Encryption Performance

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I'm interested in understanding the performance impact of encryption on a piece of hardware, so I have written a test program to that effect (sorry for the massive code dump). It uses PolarSSl to perform encryption and decryption on a number of files it creates. I (for the moment) only record the time it takes to perform the encryption and decryption and the results are shown in the graph bellow. However this is not what I was expecting to see. I was just wondering if anyone could either spot a issue in the program or offer me an explanation to the graph. EDIT apologies some labels on the graph would of been a massive help, seconds on the y,file size (Mebibyte) on the x. Cheers Results

    #include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/time.h> //high percission

#include <polarssl/aes.h>
#include <polarssl/sha256.h> // This in the real version should be a higher 512

struct timespec diff(struct timespec start, struct timespec end);

/**
 * @brief createFiles Creates a series of files of various sizes (512KB, 1mb,2mb,3mb,4mb) for encryption, and then to be decrypted
 */
void createFiles(u_int64_t* sizes, u_int8_t noOfFiles)
{


    u_int8_t i = 0;

    for(i = 0; i < noOfFiles; i++)
    {
        char str[noOfFiles];
        sprintf(str, "%d", i);
        FILE *fp = fopen(str, "wb");

        char *buffer= malloc(sizes[i]);
        memset(buffer,'a',sizes[i]);
        fprintf(fp,buffer);

        fclose(fp);
        memset(buffer,0,sizes[i]);
    }
}

int encryptFile(int fileNo, struct timespec* timeTaken)
{


    int returnvalue = -1;
    unsigned char key[32] = {'0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','0','1'}; // Holds the key
    unsigned char IV[16];
    FILE * fin = NULL; //The temp file we created
    FILE* fout  = NULL; //The temp file to open
    u_int64_t fileSize = 0;

    struct timespec start,end, timeDiff;

    //Create the contex objects
    aes_context aes_ctx;
    int i;
    char str[1];
    sprintf(str, "%d", fileNo);

    //file name is i value prepended by c
    char* out;
    const char* extension = "c";
    out = malloc(strlen(str)+2);
    strcpy(out, str);
    strcat(out, extension);

    //Open the relevent file
    if((fin = fopen(str, "rb" ) ) != NULL)
    {
        //Open the output file
        if((fout = fopen( out, "wb" )) != NULL)
        {

            //get the size of the file, and check it is not empty
            if(!( ( fileSize = lseek( fileno(fin ), 0, SEEK_END ) ) < 0 ))
            {
                //reset the seek position
                if(fseek( fin, 0, SEEK_SET ) < 0 )
                {
                    fprintf( stderr, "fseek(0,SEEK_SET) failed\n" );
                }
                else
                {
                    returnvalue = 0;

                    //generate IV
                    srand(time(NULL));
                    for( i = 0; i < 16; i++)
                    {
                        IV[i] = rand();
                    }

                    //create a buffer large enough to hold the file -- on a real system i susspect we would do this incormentaly 16bytes at time for example
                    int addition = ((fileSize +15)/16) *16;
                    char* buffer = malloc(addition);
                    char* encryptBuffer= malloc(addition);
                    fread(buffer,sizeof(char),addition,fin); // read the file
                    clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC,  &start);

                    int error =  aes_setkey_enc(&aes_ctx, key, 256 );//Set up the ctx object -- setting the key

                    if(error != POLARSSL_ERR_AES_INVALID_KEY_LENGTH)
                    {


                        error == aes_crypt_cbc( &aes_ctx, AES_ENCRYPT, addition, IV, buffer, encryptBuffer ); //--encrypt the data
                        clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC,  &end);
                        if(error != POLARSSL_ERR_AES_INVALID_INPUT_LENGTH)
                        {
                            fwrite(IV, sizeof(char), 16, fout);
                            fwrite(encryptBuffer, sizeof(char), sizeof(char)*fileSize, fout);

                        }
                        else
                        {
                            printf("error");
                        }

                        memset(buffer,0,addition);
                        memset(encryptBuffer,0,addition);
                        memset( &aes_ctx, 0, sizeof(  aes_context ) );
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        printf("Invalid key length");
                    }

                    // Calculate the difference
                    timeDiff = diff(start,end);


     //            printf("For file %i, with a size of %i bytes, the time taken to encrypt was ", fileNo,fileSize);
       //            printf("%d.%d seconds\n", timeDiff.tv_sec, timeDiff.tv_nsec);
                    fflush(stdout);
                    timeTaken->tv_sec = timeDiff.tv_sec;
                    timeTaken->tv_nsec = timeDiff.tv_nsec;
                }
            }

            fclose(fout);
        }
        fclose(fin);
    }


    return returnvalue;
}


int decryptfile(int fileNumber, struct timespec* timeTaken)
{
    u_int64_t fileSize = 0;
    int returnvalue = -1;
    char str[1];
    unsigned char key[32] = {'0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','0','1'}; // Holds the key

    unsigned char IV[16];
    struct timespec start,end, timeDiff;


    //Create the contex objects
    aes_context aes_ctx;
    sprintf(str, "%d", fileNumber);

    //file name is i vavlue prepended by c
    char* in;
    const char* extension = "c";
    in = malloc(strlen(str)+2);
    strcpy(in, str);
    strcat(in, extension);

    char* out;
    //decrypt to fine number +d
    const char* extension2 = "d";
    out = malloc(strlen(str)+2);
    strcpy(out, str);
    strcat(out, extension2);


