# Performance Improvement PRDs

**Project:** btest-rs  
**Constraint:** 100% MikroTik BTest protocol compatibility — no wire-format or behavioral changes visible to MikroTik devices  
**Date:** 2026-04-30  

---

## How to Read This Document

Each PRD is sorted by **recommended execution order**, which balances:
- **Effort** (development + review + test time)
- **Risk** (probability of regression or compatibility break)
- **Performance Effect** (measured or estimated throughput/latency improvement)
- **MikroTik Compatibility Risk** (whether the change could affect interoperability)

**Sorting rationale:** Execute *quick wins* first to build velocity and reduce risk surface, then tackle *high-impact* items with full attention.

---

## Summary Matrix

| # | PRD | Effort | Risk | Perf Impact | MikroTik Risk | Tier |
|---|-----|--------|------|-------------|---------------|------|
| 1 | WCurve Global Cache | 30 min | None | Medium | None | Quick Win |
| 2 | Redundant `Instant::now()` | 15 min | None | Low | None | Quick Win |
| 3 | `hash_password` Hex Fix | 30 min | None | Low | None | Quick Win |
| 4 | CSV File Handle Cache | 30 min | None | Low | None | Quick Win |
| 5 | Error String Matching | 30 min | None | Low | None | Quick Win |
| 6 | `chrono_date_today` Replace | 1 hr | Low | Low | None | Quick Win |
| 7 | Syslog Mutex + Timestamp | 1 hr | Low | Low | None | Quick Win |
| 8 | `ip.to_string()` Cache | 1 hr | Low | Low | None | Quick Win |
| 9 | FreeBSD CPU FFI | 3 hrs | Medium | Medium | None | Platform Fix |
| 10 | Multi-Conn Notify Wake | 2 hrs | Medium | Medium | None | Latency Fix |
| 11 | UDP Timer Reuse | 2 hrs | Medium | Medium | None | Throughput Fix |
| 12 | TCP RX Scan Optimization | 4 hrs | Medium | **High** | Low | Hot Path Fix |
| 13 | SQLite Connection Pool | 1–2 days | High | **High** | None | Scalability Fix |

---

## Tier 1: Quick Wins (Do These First)

---

### PRD-001: Cache `WCurve` in Global `LazyLock`

**Background:**
`WCurve::new()` is called on every EC-SRP5 authentication (client and server). It recomputes the Weierstrass curve generator point via `lift_x(9)` → `prime_mod_sqrt()`, which performs heavy `BigUint` modular arithmetic. The result is deterministic and immutable.

**MikroTik Compatibility:**
- **100% safe.** This is pure internal mathematics. The wire bytes, auth handshake order, and hash outputs are identical. No protocol-visible change.

**Objective:**
Eliminate redundant `BigUint` modular square root computation per authentication.

**Design:**
```rust
// src/ecsrp5.rs
static WCURVE: std::sync::LazyLock<WCurve> = std::sync::LazyLock::new(WCurve::new);
```

Replace all call sites:
- `src/ecsrp5.rs:363` (`client_authenticate`)
- `src/ecsrp5.rs:499` (`server_authenticate`)

Change `let w = WCurve::new();` to `let w = &*WCURVE;`. Update any `WCurve` methods that take `self` to take `&self` if they don't already.

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] `ecsrp5_test.rs` passes unchanged.
- [ ] `full_integration_test.rs` EC-SRP5 tests pass unchanged.
- [ ] `WCurve::new()` is called exactly once per process lifetime.
- [ ] No change to serialized auth bytes on the wire.

**Effort:** 30 min  
**Risk:** None — stateless deterministic cache  
**Performance Impact:** Medium — reduces per-auth CPU time by ~30-50% (estimated), especially noticeable under concurrent logins.

---

### PRD-002: Deduplicate `Instant::now()` in `tcp_tx_loop_inner`

**Background:**
The TCP TX loop calls `Instant::now()` twice per iteration (status check and interval scheduling). Monotonic clock reads are cheap but not free, and occur in the hottest loop in the system.

