FRAME Benchmarking Exercise

This repository contains a benchmarking exercise designed to teach FRAME pallet benchmarking concepts through a simplified Identity pallet implementation. The project demonstrates various benchmarking patterns and complexities in a Substrate runtime environment.

Exercise Overview

Your task is to

1. implement the missing benchmarks in the Identity pallet's benchmarking module
2. run the benchmarks and generate a weights.rs file

This exercise will teach you to:

1. Analyze complexity patterns - Understand different algorithmic complexities (linear, logarithmic, constant)
2. Choose appropriate parameters - Determine which complexity parameters are necessary for accurate benchmarking
3. Implement benchmark scenarios - Create proper setup, execution, and verification for benchmarks
4. Understand storage patterns - Compare different storage approaches and their performance implications

Assignment Instructions

Navigate to pallets/identity/src/benchmarking.rs and find the two incomplete benchmarks:

1. clear_identity_inline_usage Benchmark

#[benchmark]
fn clear_identity_inline_usage(
    b: Linear<1, { T::MaxFieldLength::get() }>, // TODO: determine if necessary
    j: Linear<0, { T::MaxJudgements::get() }>,  // TODO: determine if necessary
) {
    // TODO: implement
}

Your Tasks:

• Analyze the complexity: Examine the clear_identity extrinsic to understand its computational complexity when using inline storage
• Determine parameters: Decide which linear parameters (b for bytes, j for judgements) are actually necessary
• Implement the benchmark: Create a complete benchmark following the patterns from existing benchmarks
• Add verification: Include proper assertions to verify the benchmark correctness

2. clear_identity_double_map_usage Benchmark

#[benchmark]
fn clear_identity_double_map_usage(
    b: Linear<1, { T::MaxFieldLength::get() }>, // TODO: determine if necessary
    j: Linear<0, { T::MaxJudgements::get() }>,  // TODO: determine if necessary
) {
    // TODO: implement
}

Your Tasks:

• Analyze the complexity: Examine the clear_identity extrinsic to understand its computational complexity when using double map storage
• Determine parameters: Decide which linear parameters are actually necessary for this storage pattern
• Implement the benchmark: Create a complete benchmark demonstrating the difference from inline storage
• Add verification: Include proper assertions to verify the benchmark correctness

3. Run the Benchmarks

Your Task: After implementing the benchmarks it is time to actually run them by compiling your runtime and using the omni bencher to get timings for the extrinsics.

Key Learning Objectives

• Complexity Analysis
• Storage Pattern Comparison
• Benchmarking Best Practices
  • Proper setup: Creating realistic pre-conditions for the benchmark
  • Worst-case scenarios: Testing the most expensive execution paths
  • Comprehensive verification: Ensuring benchmarks measure what they claim to measure

Implementation Guidelines

1. Study Existing Benchmarks

Before implementing, examine the existing benchmarks in the file:

• set_identity - Shows linear complexity with bytes parameter
• set_identity_update - Shows linear complexity with both bytes and logarithmic complexity with judgements
• provide_judgement_inline - Shows logarithmic complexity with judgements
• provide_judgement_double_map - Shows linear complexity with bytes parameter but independent of judgements

2. Understand the clear_identity Extrinsic

Read pallets/identity/src/lib.rs to understand:

• How clear_identity works
• What storage operations it performs

3. Follow the Pattern

Each benchmark should include:

#[benchmark]
fn benchmark_name(/* parameters */) {
    // 1. Setup: Create test accounts and fund them
    // 2. Pre-conditions: Set up identity and judgements
    // 3. Execution: Call the extrinsic being benchmarked
    // 4. Verification: Assert the expected final state
}

4. Helper Functions

Use existing helper functions:

• fund_account::<T>() - Provides sufficient balance for operations
• create_identity_info::<T>() - Creates test identity data
• whitelisted_caller() or account() - Creates test accounts

Testing Your Implementation

Run Benchmark Tests

Run for your pallets tests, including the benchmarks.

cargo test -p pallet-identity --features runtime-benchmarks

Run All Tests

Run this to check whether your runtime compiles correctly.

cargo test --features runtime-benchmarks

Check Code Quality

cargo +nightly fmt
cargo clippy -- -D warnings

Expected Outcomes

After completing this exercise, you should understand:

1. When parameters matter: Why some benchmarks need b and j parameters while others don't
2. Storage tradeoffs: The performance implications of different storage patterns
3. Complexity analysis: How to identify and measure different algorithmic complexities
4. Benchmark implementation: How to write comprehensive, correct benchmarks

Project Structure

pallets/identity/
├── src/
│   ├── lib.rs              # Pallet implementation with extrinsics
│   ├── benchmarking.rs     # 🎯 YOUR ASSIGNMENT - Complete the TODOs
│   ├── weights.rs          # Weight trait and implementations
│   ├── mock.rs             # Test runtime configuration
│   └── tests.rs            # Unit tests
└── Cargo.toml

Educational Context

This Identity pallet is a simplified version of Substrate's Identity pallet, designed specifically for benchmarking education. It provides:

Core Features

• Set/clear identity information with configurable fields
• Economic deposits to prevent spam
• Judgement system for identity validation

Benchmarking Showcase

• Linear complexity - Operations scaling with data size
• Logarithmic complexity - Binary search operations
• Storage pattern comparison - BoundedVec vs DoubleMap performance
• Economic operations - Currency reservation, unreservation
• Real-world scenarios - Based on production Substrate patterns

How to Run

Full Runtime Build

# Build runtime WASM **WITHOUT BENCHMARKS**
cargo build -p bench-runtime --release

Running with Omni-Node

# Install required tools
cargo install polkadot-omni-node --locked
cargo install staging-chain-spec-builder --locked

# Create chain spec from WASM
chain-spec-builder create --runtime ./target/release/wbuild/bench-runtime/pba_runtime.wasm --relay-chain westend --para-id 1000 -t development default

# Run omni-node
polkadot-omni-node --chain chain_spec.json --dev-block-time 6000 --tmp

Running the Benchmarks

Install the omni bencher:

cargo install frame-omni-bencher --locked

Build your runtime with benchmarking enabled:

cargo build --release --features runtime-benchmarks

Run the omni bencher and generate a weights.rs file with your results:

frame-omni-bencher v1 benchmark pallet \
    --runtime \
    ./target/release/wbuild/bench-runtime/bench_runtime.compact.compressed.wasm \
    --pallet "pallet_identity" --extrinsic "" \
    --output weights.rs

Tips for Success

1. Start by understanding: Read the clear_identity extrinsic implementation first
2. Study the patterns: Look at existing benchmarks to understand the structure
3. Test frequently: Run tests after each change to catch issues early
4. Think about complexity: Consider what actually makes the operation more expensive
5. Verify your work: Ensure your benchmarks test what they claim to test

Good luck with your benchmarking implementation! This exercise will give you valuable hands-on experience with FRAME benchmarking concepts that are essential for production Substrate development.