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Pgbench kernel ab benchmark - #31

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nmanthey wants to merge 8 commits into
kernelci:mainfrom
nmanthey:pgbench-kernel-AB-benchmark
Open

Pgbench kernel ab benchmark#31
nmanthey wants to merge 8 commits into
kernelci:mainfrom
nmanthey:pgbench-kernel-AB-benchmark

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Adding the pgbench postgresql benchmark as a new highlevel regression benchmark. Coefficient of variance is low enough to consider this benchmark as a stable benchmark to detect regressions (CV 0.7–1.7%). Since the same postgresql version used. Running multiple test entries in one pipeline works.

Testing Done

Ran the pgbench-kernel-regression test end-to-end on AWS (local-orchestrator path), base kernel 6.1.141-165.249.amzn2023 vs tip 6.1.150-174.273.amzn2023, on c8i.4xlarge in us-west-2 with the al2023-ami-kernel-6.1-x86_64 AMI.

Single-VM run

  • 1/1 VM succeeded; full lifecycle exercised: install kernel A → reboot → pgbench (read-only + read-write) → install kernel B → reboot → pgbench → benchmark analysis.
  • Produced benchmark-base-.csv / benchmark-tip-.csv with the expected schema and 4 metrics: postgresql.readonly.tps, postgresql.readonly.latency_avg, postgresql.readwrite.tps,
    postgresql.readwrite.latency_avg.
  • Analyzer ran cleanly: "No regressions detected"

Multi-VM statistical comparison (5 VMs)

  • 5/5 VMs succeeded; analyzer pooled 20 base + 20 tip rows (5 VMs × 4 metrics) and ran Welch's t-test, Mann-Whitney U, and Cohen's d per metric.
  • Cross-VM variance was low (CV 0.7–1.7%), confirming stable measurements and that the per-VM aggregation works.

Combined config (all touched tests, 2 VMs each)

One config running pgbench-kernel-regression, unixbench-kernel-regression, and simple-unixbench at min_count: 2. 6/6 VMs succeeded. pgbench produced 8 base + 8 tip rows and compared correctly.

On a system with multiple python environments, we might want to run with
a different version. Therefore, allow the script to select a python
version. This change also helps when adding support to new python
versions.

Signed-off-by: Norbert Manthey <nmanthey@amazon.de>
summarize_unixbench_log built the metric name from fields 1..NF-4, which
pulled the numeric value, unit and part of the timing info into the
metric name — producing malformed rows like
'Arithmetic_Test_(double)_385400605.9_lps' with a single sample each,
instead of one 'Arithmetic_Test_(double)' metric aggregated across VMs.

Use NF-6 for the metric name (matching unixbench-kernel-regression) so
value=$(NF-5) and unit=$(NF-4) line up, and drop the index-section
parsing that emitted duplicate/derived score metrics. Verified against
sample UnixBench output: clean metric names, correct value/unit.

Signed-off-by: Norbert Manthey <nmanthey@amazon.de>
UnixBench (and other CPU-bound benchmarks) run for many minutes with no
new console output during the benchmark phase. The 600s hang-detection
default tripped mid-run and killed all VMs as a false-positive stall.

Raise the PULLAB_TASK_HANG_THRESHOLD_SEC default from 600 to 1200s so
these benchmarks complete, while still catching genuine hangs within a
reasonable window. The value remains env-overridable for lighter
workloads that want faster detection.

Signed-off-by: Norbert Manthey <nmanthey@amazon.de>
The kernel A/B tests each carried their own copy of the kernel
install/reboot helpers, so any change had to be made in every test.

Introduce vm-tests/lib/kernel_helpers.sh as the single home for that
logic (environment validation, kernel RPM download/selection,
install_kernel_rpm with grubby boot-entry management, and the
get_running_kernel / assert_kernel_changed helpers). Each kernel test
includes it via a kernel_helpers.sh symlink and sources it, keeping only
its test-specific functions:
  - example-kernel-reboot-test: none (pure kernel install/reboot).
  - simple-source-reboot: source-RPM build helpers.
  - unixbench-kernel-regression: UnixBench prepare/run/summarize.

The symlink is stored by the payload zip as real content, so the VM sees
a normal file; no pipeline change is needed. Subsequent fixes to the
kernel logic now land once in the shared lib.

Signed-off-by: Norbert Manthey <nmanthey@amazon.de>
A kernel built with make binrpm-pkg and LOCALVERSION=-nogup has an RPM
VERSION of 6.18.41_nogup (underscore) but installs vmlinuz-6.18.41-nogup
(dash). The vmlinuz lookup missed the file because it used the RPM
VERSION verbatim.

Compute an alternate version string with underscores replaced by dashes,
try both in the grubby --info and vmlinuz globs, and derive the kernel
version for dracut/initramfs from the actual vmlinuz filename.

Signed-off-by: Norbert Manthey <nmanthey@amazon.de>
AL2023 enables FIPS by default. A custom kernel built with make
binrpm-pkg carries unsigned modules (e.g. ghash_clmulni_intel) that fail
FIPS signature verification, causing a kernel panic reboot loop.

Add fips=0 to the grubby boot-entry args and run fips-mode-setup
--disable after installing the kernel, before the reboot, so unsigned
modules load without panic.

Signed-off-by: Norbert Manthey <nmanthey@amazon.de>
On an AL2023 AMI whose default kernel is a different series than the RPM
under test (e.g. a 6.18 AMI installing a 6.1 kernel), the distro
kernel<N>-tools package declares 'conflicts with kernel-uname-r < <N>',
so a plain dnf/yum install is refused with 'conflicting requests'.

Verified on a live 6.18 AMI: plain install fails, but
'dnf install --allowerasing' removes the conflicting kernel<N>-tools
package and installs the requested kernel; both vmlinuz files remain in
/boot so the target kernel boots normally.

Add --allowerasing as the final fallback in install_kernel_rpm, making
the kernel A/B tests robust to base-AMI kernel-series drift.

Signed-off-by: Norbert Manthey <nmanthey@amazon.de>
Add a kernel A/B performance regression test using PostgreSQL pgbench.
It installs two kernels in turn on a single VM and runs the same
read-only and read-write pgbench workload against each, emitting
benchmark-base-*.csv / benchmark-tip-*.csv for the pipeline's benchmark
analyzer (which compares the distributions across VMs with Welch's
t-test, Mann-Whitney U and Cohen's d). The test is self-contained:
dependencies come from dependencies.txt and results use the same
benchmark-*.csv schema the analyzer already consumes.

The test consumes the shared kernel-management helpers via a
kernel_helpers.sh symlink into vm-tests/lib/; only the PostgreSQL/pgbench
functions live in its common_lib.sh.

Uses postgresql16 (natively available on AL2023; binaries under
/usr/bin).

Signed-off-by: Norbert Manthey <nmanthey@amazon.de>
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