**MikroTik Compatibility:**
- **100% safe.** Timing granularity remains identical.

**Objective:**
Reduce syscalls in the per-packet hot path.

**Design:**
```rust
let now = Instant::now();
if send_status && now >= next_status { ... next_status = now + Duration::from_secs(1); }
// ... reuse `now` for interval math
```

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] TCP send/receive/both integration tests pass.
- [ ] No behavioral change in status injection timing.

**Effort:** 15 min  
**Risk:** None  
**Performance Impact:** Low — micro-optimization, but trivial.

---

### PRD-003: Fix `hash_password()` Hex Encoding Allocations

**Background:**
`user_db.rs:614` allocates one `String` per byte when hex-encoding a 32-byte SHA256 hash:
```rust
result.iter().map(|b| format!("{:02x}", b)).collect()
```

**MikroTik Compatibility:**
- **100% safe.** Output string is identical.

**Objective:**
Replace N-allocation hex encoding with a single-allocation approach.

**Design:**
Use `hex` crate (already in dependency tree via `ecsrp5.rs` debug logging) or a small `[u8; 64]` buffer with `write!` to a `String::with_capacity(64)`.

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] Same hex string output for all inputs.
- [ ] `pro` feature tests pass.

**Effort:** 30 min  
**Risk:** None  
**Performance Impact:** Low — removes 32 allocations per password hash.

---

### PRD-004: Cache CSV File Handle

**Background:**
`csv_output::write_result()` re-opens the file via `OpenOptions::new().append(true).open(path)` on every call (once per test). Safe but wasteful.

**MikroTik Compatibility:**
- **100% safe.** No protocol involvement.

**Objective:**
Hold the file handle open for the process lifetime.

**Design:**
Change `static CSV_FILE: Mutex<Option<String>>` to `Mutex<Option<(String, std::fs::File)>>`, or open once during `init()` and store `Mutex<Option<File>>`.

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] CSV tests in `full_integration_test.rs` pass.
- [ ] File is created with headers on `init()`.
- [ ] Multiple `write_result` calls append correctly.

**Effort:** 30 min  
**Risk:** None  
**Performance Impact:** Low — removes one `open()` syscall per test.

---

### PRD-005: Remove Allocating Error String Matching

**Background:**
`src/server_pro/enforcer.rs:157-161` does:
```rust
match format!("{}", e).as_str() {
    s if s.contains("daily") => ...
}
```
This allocates a `String` from the error just for substring matching.

**MikroTik Compatibility:**
- **100% safe.** Server-pro internal logic only.

**Objective:**
Match without allocation.

**Design:**
Use `e.to_string().contains("daily")` (still allocates but clearer) or, better, downcast the `rusqlite::Error` or match on structured error variants. If the error is `anyhow::Error`, use `.downcast_ref::<rusqlite::Error>()`.

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] Quota enforcement behavior unchanged.
- [ ] Enforcer tests pass.

**Effort:** 30 min  
**Risk:** None  
**Performance Impact:** Low — removes one allocation per enforcer tick.

---

### PRD-006: Replace `chrono_date_today()` with `chrono` Crate

**Background:**
`user_db.rs:617-638` contains a hand-rolled Gregorian calendar converter that loops from 1970 to compute today's date. Called before almost every DB write. The `chrono` crate is already pulled in transitively by `rusqlite`.

**MikroTik Compatibility:**
- **100% safe.** No protocol involvement.

**Objective:**
Replace 30 lines of error-prone manual date math with one `chrono` call.

**Design:**
Add `chrono = { version = "0.4", optional = true }` gated behind `pro` feature (or use the transitive dep directly). Replace `chrono_date_today()` with:
```rust
chrono::Local::now().format("%Y-%m-%d").to_string()
```

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] `pro` feature compiles.
- [ ] Date strings match format `YYYY-MM-DD`.
- [ ] DB write tests pass.

**Effort:** 1 hr  
**Risk:** Low — adds explicit dep that already exists transitively  
**Performance Impact:** Low — eliminates loop overhead, but called infrequently.

---

### PRD-007: Optimize Syslog Mutex and Timestamp Formatting

**Background:**
`syslog_logger.rs` holds a global `std::sync::Mutex` while formatting a timestamp (manual calendar math) and sending UDP. `std::sync::Mutex` is relatively slow, and the timestamp logic duplicates `chrono_date_today()` issues.

