3.2.1.1. LightWeight Security PSK vs HMAC Only vs Full Security PSK

In RTI Connext 7.1 we introduced Pre-Shared Key Protection (PSK)` to secure the RTPS communication. This PSK can be leveraged in two ways: As a part of RTI Security Plugins, protecting bootstrapping communications before authentication is successfully concluded or as a dedicated library named RTI Lightweight Security Plugins, where PSK` is the only option and protects the entirety of the communication. PSK can be configured to use various cryptographic algorithms: AES128 or AES256 in either GMAC (for integrity) or GCM (for both integrity and confidentiality) modes.

In RTI Connext 7.1 we deprecated HMAC-only mode which is scheduled to be superseded in the next release with Lightweight Security. It supports non-configurable HMAC-SHA256 which only protects data integrity without its confidentiality.

Charts below compare performance of different Lightweight Security’s AES256 GCM and GMAC algorithms with HMAC-only and a non-secure scenario. In all tests PSK performs better than HMAC-only.

Linux x64 (10Gbps Network)

UDPv4UDPv4_WAN (RWT)

Minimum LatencyMaximum Throughput

Perftest Scripts

To produce these tests, we executed RTI Perftest for C++98. The scripts used to execute the tests can be found here:

#!/bin/bash
filename=$0
script_location=$(cd "$(dirname "$filename")" || exit 255; pwd)

export datasizes="32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192 16384 32768 63000"
export datasizes_extended="${datasizes} 100000 500000 1048576 1548576 4194304 10485760"

export domain="2"
export exec_time=20
export num_reps=1
export instance_number=100000
export core=0

# We will use some colors to improve visibility of errors and info messages.
RED='\033[0;31m'
GREEN='\033[0;32m'
YELLOW='\033[0;33m'
BLUE='\033[0;34m'
LIGHTBLUE='\033[0;36m'
NC='\033[0m'
INFO_TAG="${GREEN}[INFO]:${NC}"
WARNING_TAG="${YELLOW}[WARNING]:${NC}"
ERROR_TAG="${RED}[ERROR]:${NC}"

export ip_machine_1="10.2.78.20"
export ip_machine_2="10.2.78.21"
export if10Gbps="enp1s0f0"
export if1Gbps="eno1"

################################################################################

function disable_colors() {
    export RED=""
    export GREEN=""
    export YELLOW=""
    export NC=""
    export BLUE=""
    export LIGHTBLUE=""
    export INFO_TAG="${GREEN}[INFO]:${NC}"
    export WARNING_TAG="${YELLOW}[WARNING]:${NC}"
    export ERROR_TAG="${RED}[ERROR]:${NC}"
}

function change_domain() {
    if [[ "$domain" == "1" ]]; then
        export domain="2"
    else
        export domain="1"
    fi
}

# Usage: execute_test <keyed/unkeyed> <rel/be> <datasizes> <batchSize>
function execute_test() {

    local keyed_unkeyed=$1
    local rel_be=$2
    local datasizes_test=$3
    local other_args=$4
    local name_suffix=$5

    local commands_string_test=$commands_string
    local tag=""

    if [[ "${keyed_unkeyed}" == "keyed" ]]; then
        commands_string_test="${commands_string_test} -keyed -instances $instance_number"
        tag="[${YELLOW}${transport}${NC}|${BLUE}K${NC}|"
    else
        tag="[${YELLOW}${transport}${NC}|${LIGHTBLUE}UK${NC}|"
    fi

    if [[ "${rel_be}" == "be" ]]; then
        commands_string_test="${commands_string_test} -bestEffort"
        tag="${tag}${YELLOW}BE${NC}]"
    else
        tag="${tag}${RED}REL${NC}]"
    fi

    tag="${tag}[${LIGHTBLUE}${lat_thr}${NC}]"

    local output_file=$output_folder/${lat_thr}_${role}_${keyed_unkeyed}_${rel_be}${name_suffix}.csv

    if [[ "$role" == "pub" ]]; then
        echo -e "${YELLOW}[TEST]: $keyed_unkeyed, $rel_be. ${NC}"
    fi

    if [[ "$LANGUAGE" != "java" && "$LANGUAGE" != "cs" ]]; then
        export pre_command_string="taskset -c $core"
    fi

    if [[ "$LANGUAGE" == "python" ]]; then
        export pre_command_string="python3 "
    fi

