OPC UA Benchmark

This document records the performance benchmark process and results of NG Gateway for the OPC UA protocol. The tests run the gateway in a resource-constrained Docker container (1 CPU / 1 GB memory), using an external OPC UA simulation server to provide real protocol interaction workloads, and leveraging a Prometheus + Grafana + cAdvisor monitoring stack to collect container-level resource metrics in real time, systematically evaluating the gateway as an OPC UA client under different collection scales and frequencies for resource consumption and operational stability.

The tests cover the following dimensions:

• Collection Scale Gradient: From a single channel with 10 devices (10,000 points) scaling up to 10 channels with 100 devices (100,000 points)
• Collection Frequency Comparison: Standard cycle (1000 ms) vs. high-frequency collection (100 ms)
• Mixed Workload Stress Test: Large-scale data collection combined with concurrent random command dispatching

Test Environment

Hardware Platform

Item	Specification
CPU	4 Cores
Memory	24 GB
OS	Debian GNU/Linux 12

Gateway Deployment

The gateway is deployed as a docker compose container with resource limits to simulate a constrained edge-side environment:

Resource	Limit	Reservation
CPU	1.0 Core	0.5 Core
Memory	1000 MiB	256 MiB

TIP

Resource constraints are configured via Docker Compose deploy.resources.limits, consistent with Kubernetes Pod resource quota semantics.

docker-compose.yaml

services:
  gateway:
    image: ${GATEWAY_IMAGE:-shiyuecamus/ng-gateway}:${GATEWAY_TAG:-latest}
    container_name: ng-gateway
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "${GATEWAY_HTTP_PORT:-8978}:5678"
      - "${GATEWAY_WS_PORT:-8979}:5679"
    volumes:
      - gateway-data:/app/data
      - gateway-drivers:/app/drivers/custom
      - gateway-plugins:/app/plugins/custom
    deploy:
      resources:
        limits:
          cpus: "${BENCH_CPU_LIMIT:-1.0}"
          memory: "${BENCH_MEM_LIMIT:-1000M}"
        reservations:
          cpus: "${BENCH_CPU_RESERVE:-0.5}"
          memory: "${BENCH_MEM_RESERVE:-256M}"

  cadvisor:
    image: gcr.io/cadvisor/cadvisor:v0.51.0
    container_name: ng-cadvisor
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    command:
      - --docker_only=true
      - --housekeeping_interval=2s
      - --store_container_labels=true
    volumes:
      - /:/rootfs:ro
      - /var/run:/var/run:ro
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:rw
      - /sys:/sys:ro
      - /sys/fs/cgroup:/sys/fs/cgroup:ro
      - /var/lib/docker/:/var/lib/docker:ro
      - /dev/disk/:/dev/disk:ro
    privileged: true
    devices:
      - /dev/kmsg:/dev/kmsg

  prometheus:
    image: prom/prometheus:latest
    container_name: ng-prometheus
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "9090:9090"
    volumes:
      - ./prometheus/prometheus.yml:/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml:ro
      - ng-prometheus-data:/prometheus
    command:
      - --config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
      - --storage.tsdb.path=/prometheus
      - --web.enable-lifecycle
    depends_on:
      - cadvisor
      - gateway

  grafana:
    image: grafana/grafana:latest
    container_name: ng-grafana
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_USER: admin
      GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD: admin
      GF_USERS_ALLOW_SIGN_UP: "false"
      GF_PATHS_PROVISIONING: /etc/grafana/provisioning
    volumes:
      - ./grafana/provisioning:/etc/grafana/provisioning:ro
      - ./grafana/dashboards:/var/lib/grafana/dashboards:ro
      - ng-grafana-data:/var/lib/grafana
    depends_on:
      - prometheus

volumes:
  ng-prometheus-data:
  ng-grafana-data:
  gateway-data:
  gateway-drivers:
  gateway-plugins:

Test Tools

OPC UA Simulation Server

Prosys OPC UA Simulation Server is used as the OPC UA server simulator. Prosys OPC UA Simulation Server is a fully featured free OPC UA simulation tool supporting the OPC UA TCP binary transport protocol. It can simulate various data type nodes (Analog / Discrete / String, etc.), provides flexible address space configuration and data change simulation (sine, random, increment patterns), and is widely used for OPC UA client development debugging and performance verification.

Simulation Topology:

Item	Configuration
Server Endpoint	opc.tcp://<host>:4840
Simulation Node Type	Analog (Float / Double)
Data Change Mode	Periodic random updates

Mapping Relationship

• Each OPC UA server endpoint maps to a Channel in ng-gateway — an independent OPC UA session connection
• Each logical node group maps to a Device within the channel — collected in batches via the Subscription mechanism for node changes
• Test scenarios create multiple channel connections to the same or different server instances as needed to build different collection workloads

Performance Monitoring Stack

Resource metrics during testing are collected using the cAdvisor + Prometheus + Grafana stack, all orchestrated alongside the gateway container via the same docker compose file:

Component	Version	Role
cAdvisor	v0.51.0	Collects container-level resource metrics: CPU usage, memory (RSS / Cache), network bytes sent/received
Prometheus	latest	Scrapes cAdvisor /metrics endpoint every 2s, persists time-series data
Grafana	latest	Visualization dashboards with pre-configured cAdvisor Docker container monitoring

Core Metrics Collected:

Metric	Prometheus Metric	Description
CPU Usage	container_cpu_usage_seconds_total	CPU usage percentage per container
Memory Usage	container_memory_rss	Resident Set Size
Network Receive	container_network_receive_bytes_total	Total bytes received (rate computed)
Network Transmit	container_network_transmit_bytes_total	Total bytes transmitted (rate computed)

Quick Start:

cd deploy/compose/bench && docker compose up -d

Service	Access URL
Grafana	http://localhost:3000 (admin / admin)
Prometheus	http://localhost:9090
cAdvisor	http://localhost:8080
ng-gateway	http://localhost:8978

Summary

Data Collection Performance

Scenario	Channels	Devices/Channel	Points/Device	Frequency	Total Points	Type	Memory	CPU	Network Bandwidth
1	1	10	1,000	1000 ms	10,000	Float32	67.1 MiB	3.12%	rx: 434.0 kB/s tx: 356.0 kB/s
2	5	10	1,000	1000 ms	50,000	Float32	115.0 Mib	5.71%	rx: 1.32 MB/s tx: 1.19 MB/s
3	10	10	1,000	1000 ms	100,000	Float32	165.0 MiB	8.28%	rx: 2.38 MB/s tx: 1.95 MB/s
4	1	1	1,000	100 ms	1,000	Float32	45.0 MiB	3.50%	rx: 216.0 kB/s tx: 178.0 kB/s
5	5	1	1,000	100 ms	5,000	Float32	51.6 MiB	6.82%	rx: 1.08 MB/s tx: 887.0 kB/s
6	10	1	1,000	100 ms	10,000	Float32	56.3 MiB	9.48%	rx: 2.16 MB/s tx: 1.78 MB/s
7	10	10	1,000	1000 ms	100,000	Float32	165.0 MiB	8.28%	rx: 2.38 MB/s tx: 1.95 MB/s

Mixed Load Performance

Scenario	Channels	Devices/Channel	Points/Device	Frequency	Total Points	Type	Downlink Method	Downlink Points	Iterations	Min Latency	Max Latency	Avg Latency
7	10	10	1,000	1000 ms	100,000	Float32	API	100	100	1.795 ms	113.257 ms	4.194 ms

Test Scenarios & Results

Scenario 1: Basic Collection

• Config: 1 Channel · 10 Devices · 1,000 Points/Device · 1000 ms Period (Total 10,000 Points)

Metrics

Memory	CPU	Network Bandwidth
67.1 MiB	3.12%	rx: 434.0 kB/s tx: 356.0 kB/s

Resource Monitor Screenshots

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Scenario 2: Medium Scale Collection

• Config: 5 Channels · 10 Devices · 1,000 Points/Device · 1000 ms Period (Total 50,000 Points)

Metrics

Memory	CPU	Network Bandwidth
115.0 Mib	5.71%	rx: 1.32 MB/s tx: 1.19 MB/s

Resource Monitor Screenshots

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Scenario 3: Large Scale Collection

• Config: 10 Channels · 10 Devices · 1,000 Points/Device · 1000 ms Period (Total 100,000 Points)

Metrics

Memory	CPU	Network Bandwidth
165.0 MiB	8.28%	rx: 2.38 MB/s tx: 1.95 MB/s

Resource Monitor Screenshots

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Scenario 4: High Frequency (Single Channel)

• Config: 1 Channel · 1 Device · 1,000 Points/Device · 100 ms Period (Total 1,000 Points)

Metrics

Memory	CPU	Network Bandwidth
45.0 MiB	3.50%	rx: 216.0 kB/s tx: 178.0 kB/s

Resource Monitor Screenshots

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Scenario 5: High Frequency (Multi Channel)

• Config: 5 Channels · 1 Device · 1,000 Points/Device · 100 ms Period (Total 5,000 Points)

Metrics

Memory	CPU	Network Bandwidth
51.6 MiB	6.82%	rx: 1.08 MB/s tx: 887.0 kB/s

Resource Monitor Screenshots

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Scenario 6: High Frequency (Large Scale)

• Config: 10 Channels · 1 Device · 1,000 Points/Device · 100 ms Period (Total 10,000 Points)

Metrics

Memory	CPU	Network Bandwidth
56.3 MiB	9.48%	rx: 2.16 MB/s tx: 1.78 MB/s

Resource Monitor Screenshots

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Scenario 7: Mixed Workload (Collection + Downlink)

• Config: 10 Channels · 10 Devices · 1,000 Points/Device · 1000 ms Period (Total 100,000 Points) + Random Command Dispatching

Metrics (Collection)

Memory	CPU	Network Bandwidth
165.0 MiB	8.28%	rx: 2.38 MB/s tx: 1.95 MB/s

Metrics (Downlink)

Success/Fail	Min Latency	Max Latency	Avg Latency
100 / 0	1,795 ms	113.257 ms	4.194 ms

Resource Monitor Screenshots