Go/Sweet benchmarks

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/go-benchmarking-with-sweet/_index.md

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+---
+title: Go Benchmarks with Sweet and Benchstat
+
+minutes_to_complete: 60
+
+who_is_this_for: This learning path is for developers who are interested in measuring the performance of Go-based applications on their servers.
+
+learning_objectives: 
+    - Bring up two instances of GCP VMs 
+    - Install Go, benchmarks, benchstat, and sweet on the two VMs  
+    - Using sweet and benchstat, compare performance of Go applications on the two VMs
+
+prerequisites:
+    - A [Google Cloud account](https://console.cloud.google.com/).  This learning path can be run on-prem or on any cloud provider, but specifically documents the process on GCP's Google Axion platform.
+    - A local machine with [Google Cloud CLI](/install-guides/gcloud/) installed.
+
+author: Geremy Cohen
+
+### Tags
+skilllevels: Introductory
+subjects: Performance and Architecture
+armips:
+    - Neoverse
+tools_software_languages:
+
+operatingsystems:
+    - Linux
+
+
+
+### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
+# ================================================================================
+weight: 1                       # _index.md always has weight of 1 to order correctly
+layout: "learningpathall"       # All files under learning paths have this same wrapper
+learning_path_main_page: "yes"  # This should be surfaced when looking for related content. Only set for _index.md of learning path content.
+---

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/go-benchmarking-with-sweet/_next-steps.md

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+---
+# ================================================================================
+#       FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE
+# ================================================================================
+weight: 999                  # Set to always be larger than the content in this path to be at the end of the navigation.
+title: "Next Steps"         # Always the same, html page title.
+layout: "learningpathall"   # All files under learning paths have this same wrapper for Hugo processing.
+---

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/go-benchmarking-with-sweet/add_c4_vm.md

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+---
+title: Launching an Intel C4 Instance
+weight: 30
+
+### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
+layout: learningpathall
+---
+
+## Section Overview
+In this section, you will set up the second benchmarking system, an Intel-based c4-standard-8 instance.
+
+## Creating the Instance
+
+To create the second system, follow the previous lesson's c4a install instructions, but make the following changes:
+
+1. **Name your instance:** For the `Name` field, enter "c4".
+
+2. **Select machine series:** Scroll down to the Machine series section, and select the C4 radio button.
+
+![](images/launch_c4/3.png)
+
+3. **View machine types:** Scroll down to the Machine type dropdown, and click it to show all available options.
+
+![](images/launch_c4/4.png)
+
+4. **Choose machine size:** Select "c4-standard-8" under the Standard tab.
+
+![](images/launch_c4/5.png)
+
+After the c4 instance starts up, you are ready to continue to the next section, where you'll install the benchmarking software.

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/go-benchmarking-with-sweet/add_c4a_vm.md