    # Get the aprox time this will take:
    total_tests=$((`wc -w <<< "$datasizes_test"` * num_reps))
    total_time=$((total_tests * exec_time))

    touch $output_file
    local no_headers=""
    local current_test=0
    for index in $(seq 1 ${num_reps}); do
        for DATALEN in ${datasizes_test}; do
            current_test=$((current_test + 1))
            export command="$pre_command_string $executable -domain $domain -dataLen $DATALEN $commands_string_test $other_args $no_headers"
            if [[ "$role" == "pub" ]]; then
                echo -e "Test ${tag} (${current_test}/${total_tests}) -- Total time = ${total_time}s"
                echo -e ${BLUE}$command${NC}
            else
                echo -e ${LIGHTBLUE}$command${NC}
            fi
            if [[ "$LANGUAGE" == "cs" && "$role" == "pub" ]]; then
                sleep 3
            fi
            if [[ "$raw" == "1" && "$role" == "sub" ]]; then
                sleep 5
            fi
            if [[ "${get_netstat_info}" == "1" ]]; then
                echo -e "${INFO_TAG} Getting netstat info before"
                netstat -s -u | grep -e "error" -e "packet" > $output_folder/${lat_thr}_${role}_${keyed_unkeyed}_${rel_be}${name_suffix}_netstat_before.txt
            fi
            eval $command >> $output_file;
            if [[ "${get_netstat_info}" == "1" ]]; then
                echo -e "${INFO_TAG} Getting netstat info after"
                netstat -s -u | grep -e "error" -e "packet" > $output_folder/${lat_thr}_${role}_${keyed_unkeyed}_${rel_be}${name_suffix}_netstat_after.txt
                touch "$output_folder/${lat_thr}_${role}_${keyed_unkeyed}_${rel_be}${name_suffix}_netstat.csv"
                python3 $script_location/../../../tools/diff_netstat_output.py \
                    -n $output_folder/${lat_thr}_${role}_${keyed_unkeyed}_${rel_be}${name_suffix}_netstat_after.txt \
                    -o $output_folder/${lat_thr}_${role}_${keyed_unkeyed}_${rel_be}${name_suffix}_netstat_before.txt \
                    -d $DATALEN $no_header_netstat \
                    -csv >> "$output_folder/${lat_thr}_${role}_${keyed_unkeyed}_${rel_be}${name_suffix}_netstat.csv"
                rm -rf $output_folder/${lat_thr}_${role}_${keyed_unkeyed}_${rel_be}${name_suffix}_netstat_*.txt
                no_header_netstat=" -nh"
            fi
            no_headers=" -noOutputHeaders"

            change_domain
        done
    done
}

################################################################################
# PARSE COMMAND LINE OPTIONS:

while [ "$1" != "" ]; do
    case $1 in
        --executable)
            executable=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --output-folder)
            output_folder=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --sub-folder)
            sub_folder=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --role)
            export role=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --core)
            export core=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --test-kind)
            export lat_thr=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --interface1)
            export interface=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --interface2)
            export interface2=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --ip1)
            export ip1=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --ip2)
            export ip2=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --repetitions)
            export num_reps=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --domain)
            export domain=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --execution-time)
            export exec_time=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --transport)
            export transport=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --datalen)
            export datalen_input=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --file-suffix)
            export file_suffix=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --executable-suffix)
            export executable_suffix=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --extra-arguments)
            export extra_arguments=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --extra-arguments-pub)
            export extra_arguments_pub=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --extra-arguments-sub)
            export extra_arguments_sub=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --skip-no-batching)
            export skip_no_batching="1"
            ;;
        --skip-be)
            export skip_be_tests="1"
            ;;
        --skip-rel)
            export skip_rel_tests="1"
            ;;
        --skip-keyed)
            export skip_keyed_data="1"
            ;;
        --skip-large-data)
            export skip_large_data="1"
            ;;
        --large-data)
            export large_data="1"
            ;;
        --keyed)
            export skip_unkeyed="1"
            ;;
        --unkeyed)
            export skip_keyed_data="1"
            ;;
        --no-batching)
            export no_batching_only="1"
            ;;
        --reliable)
            export skip_be_tests="1"
            ;;
        --best-effort)
            export skip_rel_tests="1"
            ;;
        --security)
            export security_only="$2"
            shift
            ;;
        --micro)
            export micro="1"
            ;;
        --raw | --raw-transport)
            export raw="1"
            ;;
        --tss)
            export tss="1"
            ;;
        --no-colors)
            export NO_COLORS="1"
            ;;
        --language)
            export LANGUAGE=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --loss-rate)
            export loss_rate=$2
            shift
            ;;
        --get-netstat-info)
            export get_netstat_info="1"
            ;;
        *)
            echo -e "unknown parameter \"$1\""
            exit 255
            ;;
    esac
    shift
done

