Benchmarking in Wilson

Overview

Microsoft.IdentityModel.Benchmarks uses a blend of BenchmarkDotNet and Crank for benchmarking and performance testing of select IdentityModel functionality. There are multiple classes that define the benchmarks that can be run.

If the project is run as a console app, BenchmarkDotNet builds and outputs this test project into a temporary working directory. Then it creates a separate process where all the benchmarking measurements are done. In IdentityModel's case, a configuration file is used to describe to Crank what work to do. Then, that job is completed on a remote machine with specific hardware, making the results more reliable and consistent. Crank prints to the console these results in a table much like BenchmarkDotNet. All of these tables are markdown-friendly, so they can be copied directly into editors that support it.

Running tests

There are multiple ways to run the tests.

Without Crank

Non-CLI:

• Build Microsoft.IdentityModel.Benchmarks in Release mode.
• Navigate to {project directory}/bin/Release/{framework directory}/ and run the project executable.
• The results will be printed to the terminal.

Using the command line:

• cd into the project directory.
• Run dotnet run -c Release.

The BenchmarkDotNet.Artifacts folder with the exported results will be created in the directory from which the benchmark was run.

The test project can be run multiple times using the methods above and then the results aggregated manually. Another way to run the project multiple times is to add WithLaunchCount(this Job job, int count) method in Program.cs when setting up the BenchmarkDotNet job. This will specify how many times the BenchmarkDotNet will launch the benchmark process. This can help reduce the variability between the test runs.

With Crank

Please read the Crank documentation before getting started. Within the Microsoft.IdentityModel.Benchmarks project are .yml configuration files that help to connect the benchmarking apps to Crank commands, as well as test pull requests for performance changes. Because Crank runs the benchmarks on a remote machine with specific hardware, there is very little variability between test runs. Go to the Crank command-line reference and/or the Crank Pull Request Bot reference for help.

To run these tests on machines in the ASP.NET lab, a connection to the Microsoft VPN is required. Otherwise, follow the Crank documentation to run them locally.

Currently, it is necessary to specify the runtime, SDK, and ASP.NET Core versions as well as an environment variable to run in .Net 8. An example is provided below with those options specified.

Examples

crank --config .\identitymodel.benchmarks.yml --application.framework net6.0 --scenario CreateJWE --profile aspnet-perf-win --application.sdkVersion 8.0.100-rc.1.23463.5 --application.aspNetCoreVersion 8.0.0-rc.1.23421.29 --application.runtimeVersion 8.0.0-rc.1.23419.4 --application.buildArguments  --json C:\temp\results0.json

crank --config .\identitymodel.benchmarks.yml --application.framework net8.0 --scenario ValidateJWE --profile aspnet-perf-win --application.sdkVersion 8.0.100-rc.1.23463.5 --application.aspNetCoreVersion 8.0.0-rc.1.23421.29 --application.runtimeVersion 8.0.0-rc.1.23419.4 --application.buildArguments /p:TargetNet8=True --json C:\temp\results1.json

Additionally, configurations exist for pre-defined scenarios. In particular, NoMvcAuth helps measure the overall performance of IdentityModel. They can be harnessed by passing a link to the config argument.

Example

 crank --config https://github.com/aspnet/Benchmarks/blob/main/build/azure.profile.yml?raw=true --application.framework net8.0 --config https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aspnet/Benchmarks/main/src/BenchmarksApps/Mvc/benchmarks.jwtapi.yml --scenario NoMvcAuth --profile aspnet-citrine-win

Adding to a given command the argument --json <filename> saves the output to a file, which is particularly useful for comparing runs to each other. Crank has a compare tool for just this purpose. It uses the two .json files to generate a single table with the results of both runs, as well as an added column to show the percent change for each metric. This table is printed to the console.

crank compare <file0> <file1>

Testing code changes

Pull request benchmarks are still being perfected in IdentityModel and may not function properly

When making code changes that may impact performance, make sure to run the tests to check for regressions. The Crank PR bot can help with this! It does its work in four steps:

1. A pre-check is run to ensure that the scenario is running properly. The results of this run need not be compared to anything, but they ought to checked for issues (e.g., there are no "bad responses").
2. The baseline is established. A benchmark is run on the target branch, without the proposed changes. Its results are both printed to the console and saved as a .json file, the full path also being output to the console.
3. A benchmark is run using the proposed code changes form the given pull request. Again, sts results are both printed to the console and saved as a .json file, the full path also being output to the console.
4. Lastly, a compare is run using the baseline and new results.

Viewing results

Sample table with summary results:

Method	IterationCount	Mean	Error	StdDev
JsonWebTokenHandler_CreateToken	Default	586,869.2 ns	3,206.71 ns	2,999.55 ns
JsonWebTokenHandler_ValidateTokenAsync	15	578.2 ns	39.37 ns	57.71 ns
JwtSecurityTokenHandler_ValidateTokenAsync	15	6,909.0 ns	82.56 ns	113.01 ns

Results are consolidated across all the iterations and launches. They are written to the console at the end of the run and also exported into .md, .csv, and .html files in BenchmarkDotNet.Artifacts folder by default. The results are grouped by the benchmark method and any parameters. The main metrics to pay attention to are mean speed and allocated memory, when applicable. Compare these values across runs, before and after code changes. The run log, which contains how many times benchmarks were executed and general debug information, is also exported into the same folder.