Performance of zypper tested (deltaRPM, prefetching)

zypper_bench.md

The test

Install a mixed update for Leap42.1 consisted of 106 packages including kernel update and a very slow samba update script
Try prefetching the updates (i.e. an hour before the downtime)
Try disabling deltaRPM

Caches NOT dropped, all packages likely to stay in cache on today's servers.

VM size:

• 2GB Ram
• 2 cores (Xeon E5v2)
• networked storage (faster than HDD, slower than normal SSD)

Download size ~250MB
Internet (75mbit) + CPU not wholly idle.

I did try to add a proxy but thanks to "load balancing" on the upstream side it's not really possible to properly proxy the updates.

Summary

Patching duration goes up if you turn off delta rpms. Prefetching helps improve the update time very much.

Standard patch cycle of ~2:30 min is reduced to ~1:00 min

zypper ref was faster with deltaRPM disabled which is most likely just a random fluke?

Data

client1:

zypper ref:

real	0m36.293s
user	0m13.680s
sys	0m1.628s

zypper --non-interactive update:

real	2m26.873s
user	1m32.736s
sys	0m11.784s

client2:

Same test config as client1

zypper ref:

real	0m34.803s
user	0m13.916s
sys	0m1.448s

zypper --non-interactive update:

real	2m24.024s
user	1m32.752s
sys	0m12.500s

client3:

zypper ref:

real	0m35.493s
user	0m13.652s
sys	0m1.460s

zypper --non-interactive update --download only:

real	1m33.167s
user	1m2.960s
sys	0m2.000s

zypper --non-interactive update:

real	0m59.170s
user	0m36.540s
sys	0m11.260s

client4:

same test config as client3

zypper ref:

real	0m33.162s
user	0m13.944s
sys	0m1.396s

zypper --non-interactive update --download only:

real	1m34.951s
user	1m4.608s
sys	0m2.668s

zypper --non-interactive update:

real	0m58.592s
user	0m37.144s
sys	0m11.764s

Client 5

DeltaRPM disabled via zypp.conf

zypper ref:

real	0m24.975s
user	0m17.856s
sys	0m2.836s

zypper --non-interactive update:

real	2m6.269s
user	0m53.936s
sys	0m20.668s

Client 6

DeltaRPM disabled via zypp.conf

zypper ref:

real	0m22.200s
user	0m16.236s
sys	0m2.240s

zypper --non-interactive update --download only:

real	0m42.841s
user	0m8.032s
sys	0m1.872s

zypper --non-interactive update:

real	1m29.925s
user	0m55.696s
sys	0m23.740s