    FILE * fin = NULL; //The temp file we created
    FILE* fout  = NULL; //The temp file to open

    if((fin = fopen(in, "rb" ) ) != NULL)
    {
        //Open the output file
        if((fout = fopen( out, "wb" )) != NULL)
        {


            //get the size of the file, and check it is not empty
            if(!( ( fileSize = lseek( fileno(fin ), 0, SEEK_END ) ) < 0 ))
            {

                if(fseek( fin, 0, SEEK_SET ) < 0 )
                {
                    fprintf( stderr, "fseek(0,SEEK_SET) failed\n" );
                }
                else
                {

                    int addition = ((fileSize +15)/16) *16;
                    char* buffer = malloc(addition);
                    char* decryptBuffer = malloc((addition - 16));
                    char* resultBuffer = malloc((addition - 16));


                    fflush(stdout);
                    fread(buffer,sizeof(char),fileSize,fin); // read the file

                    memcpy(IV,buffer,16);
                    memcpy(decryptBuffer,(buffer + 16),addition);
                    memset(buffer,0,addition);  // Clear this to save on memory
                    clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC,  &start);
                    int error =  aes_setkey_dec(&aes_ctx, key, 256 );//Set up the ctx object -- setting the key

                    if(error != POLARSSL_ERR_AES_INVALID_KEY_LENGTH)
                    {
                        error == aes_crypt_cbc( &aes_ctx, AES_DECRYPT, addition-16, IV, decryptBuffer, resultBuffer); //--encrypt the data
                        clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC,  &end);
                        if(error != POLARSSL_ERR_AES_INVALID_INPUT_LENGTH)
                        {
                            fwrite(resultBuffer, sizeof(char), sizeof(char)*(addition - 16), fout);

                        }
                    }
                    returnvalue = 0;

                    memset(buffer,0,sizeof(buffer));
                    memset(decryptBuffer,0,sizeof(decryptBuffer));
                    memset(resultBuffer,0,sizeof(resultBuffer));
                }

            }
        }
    }

    // Calculate the difference
    timeDiff = diff(start,end);


 //   printf("For file %i, with a size of %i bytes, the time taken to decrypt was ", fileNumber,fileSize);
  //  printf("%d.%d seconds\n", timeDiff.tv_sec, timeDiff.tv_nsec);
    timeTaken->tv_sec = timeDiff.tv_sec;
    timeTaken->tv_nsec = timeDiff.tv_nsec;

    fflush(stdout);

    return returnvalue;
}


struct timespec diff(struct timespec start, struct timespec end)
{
    struct timespec temp;
    if ((end.tv_nsec-start.tv_nsec)<0) {
        temp.tv_sec = end.tv_sec-start.tv_sec-1;
        temp.tv_nsec = (1000000000+end.tv_nsec)-start.tv_nsec;
    } else {
        temp.tv_sec = end.tv_sec-start.tv_sec;
        temp.tv_nsec = end.tv_nsec-start.tv_nsec;
    }
    return temp;
}


/**
 *This is just to demo encryption times, the actuall methods used in tis should not be addopted as a final solution
 */
int main()
{

    //1048576 = 1mb
    u_int32_t kb = 1024; //bits;
    u_int64_t mb = 1024 * kb;
    const u_int8_t noOfFiles = 5;
    const u_int8_t noOfTests = 5;

    struct timespec encryptTimes[noOfTests][noOfFiles];
    struct timespec decryptTimes[noOfTests][noOfFiles];

    u_int64_t sizes[5] = {(500*kb),mb,(mb*5),(mb*15),(mb*30)}; // Create the sizes of the files to be written

    createFiles(sizes,noOfFiles);

    u_int8_t i =0;
    u_int8_t k = 0;

    for(k = 0; k < noOfTests; k++)
    {
        for( i = 0; i < noOfFiles; i++)
        {

            struct timespec encryptTime;
            if(encryptFile(i,&encryptTime) ==-1)
            {

                printf("Failed to open encrypted files ensure that the file encryption has been run first!");
            }
            else
            {
                encryptTimes[k][i]= encryptTime;

                struct timespec decryptTime;

                if(decryptfile(i,&decryptTime) == -1)
                {
                    printf("failed to open encrypted file to perform decryption!");
                }
                else
                {
                    decryptTimes[k][i] = decryptTime;
                }

            }
        }
    }

    for(i = 0; i < noOfFiles; i++)
    {
        printf("\nTime taken to encrypt file size of %i bytes:\n",sizes[i]);
     struct timespec encryptTime;

        for(k = 0; k < noOfTests; k++)
        {
            encryptTime = encryptTimes [k][i];

                printf("%d.%d\n", encryptTime.tv_sec, encryptTime.tv_nsec);
        }
    }

    for(i = 0; i < noOfFiles; i++)
    {
        printf("\nTime taken to decrypt file size of %i bytes:\n",sizes[i]);
     struct timespec decryptTime;

        for(k = 0; k < noOfTests; k++)
        {
            decryptTime = decryptTimes [k][i];

                printf("%i.%i \n", decryptTime.tv_sec, decryptTime.tv_nsec);
        }
    }
    return 0;
}
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There are 1 answers

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PauliusZ On

This may be related to Linux kernel caching. I suggest cleaning them just before running test:

echo 3 | sudo tee /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

P.S. You could save some coding using time command to measure execution time.