if [[ "$NO_COLORS" == "1" ]]; then
    disable_colors
fi

export folder_base="$(dirname "${executable}")"/../../..

if [[ $LANGUAGE == "java"  || "$LANGUAGE" == "cs" ]]; then
    export folder_base="$(dirname "${executable}")"/../..
fi
if [[ $tss == "1" ]]; then
    export folder_base="$(dirname "${executable}")"/../../../../..
fi

if [[ "${executable_suffix}" != "" ]]; then
    export executable="${executable}${executable_suffix}"
fi

if [[ "${sub_folder}" != "" ]]; then
    export output_folder="${output_folder}/${sub_folder}"
fi

echo -e "${INFO_TAG} Perftest executable is: $executable"
echo -e "${INFO_TAG} Output folder is: $output_folder"

################################################################################

if [[ "$LANGUAGE" == "python" ]]; then
    export skip_keyed_data="1"
    export skip_large_data="1"
    export skip_be_tests="1"
    export skip_no_batching="1"
fi

if [[ "${skip_large_data}" == "1" ]]; then
    export datasizes_extended=${datasizes}
elif [[ "${large_data}" == "1" ]]; then
    export datasizes=${datasizes_extended}
fi

if [[ "${datalen_input}" != "" ]]; then
    echo -e "${YELLOW}[TEST] Testing only for ${datalen_input}${NC}"
    export datasizes=${datalen_input}
    export datasizes_extended=${datalen_input}
    if [[ "${no_batching_only}" != "1" ]]; then
        export skip_large_data="1"
    fi
fi

if [[ "$role" != "pub" && "$role" != "sub" ]]; then
    echo -e "${ERROR_TAG} It must be either publisher or subscriber"
    exit 255
fi

if [[ "$lat_thr" != "thr" && "$lat_thr" != "lat" ]]; then
    echo -e "${ERROR_TAG} It must be either lat or thr"
    exit 255
fi

if [[ "${interface}" == "" ]]; then
    echo "Using default nics"
    export nic_publisher=${ip_machine_1}
    export nic_subscriber=${ip_machine_2}
else
    export nic_publisher=$interface
    echo -e "${INFO_TAG} Using nic_publisher: ${nic_publisher}"

    if [[ "${interface2}" == "" ]]; then
        export nic_subscriber=$interface
    else
        export nic_subscriber=$interface2
    fi
    echo -e "${INFO_TAG} Using nic_subscriber: ${nic_subscriber}"

    if [[ "${ip1}" != "" ]]; then
        export ip_publisher=$ip1
        echo "Using ip_publisher: ${ip_publisher}"
    fi

    if [[ "${ip2}" != "" ]]; then
        export ip_subscriber=$ip2
        echo "Using ip_subscriber: ${ip_subscriber}"
    fi

fi

export transport_string="-transport $transport"

if [[ "$transport" == "UDPv4" ]]; then

    export transport_string_pub="$transport_string -nic $nic_publisher"
    export transport_string_sub="$transport_string -nic $nic_subscriber"

    if [[ "$micro" == "1" || "$raw" == "1" ]]; then
        export transport_string_pub="$transport_string_pub -peer ${ip_subscriber}"
        export transport_string_sub="$transport_string_sub -peer ${ip_publisher}"
    fi

