> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.nvidia.com/dsx-exchange/llms.txt.
> For full documentation content, see https://docs.nvidia.com/dsx-exchange/llms-full.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.nvidia.com/dsx-exchange/_mcp/server.

# Validation

## Functional Validation

The functional suites validate event-bus behavior against the local Kind
environment:

- MQTT 3.1.1 protocol compliance
- QoS 0, 1, 2 message delivery
- Retained messages and will messages
- High availability and failover
- Federation between layers (CPC <-> CSC)
- Authentication and authorization (OAuth2, mTLS, NKey)
- Topic-based access control

## Local Benchmark Tooling

The local environment includes MQTT benchmark tooling for smoke runs and
operator-driven benchmark runs. These tests report the observed behavior of the
current deployment; they do not define product targets.

**Prerequisite:** Performance and benchmark targets require MetalLB or an equivalent LoadBalancer (installed by `make setup-infra`). Without it, `kubectl port-forward` cannot sustain benchmark throughput and tests fail silently.

The MQTT performance suite exercises combinations of QoS level, retention, and
deployment topology:

| | QoS 0 | QoS 0 + Retained | QoS 1 | QoS 1 + Retained |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Local** (same cluster) | Exercised | Exercised | Exercised | Exercised |
| **Federation** (CPC <-> CSC) | Exercised | Exercised | Exercised | Exercised |

Federation runs are bidirectional: CPC-to-CSC and CSC-to-CPC.

### Reported Metrics

The benchmark tooling reports these measurements:

| Metric | Description |
|--------|-------------|
| Messages published/received | Total message counts |
| Publish latency | Time from publish call to broker acknowledgement |
| End-to-end latency | Time from publish to subscriber receipt |
| Throughput | Messages per second (publish and receive) |
| Active connections | Concurrent client count |

The separate MQTT benchmark suite reports scenario-level measurements:

- Connection rates and peak concurrent connections
- Message throughput (publish and subscribe rates)
- End-to-end latency percentiles (avg, P50, P90, P97, P99)
- Success rates