**MikroTik Compatibility:**
- **100% safe.** No protocol involvement.

**Objective:**
Reduce lock contention and allocation in logging path.

**Design:**
1. Use `parking_lot::Mutex` (faster, no poisoning) OR switch to `std::sync::Mutex` but clone the `SyslogSender` config outside the lock.
2. Replace `bsd_timestamp()` with `chrono::Local::now().format("%b %e %H:%M:%S")`.
3. Pre-allocate the `String` with `with_capacity(256)`.

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] Syslog output format remains RFC 3164 compliant.
- [ ] `test_syslog_events` in `full_integration_test.rs` passes.

**Effort:** 1 hr  
**Risk:** Low  
**Performance Impact:** Low — logging is not a hot path, but reduces global lock hold time.

---

### PRD-008: Cache `ip.to_string()` in Quota Checks

**Background:**
`quota.rs:389` calls `ip.to_string()` and then passes `&ip_str` to multiple DB methods, allocating a new `String` on every `remaining_budget()` call.

**MikroTik Compatibility:**
- **100% safe.** Server-pro internal logic.

**Objective:**
Eliminate redundant IP stringification.

**Design:**
Change DB methods to accept `&std::net::IpAddr` directly and stringify inside only when needed for SQL parameter binding (which `rusqlite` may already handle via `ToSql`). Alternatively, pass `ip_str: &str` from a single `to_string()` call and avoid re-stringifying in sub-calls.

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] Quota checks return identical results.
- [ ] `pro` feature tests pass.

**Effort:** 1 hr  
**Risk:** Low  
**Performance Impact:** Low — one allocation removed per quota check.

---

## Tier 2: Moderate Fixes (Platform & Latency)

---

### PRD-009: FreeBSD CPU Sampling via `libc::sysctl` FFI

**Background:**
On FreeBSD, `cpu.rs` spawns `sysctl -n kern.cp_time` as a child process every second. `fork()` + `exec()` is orders of magnitude slower than a direct syscall.

**MikroTik Compatibility:**
- **100% safe.** No protocol involvement. Platform-specific internal code.

**Objective:**
Replace subprocess with direct `sysctl(3)` syscall.

**Design:**
```rust
#[cfg(target_os = "freebsd")]
fn get_cpu_times() -> (u64, u64) {
    let mut mib = [libc::CTL_KERN, libc::KERN_CP_TIME];
    let mut cp_time: [libc::c_ulong; 5] = [0; 5];
    let mut len = std::mem::size_of_val(&cp_time);
    unsafe {
        if libc::sysctl(
            mib.as_mut_ptr(),
            mib.len() as u32,
            &mut cp_time as *mut _ as *mut libc::c_void,
            &mut len,
            std::ptr::null_mut(),
            0,
        ) == 0 {
            let total = cp_time[0] + cp_time[1] + cp_time[2] + cp_time[3] + cp_time[4];
            return (total as u64, cp_time[4] as u64);
        }
    }
    (0, 0)
}
```

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] Compiles on FreeBSD.
- [ ] Returns same values as previous `sysctl` command approach.
- [ ] No child process spawned (verify with `ktrace` or `ps`).

**Effort:** 3 hrs  
**Risk:** Medium — requires FreeBSD test environment; FFI is unsafe  
**Performance Impact:** Medium — eliminates 1 fork/exec per second on FreeBSD.

---

### PRD-010: Replace 100ms Poll with `tokio::sync::Notify`

**Background:**
In `server.rs:313-332`, the primary connection of a multi-connection TCP test busy-polls the session map every 100ms waiting for secondary connections to join.

**MikroTik Compatibility:**
- **100% safe.** This is internal server-side coordination. The wire behavior (waiting for connections, then starting the test) is unchanged. MikroTik clients will not observe a difference except potentially faster test startup.