elif [[ "$transport" == "TCP" ]]; then
    export transport_string_pub="$transport_string \
        -nic $nic_publisher \
        -peer 0@tcpv4_lan://${ip_subscriber}:7400"
    export transport_string_sub="$transport_string \
        -nic $nic_subscriber \
        -peer 0@tcpv4_lan://${ip_publisher}:7400"
elif [[ "$transport" == "TLS" ]]; then
    export transport_string_pub="$transport_string \
        -nic $nic_publisher \
        -peer tlsv4_lan://${ip_subscriber}:7400"
    export transport_string_sub="$transport_string \
        -nic $nic_subscriber \
        -peer tlsv4_lan://${ip_publisher}:7400"
elif [[ "$transport" == "UDPv4_WAN" ]]; then
    export transport_string_pub="$transport_string \
        -nic $nic_publisher \
        -transportPublicAddress $ip_publisher:7400"
    export transport_string_sub="$transport_string \
        -nic $nic_subscriber \
        -peer 0@udpv4_wan://${ip_publisher}:7400"
else
    export transport_string_pub="$transport_string"
    export transport_string_sub="$transport_string"
fi

################################################################################

export pub_string="-pub \
        ${transport_string_pub} \
        -noPrintIntervals \
        -executionTime $exec_time"

if [[ ${lat_thr} == "lat" ]]; then
    export pub_string="$pub_string \
        -latencyTest"
fi

export sub_string="-sub \
        ${transport_string_sub} \
        -noPrintIntervals"

if [[ "$role" == "pub" ]]; then
    echo -e "$INFO_TAG Publisher side running"
    export commands_string=${pub_string}
    export extra_arguments="${extra_arguments} ${extra_arguments_pub}"
else
    echo -e "$INFO_TAG Subscriber side running"
    export commands_string=${sub_string}
    export extra_arguments="${extra_arguments} ${extra_arguments_sub}"
fi

###############################################################################

echo -e "${INFO_TAG} Executing: /set_${lat_thr}_mode.sh"
sudo /set_${lat_thr}_mode.sh
sleep 5

echo -e "${INFO_TAG} Disabling any loss rate"
sudo tc qdisc add dev $nic_publisher root netem loss 0%
sudo tc qdisc del dev $nic_publisher root netem loss 0%

if [[ "$role" == "pub" && "${loss_rate}" != "" ]]; then
    echo -e "${INFO_TAG} Setting loss rate to ${loss_rate}%"
    sudo tc qdisc add dev $nic_publisher root netem loss $loss_rate%
fi

cd $folder_base
echo -e "${INFO_TAG} Folder Base is: $PWD"
mkdir -p $output_folder

# Tests that may use batching (when doing throughput tests)
if [[ ${no_batching_only} != "1" ]]; then

    # UNKEYED
    if [[ "${skip_unkeyed}" == "" ]]; then

        # RELIABLE
        if [[ "${skip_rel_tests}" == "" ]]; then
            execute_test "unkeyed" "rel" "${datasizes_extended}" "${extra_arguments}" "$file_suffix"
        fi

        # BEST EFFORT
        if [[ "${skip_be_tests}" == "" ]]; then
            execute_test "unkeyed" "be" "${datasizes}" "${extra_arguments}" "$file_suffix"
        fi
    fi

    # KEYED
    if [[ "${skip_keyed_data}" == "" ]]; then

        # RELIABLE
        if [[ "${skip_rel_tests}" == "" ]]; then
            execute_test "keyed" "rel" "${datasizes}" "${extra_arguments}" "$file_suffix"
        fi

        # BEST EFFORT
        if [[ "${skip_be_tests}" == "" ]]; then
            execute_test "keyed" "be" "${datasizes}" "${extra_arguments}" "$file_suffix"
        fi
    fi

fi

if [[ "${skip_no_batching}" == "" || "${no_batching_only}" == "1" ]]; then
    no_batching_tests="1"
fi

# Tests that will not use batching
if [[ "${lat_thr}" == "thr" && "${no_batching_tests}" == "1" ]]; then

    if [[ "$role" == "pub" ]]; then
        export commands_string="${commands_string} -batchSize 0"
    fi

