Add docs on provision time and network performance

docs/topics/performance.md

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# Performance
+
+## Provision Time
+
+Provisioning times vary based on the platform. Sampling the time to create (apply) and destroy clusters with 1 controller and 2 workers shows (roughly) what to expect.
+
+| Platform      | Apply | Destroy |
+|---------------|-------|---------|
+| AWS           | 20 min | 8 min 10 sec |
+| Bare-Metal    | 10-14 min | NA  |
+| Digital Ocean | 5 min 5 sec | 20 sec |
+| Google Cloud  | 6 min 10 sec | 4 min 30 sec |
+
+Notes:
+
+* AWS is alpha
+* DNS propagation times have a large impact on provision time
+* Platforms with auto-scaling take more time to provision (AWS, Google)
+* Bare-metal provision times vary depending on the time for machines to POST and network bandwidth to download images.
+
+## Network Performance
+
+Network performance varies based on the platform and CNI plugin. `iperf` was used to measture the bandwidth between different hosts and different pods. Host-to-host indicates the typical bandwidth offered by the provider. Pod-to-pod shows the bandwidth between two `iperf` containers. The difference provides some idea about the overhead.
+
+| Platform / Plugin          | Theory | Host to Host | Pod to Pod   |
+|----------------------------|-------:|-------------:|-------------:|
+| AWS (flannel)              | ?      | 976 MB/s     | 900-999 MB/s |
+| AWS (calico, MTU 1480)     | ?      | 976 MB/s     | 100-350 MB/s |
+| AWS (calico, MTU 8991)     | ?      | 976 MB/s     | 900-999 MB/s |
+| Bare-Metal (flannel)       | 1 GB/s | 934 MB/s     | 903 MB/s     | 
+| Bare-Metal (calico)        | 1 GB/s | 941 MB/s     | 931 MB/s     |
+| Bare-Metal (flannel, bond) | 3 GB/s | TODO         | TODO         | 
+| Bare-Metal (calico, bond)  | 3 GB/s |  2.3 GB/s    | 1.17 GB/s    |
+| Digital Ocean              | ?      | 938 MB/s     | 820-880 MB/s |
+| Google Cloud (flannel)     | ?      | 1.94 GB/s    | 1.76 GB/s    |
+| Google Cloud (calico)      | ?      | 1.94 GB/s    | 1.81 GB/s    |
+
+Notes:
+
+* AWS is alpha
+* AWS instances are located in the same region. Google instances are located in the same zone (helps bandwidth at the expense of fault tolerance).
+* Network bandwidth fluctuates on AWS and Digital Ocean.
+* Only [certain AWS EC2 instance types](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/network_mtu.html#jumbo_frame_instances) allow jumbo frames. This is why the default MTU on AWS must be 1480.
+* Between Flannel and Calico, performance differences are usually minimal. Platform and configuration differenes dominate.
+* Pods do not seem to be able to leverage the hosts' bonded NIC setup. Possibly a testing artifact.
+

mkdocs.yml

@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ pages:
     - 'CLUO': 'addons/cluo.md'
   - 'Topics':
     - 'Security': 'topics/security.md'
+    - 'Performance': 'topics/performance.md'
   - 'FAQ': 'faq.md'
   - 'Advanced':
     - 'Customization': 'advanced/customization.md'