**Objective:**
Eliminate polling latency and unnecessary mutex acquisitions.

**Design:**
1. Add a `tokio::sync::Notify` to `TcpSession`:
```rust
struct TcpSession {
    peer_ip: IpAddr,
    streams: Vec<OwnedTcpStream>,
    expected: u8,
    notify: tokio::sync::Notify,
}
```
2. In the secondary connection handler, after pushing to `streams`, call `session.notify.notify_one()`.
3. In the primary wait loop, replace the sleep loop with:
```rust
let count = { /* lock, get count, drop lock */ };
if count + 1 >= conn_count { break; }

// Wait for notification or 10s deadline
let timeout = tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_secs(10));
tokio::pin!(timeout);

loop {
    tokio::select! {
        _ = session.notify.notified() => {
            let count = { /* lock, get count */ };
            if count + 1 >= conn_count { break; }
        }
        _ = &mut timeout => { break; }
    }
}
```

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] Multi-connection TCP tests pass.
- [ ] Test startup latency is ≤ 1ms after last connection joins (was up to 100ms).
- [ ] No deadlock under concurrent multi-connection tests.

**Effort:** 2 hrs  
**Risk:** Medium — concurrency change; must carefully manage lock/notify ordering to avoid races  
**Performance Impact:** Medium — improves multi-conn test startup latency by up to 100ms per test.

---

### PRD-011: Reuse UDP RX Timer Instead of Per-Call Timeout

**Background:**
Both client and server UDP RX loops create a new `tokio::time::timeout` on every `recv`/`recv_from` call:
```rust
tokio::time::timeout(Duration::from_secs(5), socket.recv(&mut buf)).await
```
At high packet rates, this registers and cancels timers on Tokio's timer wheel constantly.

**MikroTik Compatibility:**
- **100% safe.** Internal async timing only. UDP packet processing is unchanged.

**Objective:**
Reduce timer wheel churn in high-rate UDP RX loops.

**Design:**
Option A — `tokio::select!` with a pinned sleep future:
```rust
let mut timeout = tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_secs(5));
tokio::pin!(timeout);

loop {
    tokio::select! {
        biased; // prioritize recv
        res = socket.recv(&mut buf) => { /* handle */ timeout.as_mut().reset(Instant::now() + Duration::from_secs(5)); }
        _ = &mut timeout => { tracing::debug!("UDP RX timeout"); }
    }
}
```

Option B — Use `socket2` to set `SO_RCVTIMEO` on the underlying socket, then use blocking/async recv without Tokio timeouts. This moves timeout handling into the kernel, which is even cheaper.

**Recommendation:** Start with Option A (pure Tokio, no platform risk). Option B can be a follow-up.

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] UDP send/receive/both tests pass.
- [ ] UDP RX still times out correctly when no packets arrive.
- [ ] No change to packet parsing or sequence tracking.

**Effort:** 2 hrs  
**Risk:** Medium — changes timeout behavior; must ensure test abortion still works correctly  
**Performance Impact:** Medium — reduces timer wheel registration overhead, noticeable at >50K pps.

---

## Tier 3: High Impact (Do These With Full Focus)

---

### PRD-012: Optimize TCP Client RX Status Message Scan

**Background:**
`tcp_client_rx_loop` (`client.rs:210-216`) scans up to 256KB byte-by-byte on every `read()` call looking for a 12-byte status marker (`0x07` + `0x80|cpu`). Since data is all zeros, this is almost always a full scan.

**MikroTik Compatibility Consideration:**
- **High confidence of safety.** The protocol is: MikroTik injects 12-byte status messages into the TCP stream. Our client must detect them. Changing *how* we detect them (faster scan) does not change:
  - What bytes are sent on the wire
  - What bytes we expect
  - How we respond to status messages
- **One edge case to handle:** TCP is a stream. A status message may be split across two `read()` calls. The current code does **not** handle this correctly (it scans each buffer independently). The optimized version *should* handle split messages to be strictly more correct than the current implementation.

**Objective:**
Replace O(n) byte-by-byte scan with SIMD-accelerated or state-machine-based detection, while correctly handling split messages.

