BMWG - Benchmarking Methodology Working Group Description of Working Group: The Benchmarking Methodology Working Group (BMWG) will continue to produce a series of recommendations concerning the key performance characteristics of internetworking technologies, or benchmarks for network devices, systems, and services. Taking a view of networking divided into planes, the scope of work includes benchmarks for the management, control, and forwarding planes. The scope of BMWG has been extended to develop methods for virtual network functions (VNF) and their unique supporting infrastructure (such as SDN Controllers and vSwitches). Benchmarks for platform capacity and performance characteristics of virtual routers, firewalls (and other security functions), signaling control gateways, and other forms of gateways are included. The benchmarks will foster comparisons between physical and virtual network functions, and also cover unique features of Network Function Virtualization systems. Also, with the emergence of virtualized test systems, specifications for test system calibration are also in-scope. Each recommendation will describe the class of network function, system, or service being addressed; discuss the performance characteristics that are pertinent to that class; clearly identify a set of metrics that aid in the description of those characteristics; specify the methodologies required to collect said metrics; and lastly, present the requirements for the common, unambiguous reporting of benchmarking results. The set of relevant benchmarks will be developed with input from the community of users (e.g., network operators and testing organizations) and from those affected by the benchmarks when they are published (networking and test equipment manufacturers). When possible, the benchmarks and other terminologies will be developed jointly with organizations that are willing to share their expertise. Joint review requirements for a specific work area will be included in the description of the task. To better distinguish the BMWG from other measurement initiatives in the IETF, the scope of the BMWG is limited to the characterization of implementations of various internetworking technologies using controlled stimuli in a laboratory environment. Said differently, the BMWG does not attempt to produce benchmarks for live, operational networks. Moreover, the benchmarks produced by this WG shall strive to be vendor independent or otherwise have universal applicability to a given technology class. Because the demands of a particular technology may vary from deployment to deployment, a specific non-goal of the Working Group is to define acceptance criteria or performance requirements. An ongoing task is to provide a forum for development and advancement of measurements which provide insight on the capabilities and operation of implementations of inter-networking technology. Ideally, BMWG should communicate with the operations community through organizations such as NANOG, RIPE, and APRICOT. Goals and Milestones: (preliminary list, we have an active draft for all topics) Aug 2018 - Methodology for Next-Gen Firewall Benchmarking to IESG Review Dec 2018 - Update to RFC2544 Back-to-back Frame Benchmarking to IESG Review Dec 2019 - Methodology for EVPN Benchmarking to IESG Review Dec 2019 - Considerations for Benchmarking Network Virtualization Platforms to IESG Review Dec 2019 - Draft on Network Service Layer Abstract Models applied to Benchmarking to IESG Review Dec 2019 - Draft on General VNF Benchmarking Automation to IESG Review