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+---
+title: Launching an Arm Axion C4a Instance
+weight: 20
+
+### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
+layout: learningpathall
+---
+
+## Section Overview
+In this section, you'll learn how to spin up the first of two different systems used in our benchmarking tests, an Arm-based Google Axion c4a-standard-4 (c4a for short).
+
+## Creating the c4a-standard-4 Instance
+
+1. **Access Google Cloud Console:** Navigate to [https://console.cloud.google.com/welcome](https://console.cloud.google.com/welcome)
+
+2. **Search for VM instances:** Click into the Search field.
+
+3. **Find VM Instances:** Start typing `vm` until the UI auto-completes `VM Instances`, then click it.
+
+![](images/launch_c4a/3.png)
+
+The VM Instances page appears.
+
+4. **Create a new instance:** Click `Create instance`
+
+![](images/launch_c4a/4.png)
+
+The Machine configuration page appears.
+
+5. **Name your instance:** Click the `Name` field, and enter "c4a" for the `Name`.
+
+![](images/launch_c4a/5.png)
+
+6. **Select machine series:** Scroll down to the Machine series section, and select the C4A radio button.
+
+![](images/launch_c4a/7.png)
+
+7. **View machine types:** Scroll down to the Machine type dropdown, and click it to show all available options.
+
+![](images/launch_c4a/8.png)
+
+8. **Choose machine size:** Select "c4a-standard-4" under the Standard tab.
+
+![](images/launch_c4a/9.png)
+
+9. **Configure storage:** Click the "OS and Storage" tab.
+
+![](images/launch_c4a/10.png)
+
+10. **Modify storage settings:** Click "Change"
+
+![](images/launch_c4a/11.png)
+
+11. **Set disk size:** Double-click the "Size (GB)" field, then enter "1000" for the value.
+
+![](images/launch_c4a/16.png)
+
+12. **Confirm storage settings:** Click "Select" to continue.
+
+![](images/launch_c4a/18.png)
+
+13. **Launch the instance:** Click "Create" to bring up the instance.
+
+![](images/launch_c4a/19.png)
+
+After a few seconds, your c4a instance starts up, and you are ready to continue to the next section. In the next step, you will launch the second system, an Intel-based Emerald Rapids c4-standard-8 (c4 for short), which will serve as the comparison system for our benchmarking tests.
+

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/go-benchmarking-with-sweet/installing_go_and_sweet.md

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+---
+title: Installing Go and Sweet
+weight: 40
+
+### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
+layout: learningpathall
+---
+
+## Section Overview
+
+In this section, you'll install Go, Sweet, and the Benchstat comparison tool on both VMs.
+
+## Installation Script
+
+Sweet is a Go benchmarking tool that provides a standardized way to run performance tests across different systems. Benchstat is a companion tool that analyzes and compares benchmark results, helping you understand performance differences between systems. Together, these tools will allow us to accurately measure and compare Go performance on Arm and x86 architectures.
+
+
+{{% notice Note %}}
+Subsequent steps in the learning path assume you are running this script (installing) from your home directory (`~`), resulting in the creation of a `~/benchmarks/sweet` final install path. If you decide to install elsewhere, adjust the path accordingly when prompted to run the benchmark logic later in the learning path.
+{{% /notice %}}
+
+
+Copy and paste this script to **both** of your GCP VMs.  
+
+**You don't need to run it after pasting**, just paste it into your home directory and press enter to install all needed dependencies: 
+
+```bash
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# Write the script to filesystem using a HEREDOC
+cat <<'EOF' > install_go_and_sweet.sh
+
+sudo apt-get -y update
+sudo apt-get -y install git build-essential
+
+# Detect architecture - this allows the same script to work on both
+# our Arm (c4a) and x86 (c4) VMs without modification
+ARCH=$(uname -m)
+case "$ARCH" in
+  arm64|aarch64)
+    GO_PKG="go1.24.2.linux-arm64.tar.gz"
+    ;;
+  x86_64|amd64)
+    GO_PKG="go1.24.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
+    ;;
+  *)
+    echo "Unsupported architecture: $ARCH"
+    exit 1
+    ;;
+esac
+
+# Download and install architecture-specific Go environments
+
+URL="https://go.dev/dl/${GO_PKG}"
+echo "Downloading $URL..."
+wget -q --show-progress "$URL"
+
+echo "Extracting $GO_PKG to /usr/local..."
+sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf "$GO_PKG"
+
+
+echo "Go 1.24.2 installed successfully for $ARCH."
+
+export GOPATH=$HOME/go
+export GOBIN=$GOPATH/bin
+export PATH=$PATH:$GOBIN:/usr/local/go/bin
+
+# Install Sweet, benchmarks, and benchstat tools
+go install golang.org/x/benchmarks/sweet/cmd/sweet@latest
+go install golang.org/x/perf/cmd/benchstat@latest
+
+git clone https://github.com/golang/benchmarks
+cd benchmarks/sweet
+sweet get -force # to get assets
+
+# Create a configuration file
+
+cat <<CONFFILE > config.toml
+[[config]]
+  name = "arm-benchmarks"
+  goroot = "/usr/local/go"
+
+CONFFILE
+
+EOF
+
+# Make the script executable
+chmod 755 install_go_and_sweet.sh
+
+# Run the script
+./install_go_and_sweet.sh
+
+```
+
+
+
+## Verify Installation
+
+To test that everything is installed correctly, run the following command on each VM after the script completes:
+
+```bash
+# Run the benchmarks
+export GOPATH=$HOME/go
+export GOBIN=$GOPATH/bin
+export PATH=$PATH:$GOBIN:/usr/local/go/bin
+cd benchmarks/sweet
+sweet run -count 10 -run="markdown" config.toml # run one, 1X
+```
+
+You should see output similar to the following:
+
+```bash
+# Example output:
+[sweet] Work directory: /tmp/gosweet3444550660
+[sweet] Benchmarks: markdown (10 runs)
+[sweet] Setting up benchmark: markdown
+[sweet] Running benchmark markdown for arm-benchmarks: run 1
+...
+[sweet] Running benchmark markdown for arm-benchmarks: run 10
+```