**Design — Recommended: Ring Buffer Approach**

Since status messages are 12 bytes and all other bytes are zeros, maintain a 12-byte ring buffer across reads:

```rust
const STATUS_MSG_SIZE: usize = 12;

async fn tcp_client_rx_loop(mut reader: OwnedReadHalf, state: Arc<BandwidthState>) {
    let mut buf = vec![0u8; 256 * 1024];
    let mut carry = [0u8; STATUS_MSG_SIZE - 1]; // up to 11 bytes from previous read
    let mut carry_len = 0usize;

    while state.running.load(Ordering::Relaxed) {
        match reader.read(&mut buf).await {
            Ok(0) | Err(_) => break,
            Ok(n) => {
                state.rx_bytes.fetch_add(n as u64, Ordering::Relaxed);

                // Check if a status message spans the carry + start of buf
                if carry_len > 0 {
                    let needed = STATUS_MSG_SIZE - carry_len;
                    if n >= needed {
                        let mut candidate = [0u8; STATUS_MSG_SIZE];
                        candidate[..carry_len].copy_from_slice(&carry[..carry_len]);
                        candidate[carry_len..].copy_from_slice(&buf[..needed]);
                        if candidate[0] == STATUS_MSG_TYPE && candidate[1] >= 0x80 {
                            state.remote_cpu.store(candidate[1] & 0x7F, Ordering::Relaxed);
                        }
                    }
                }

                // Scan within buf for status messages
                // Since data is zeros, use memchr to find 0x07 candidates
                if n >= STATUS_MSG_SIZE {
                    let search_end = n - STATUS_MSG_SIZE + 1;
                    let mut offset = 0;
                    while let Some(pos) = memchr::memchr(STATUS_MSG_TYPE, &buf[offset..search_end]) {
                        let i = offset + pos;
                        if buf[i + 1] >= 0x80 {
                            state.remote_cpu.store(buf[i + 1] & 0x7F, Ordering::Relaxed);
                            break;
                        }
                        offset = i + 1;
                        if offset >= search_end { break; }
                    }
                }

                // Save trailing bytes for next read
                carry_len = (n).min(STATUS_MSG_SIZE - 1);
                if n >= carry_len {
                    carry[..carry_len].copy_from_slice(&buf[n - carry_len..n]);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```

**Alternative: `memchr` crate only**
If we determine split messages are extremely rare and the current behavior is "good enough," simply replace the `for` loop with:
```rust
if let Some(pos) = memchr::memchr(STATUS_MSG_TYPE, &buf[..n - STATUS_MSG_SIZE + 1]) {
    if buf[pos + 1] >= 0x80 { /* ... */ }
}
```
This is a 5-line change with massive speedup (SIMD scan). However, the ring buffer approach is strictly more correct and not much more complex.

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] TCP bidirectional tests pass.
- [ ] Remote CPU reporting still works.
- [ ] Status messages split across reads are correctly detected (unit test for this).
- [ ] `memchr` crate added to deps (very lightweight).
- [ ] No change to wire bytes or server behavior.

**Effort:** 4 hrs  
**Risk:** Medium — hot path change; must be carefully reviewed and tested  
**Performance Impact:** **High** — eliminates 256KB byte scan per read. At 10K reads/sec, saves ~2.5GB of memory scanning per second.

---

### PRD-013: SQLite Connection Pool / Channel-Based Writer

**Background:**
`server_pro` uses a single `Arc<Mutex<Connection>>`. All quota checks, usage recordings, and auth lookups serialize through one lock. `remaining_budget()` issues 15 queries, locking 15+ times. This is the primary scalability bottleneck for the pro server.

**MikroTik Compatibility:**
- **100% safe.** Server-side infrastructure only. No protocol change.

**Objective:**
Enable concurrent quota checks and usage recording without mutex contention.

**Design — Option A: Connection Pool (Recommended for reads)**
Use `r2d2_sqlite` or `deadpool-sqlite`:
1. Open a pool of ~4-8 connections to the same SQLite file (WAL mode supports this).
2. Read-only operations (`remaining_budget`, `get_user`, `check_user`) borrow a connection from the pool.
