 90596096 0 6377 0 103516618 0 0 0 BMRU
eth10.3xxx 1500 0 90590353 0 0 0 103516974 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11 1500 0 426353169 0 6443 0 236835747 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 55688095 0 0 0 49306146 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 15976048 0 54 0 238769 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 108562 0 0 0 9736 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 333089 0 81 0 241127 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 100907 0 0 0 68 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 101509 0 0 0 79 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 104033 0 0 0 2413 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 168608908 0 4911 0 37264907 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 7375167 0 292 0 6573741 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 1836349 0 36 0 1356875 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 99925 0 0 0 468 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 141180 0 0 0 27447 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 191290 0 102 0 18962 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 137456 0 24 0 2362 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 100906 0 0 0 67 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 89786516 0 0 0 85385196 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 191863 0 0 0 90419 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 487745 0 0 0 4309 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 123773 0 0 0 21426 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 57946462 0 0 0 35966200 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 2433490 0 628 0 2023382 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 17242904 0 94 0 16257126 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 1659699 0 56 0 1533958 0 0 0 BMRU
eth11.3xxx 1500 0 624714 0 38 0 511067 0 0 0 BMRU
eth12 1500 0 12243819 0 6380 0 163756701 0 0 0 BMRU
eth12.3xxx 1500 0 12015918 0 36 0 163756746 0 0 0 BMRU
eth13 1500 0 824428 0 6386 0 530262 0 0 0 BMRU
eth13.3xxx 1500 0 787882 0 0 0 530302 0 0 0 BMRU
lo 65536 0 286089 0 0 0 286089 0 0 0 LMPORU

cmd6

[Expert@FWxxxxx:0]# fw ctl multik stat
I will provide this when system is under load tomorrow

cmd7

cpstat os -f multi_cpu -o 1

I will provide this when system is under load tomorrow

[Expert@FWxxxxx:0]# enabled_blades
fw vpn ips identityServer mon vpn

We currently suspect IPS signature updates as a root cause.

This was the only "policy" change applied after core assignment change.

Thanks and regards

Thomas

Re: Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores

Timothy_Hall — Mon, 04 May 2020 20:08:21 GMT

Is eth7 both your sync and management interface? A little odd but shouldn't cause a problem.

Everything seems to look more or less OK other than 1% RX-DRP on eth4.

Much more likely that IPS is the cause of a low templating rate, to test try running command ips off, fwaccel stats -r, wait 5 minutes, then check statistics again with fwaccel stats -s. Then ips on of course.

Re: Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores

TomShanti — Tue, 05 May 2020 06:52:01 GMT

Hi Timothy,

Disabling IPS increases accelerated conns to approx 30% (better but still far away from the 50% before our change).

When digging through the fwaccel commands I realized the following:

[Expert@FWxxxxx:0]# fwaccel stats -s

Accelerated conns/Total conns : 45552/184569 (24%)

[Expert@FWxxxxx:0]# fwaccel conns -s

Total number of connections: 178628

This looks like a mismatch to me ?

Regards Thomas

Re: Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores

TomShanti — Tue, 05 May 2020 13:01:48 GMT

Update:

So the high load on the "sync" interface (Core 0) probably turned out to be no sync traffic or SecureXL issue.

We even turned off the sync interface still the load (SI) on core 0 was nearly 100%.

After a lot of investigation we finally found out that there is a bug causing a lot of VPN client connection to cumulate on one SND core despite that other cores exist:

https://supportcenter.checkpoint.com/supportcenter/portal?eventSubmit_doGoviewsolutiondetails=&solutionid=sk165853&partition=Advanced&product=IPSec

Currently we installed the Jumbo but it only seems to have a slight improvement on the issue.

Regards Thomas

Re: Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores

Timothy_Hall — Wed, 06 May 2020 03:18:11 GMT

Thanks for the update hadn't heard of that one, I wouldn't worry too much about the different connections numbers between separate SecureXL commands.

Re: Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores

TomShanti — Tue, 12 May 2020 13:43:07 GMT

Just a note on the SK.

It mentions HF is included in

Jumbo Hotfix Accumulator for R80.30 since Take 195

Which is actually wrong. We had to additionally install the two dedicated HFs on top of JHF195.

Regards Thomas

Re: Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores

Yifat_Chen — Tue, 12 May 2020 14:19:05 GMT

Hi,

We are checking this issue and will update.

Thanks,

Yifat Chen

Re: Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores

Yifat_Chen — Tue, 12 May 2020 14:35:08 GMT

Hi again..

Fix exist in Jumbo take 195, but only for kernel 2.6.18.

Same fix for kernel 3.10 will be part of our next ongoing take

SK will be updated accordingly.

Thanks.

Yifat Chen

Release Manager

Re: Understanding load and SecureXL change when changing affinity of CPU cores

Timothy_Hall — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 14:41:26 GMT

To update this very old thread: if fwaccel stat reports "Accept Templates : enabled" but the templating rate reported by fwaccel stats -s (Accelerated conns/Total conns) is always zero or close to zero, a new -R option was added in R81.20 for fwaccel templates to assist with troubleshooting. Generally this condition is related to how your Access Control policy layers were constructed, specifically enabling anything other than the Firewall blade in your top/parent layer: