sctptrace

Advanced eBPF-based tools for monitoring SCTP protocol performance

Overview

sctptrace is a collection of BPF-based tools for monitoring, analysing, and troubleshooting SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol) connections in real-time. The tools use eBPF technology to provide kernel-level insights with minimal overhead, enabling deep visibility into SCTP performance metrics.

SCTP is often used in telecommunications, financial services, and high-performance computing where its multi-streaming and multi-homing capabilities provide advantages over TCP. However, debugging and monitoring SCTP can be challenging. sctptrace bridges this gap with specialized tools for key SCTP performance metrics.

Features

• Low overhead: Uses eBPF technology for efficient kernel-level tracing
• Real-time monitoring: Live analysis of active SCTP connections
• Comprehensive metrics: Tracks RTT, RTO, buffer utilization, jitter, and stream usage
• Multi-stream visibility: Detailed insights into SCTP's multi-streaming capability
• Per-association tracking: Monitor individual SCTP associations separately

Tools

Tool	Description
sctp_rtt.py	Measures Round Trip Time (RTT) for SCTP data chunks
sctp_rto.py	Monitors Retransmission Timeout (RTO) values and update algorithm
sctp_bufmon.py	Tracks send/receive buffer utilization and pressure
sctp_jitter.py	Analyses packet timing variations (jitter) across streams
sctp_streamutil.py	Provides insights into stream utilization and parallelism

Requirements

• Linux kernel 6.8+
• BCC (BPF Compiler Collection)
• Python 3.6+
• Root privileges for running the tools

Installation

1. Install BCC framework (if not already installed):

# For Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install bpfcc-tools linux-headers-$(uname -r)

# For RHEL/CentOS/Fedora
sudo yum install bcc-tools kernel-devel

2. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/sctptrace.git
cd sctptrace

3. Make the tools executable:

chmod +x *.py

Usage Examples

See the .txt for each tool

Understanding SCTP Performance Metrics

Round Trip Time (RTT)

Time taken for a packet to travel from sender to receiver and back. SCTP tracks RTT per destination address for path management purposes. Lower RTT values indicate better network performance.

Retransmission Timeout (RTO)

Adaptive timer used for retransmission decisions. SCTP calculates RTO based on RTT measurements using a similar algorithm to TCP but with adaptations for multi-homing support.

Buffer Utilization

Tracks how effectively send and receive buffers are being used. High buffer utilization may indicate congestion or application processing bottlenecks.

Jitter

Variation in packet delivery timing, critical for time-sensitive applications. SCTP's multi-streaming can help reduce jitter for prioritized streams.

Stream Utilization

Measures how effectively an application uses SCTP's multi-streaming capability. Well-balanced stream usage maximizes SCTP's performance advantages.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit pull requests or create issues for bugs, questions, or new features.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• The BCC project for providing the BPF compiler collection framework
• The Linux kernel team for developing and maintaining SCTP and BPF technologies

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Note: These tools rely on internal kernel structures which may change between kernel versions. The tools have been tested with Linux kernel 6.8, but may require adjustments for other kernel versions.