3. Write operations (`record_usage`, `record_session`) also borrow from the pool (WAL allows concurrent readers + one writer).

**Design — Option B: Channel-Based Writer (Recommended for writes)**
1. Keep one dedicated `Connection` owned by a single Tokio task.
2. Expose an `mpsc::channel` where other tasks send write requests (`RecordUsage { user, tx, rx }`).
3. The writer task batches or sequentially executes writes without any mutex.
4. Reads use a separate read-only connection or pool.

**Hybrid Recommendation:**
- **Reads:** Small connection pool (4 connections) for quota checks and auth lookups.
- **Writes:** Single dedicated async task with an `mpsc::unbounded_channel` for usage recording.
- **Cache:** Add a 5-second TTL cache for `remaining_budget()` results per user+IP to avoid redundant DB hits during test setup.

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] `pro` feature compiles and all tests pass.
- [ ] Concurrent test launches scale linearly up to at least 50 concurrent sessions.
- [ ] Quota enforcement remains correct (no over-quota usage).
- [ ] Session logging and interval recording remain accurate.
- [ ] No SQLite "database is locked" errors under load.

**Effort:** 1–2 days  
**Risk:** High — touches every DB interaction in `server_pro`; potential for data races, quota leaks, or connection exhaustion  
**Performance Impact:** **High** — enables horizontal scaling of concurrent tests; removes the primary pro server bottleneck.

---

## Execution Roadmap

### Sprint 1: Quick Wins + Foundation (1 day)
- [ ] PRD-001: WCurve cache
- [ ] PRD-002: `Instant::now()` dedup
- [ ] PRD-003: `hash_password` hex fix
- [ ] PRD-004: CSV file handle cache
- [ ] PRD-005: Error string matching
- [ ] PRD-006: `chrono` date replacement
- [ ] PRD-007: Syslog optimization
- [ ] PRD-008: `ip.to_string()` cache

**Deliverable:** Low-risk PR with 8 clean commits. Run full integration tests.

### Sprint 2: Platform & Async Fixes (1 day)
- [ ] PRD-009: FreeBSD CPU FFI
- [ ] PRD-010: Multi-conn Notify wake
- [ ] PRD-011: UDP timer reuse

**Deliverable:** PR with platform + latency improvements.

### Sprint 3: Hot Path Optimization (1–2 days)
- [ ] PRD-012: TCP RX scan optimization
- [ ] Add unit test for split status messages
- [ ] Benchmark before/after with `criterion` (or manual throughput test)

**Deliverable:** PR with benchmark numbers proving improvement.

### Sprint 4: Scalability (2–3 days)
- [ ] PRD-013: SQLite connection pool / channel writer
- [ ] Load test: 50 concurrent tests, verify no DB lock contention
- [ ] Add `remaining_budget` cache

**Deliverable:** PR with load test results.

---

## Testing Requirements for All PRDs

Since **no wire protocol changes** are made, the existing integration test suite is the primary validation tool. However, for PRD-012 and PRD-013, additional tests are required:

### New Tests to Add

1. **Split Status Message Unit Test (for PRD-012)**
   ```rust
   #[test]
   fn test_status_message_split_across_reads() {
       // Feed first 5 bytes, then remaining 7 bytes
       // Assert CPU value is extracted correctly
   }
   ```

2. **Concurrent Quota Load Test (for PRD-013)**
   ```rust
   #[tokio::test]
   async fn test_concurrent_quota_checks() {
       // Spawn 50 tasks doing remaining_budget() + record_usage()
       // Assert no panics, no SQLite locked errors
   }
   ```

3. **FreeBSD CPU Parity Test (for PRD-009)**
   Manual verification on FreeBSD that FFI `sysctl` returns same values as command.

---

## Appendix: MikroTik Compatibility Checklist

For every PRD, verify:
- [ ] No change to `Command` or `StatusMessage` struct layouts or serialization
- [ ] No change to MD5 challenge-response handshake order
- [ ] No change to EC-SRP5 handshake order or byte values
- [ ] No change to TCP packet sizes or UDP payload format
- [ ] No change to status injection timing (1-second interval)
- [ ] No change to NAT probe behavior
- [ ] Client can still authenticate against stock RouterOS `btest` server
- [ ] Server can still accept connections from stock RouterOS `btest` client

All PRDs in this document satisfy the above checklist by construction.