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/go-benchmarking-with-sweet/manual_run_benchmark.md

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+---
+title: Manually running benchmarks
+weight: 51
+
+### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
+layout: learningpathall
+---
+
+## Section Overview
+
+In this section, you'll run benchmarks manually to understand how `sweet` and `benchstat` work together.
+
+## Run Benchmarks on Each Machine
+The following explains how to run the benchmarks by hand on each machine.
+
+1. **Access VM instances:** Navigate to the GCP [VM Instances](https://console.cloud.google.com/compute/instances) console.
+
+2. **Connect to c4a instance:** Click on the `SSH` button next to your `c4a` instance.
+   An SSH terminal will open in a new tab.
+
+   ![](images/run_manually/2.png)
+
+3. **Set up environment:** Copy and paste the following into the SSH terminal to setup the environment and change to the sweet directory:
+
+   ```bash
+   cd benchmarks/sweet
+   export GOPATH=$HOME/go
+   export GOBIN=$GOPATH/bin
+   export PATH=$PATH:$GOBIN:/usr/local/go/bin
+   ```
+
+   ![](images/run_manually/3.png)
+
+{{% notice Note %}}
+The above instructions assume you installed the benchmarks in the `~/benchmarks/sweet` directory. If you installed them elsewhere, adjust the path accordingly.
+{{% /notice %}}   
+
+
+4. **Run the benchmark:** Copy and paste the following command to run the `markdown` benchmark with `sweet`:
+
+   ```bash
+   sweet run -count 10 -run="markdown" config.toml
+   ```
+
+5. **Locate results:** After the benchmark completes, cd to the `results/markdown` directory and list the files to see the `arm-benchmarks.result` file:
+
+   ```bash
+   cd results/markdown
+   ls -d $PWD/*
+   ```
+
+6. **Copy result path:** Copy the absolute pathname of `arm-benchmarks.result`.
+
+7. **Download results:** Click `DOWNLOAD FILE`, and paste the **ABSOLUTE PATHNAME** you just copied for the filename, and then click `Download`. This will download the benchmark results to your local machine.
+
+   ![](images/run_manually/6.png)
+
+8. **Rename the file:** Once downloaded, on your local machine, rename this file to `c4a.result` so you can distinguish it from the x86 results you'll download later. This naming convention will help you clearly identify which results came from which architecture. You'll know the file downloaded successfully if you see the file in your Downloads directory with the name `c4a.result`, as well as the confirmation dialog in your browser:
+
+   ![](images/run_manually/7.png)
+
+9. **Repeat for c4 instance:** Repeat steps 2-8 with your `c4` (x86) instance. Do everything the same, except after downloading the c4's `arm-benchmarks.result` file, rename it to `c4.result`.
+
+Now that you have the results from both VMs, in the next section, you'll learn how to use benchstat to analyze these results and understand the performance differences between the two architectures.