    # UNKEYED
    if [[ "${skip_unkeyed}" == "" ]]; then

        # RELIABLE
        if [[ "${skip_rel_tests}" == "" ]]; then
            execute_test "unkeyed" "rel" "${datasizes}" "${extra_arguments}" "_noBatch${file_suffix}"
        fi

        # BEST EFFORT
        if [[ "${skip_be_tests}" == "" ]]; then
            execute_test "unkeyed" "be" "${datasizes}" "${extra_arguments}" "_noBatch${file_suffix}"
        fi
    fi
fi

if [[ "$role" == "pub" && "${loss_rate}" != "" ]]; then
    echo -e "${INFO_TAG} Disabling loss rate"
    sudo tc qdisc del dev $nic_publisher root netem loss $loss_rate%
fi

#!/bin/bash
filename=$0
script_location=$(cd "$(dirname "$filename")" || exit 255; pwd)

export input_params=$@

"${script_location}/../base_script/script.sh" $input_params --transport UDPv4 \
    --skip-no-batching --skip-be --skip-keyed --skip-large-data \
    --extra-arguments "-securePSK data:,1:SecretKey -securePSKAlgorithm AES256+GCM" \
    --executable-suffix "_lws" \
    --file-suffix "_AES256_GCM"

"${script_location}/../base_script/script.sh" $input_params --transport UDPv4 \
    --skip-no-batching --skip-be --skip-keyed --skip-large-data \
    --extra-arguments "-securePSK data:,1:SecretKey -securePSKAlgorithm AES128+GCM" \
    --executable-suffix "_lws" \
    --file-suffix "_AES128_GCM"

# "${script_location}/../base_script/script.sh" $input_params --transport UDPv4 \
#     --skip-no-batching --skip-be --skip-keyed --skip-large-data \
#     --extra-arguments "-securePSK str:1:SecretKey -securePSKAlgorithm AES256+GCM" \
#     --executable-suffix "_lws" \
#     --file-suffix "_AES256_GCM"

"${script_location}/../base_script/script.sh" $input_params --transport UDPv4 \
    --skip-no-batching --skip-be --skip-keyed --skip-large-data \
    --extra-arguments "-securePSK data:,1:SecretKey -securePSKAlgorithm AES256+GMAC" \
    --executable-suffix "_lws" \
    --file-suffix "_AES256_GMAC"

#!/bin/bash
filename=$0
script_location=$(cd "$(dirname "$filename")" || exit 255; pwd)

export input_params=$@

"${script_location}/../base_script/script.sh" $input_params --transport UDPv4 \
    --skip-no-batching --skip-be --skip-keyed --skip-large-data \
    --extra-arguments "-secureRtpsHmacOnly str:JaviTheBest"

#!/bin/bash
filename=$0
script_location=$(cd "$(dirname "$filename")" || exit 255; pwd)

export input_params=$@

"${script_location}/../base_script/script.sh" $input_params --transport UDPv4 \
    --skip-no-batching --skip-be --skip-keyed --skip-large-data \
    --extra-arguments "-securePSK data:,1:SecretKey -secureGovernanceFile resource/secure/signed_PerftestGovernance_RtpsNoneDiscoveryNonePresharedProtectionSign.xml"

# "${script_location}/../base_script/script.sh" $input_params --transport UDPv4 \
#     --skip-no-batching --skip-be --skip-keyed --skip-large-data \
#     --extra-arguments "-securePSK str:1:SecretKey"

Security Profiles

Test Hardware

The following hardware was used to perform these tests:

Linux Nodes

Dell R340 Servers (13 Units)
Processor: Intel Xeon E-2278G (3.4-5GHz, 8c/16t, 16MB cache, 2 memory channels @2666MHz)
RAM: 4x 16GB 2666MHz DIMM (64GB RAM)
HD: 480GB SATA SSD
NIC 1: Intel 710 dual port 10Gbps SFP
OS: Ubuntu 20.04 -- gcc 9.3.0

Switch

Dell 2048 -- 10Gbps switch (10Gbps and 1Gbps interfaces)