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Appendix B - The Test Equipment About Spirent Communications Spirent Communications (www.spirentcom.com) provides high performance network and communications testing solutions for developers, manufacturers, evaluators and operators of communications equipment, networks and services. Products from Spirent Communications' Telecom Test division can emulate entire communications networks, generating simulated voice and/or data traffic and analysing network performance under normal and faulty conditions. They are used in applications including product development, design verification, quality assurance, production testing, conformance testing and network installation and maintenance. This enables customers to test their equipment or service under various operating conditions, to help ensure its functionality, quality and reliability. Spirent�s broadband test and analysis systems are focused on high-bandwidth technologies. The Adtech AX/4000 offers a modular, multi-port system for broadband testing. It generates test traffic that simulates a wide variety of data travelling on the Internet and high-speed communications networks. The system also analyses information travelling on these networks and can simulate network delays and varying degrees of transmission quality. SmartBits SMB-6000/SMB-600 The SmartBits 6000 (and its smaller sibling the SmartBits 600) are advanced multi-port network performance analysis systems designed to measure the performance limits of complex network configurations and network devices.
The SmartBits 6000 is a high port density network performance analysis test system. Each chassis can hold up to six SmartModules in various combinations to support up to 24 Gigabit Ethernet ports, 96 10/100 Mbps Ethernet ports, 12 POS (Packet over SONET) ports, 12 SmartMetrics Gigabit ports, or a mixture of these port types. Multiple SmartBits 6000 chassis can also can be daisy-chained together to achieve even higher port densities, enabling users to perform automated large scale testing in Quality Control and high-volume production environments. The SmartBits 6000 is easily controlled from a Windows-based PC or a UNIX workstation through a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet connection. Control is via a �soft front panel� SmartWindow application, and the system also includes SmartApplications software, which automates industry standard performance tests as defined in RFC 1242 and RFC 2544.
Spirent�s SmartBits SMB-600 chassis is a portable and compact version of the SMB-6000, still offering reasonably high port density and support for the same range of SmartModules offered by the larger unit Fully compatible with the SMB-6000, the SMB-600 holds up to two modules that can support up to 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports, 16 10/100 Mbps Ethernet ports, 2 POS (Packet over SONET) ports, 2 SmartMetrics Gigabit ports, or a mixture of these port types. As with the larger system, multiple SMB-600�s can be daisy-chained together to achieve higher port density, and the SMB-600 is controlled by a PC through a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet connection and uses the same Windows-based interface. Spirent has recently introduced a new generation of SmartBits network and Internet test systems called TeraMetrics. The TeraMetrics open architecture is a foundation for a new family of SmartBits test systems to meet the accelerating demands, complexity, increased speeds and scalability of terabit (up to 10 gigabits per second) switching. Smartbits Applications The range of SmartBits products also includes a set of software tools that allow SmartBits systems to be used for a variety of applications, ranging from industry standard tests to specific applications for new and emerging Internet and data technologies. Those used extensively within NSS include: SmartWindow � SmartBits virtual front panel. Within SmartWindow, the test engineer simply needs to select a protocol, set class of service parameters, and then test any of the following: NIC cards, servers, bridges, cable modems, xDSL modems, switches, routers, VLANs, firewalls, live networks, or multimedia scenarios. SmartApplications � Provides automated performance analysis for bridges, switches, and routers per RFC 1242 (Benchmarking Terminology for Network Interconnection Devices) and RFC 2544 (Benchmarking Methodology for Network Interconnect Devices). Tests are available for Ethernet, Token Ring, ATM, and Frame Relay. SmartFlow � Tests line rate QoS. Enables both forwarding and policy tests. Analyses each incoming stream to test a device's (or network's) ability to forward very large numbers of flows. Analyses the device's ability to correctly handle policies implemented in the network or device under test. SmartTCP � Tests load balancer performance. Tests measure the TCP session performance of server load balancer devices that make forwarding decisions based on Layer 4-7 information. SmartTCP benchmarks both the rate and connection capacities of the device under test to establish, maintain, and tear down TCP sessions. WebSuite/Firewall � Designed to simulate real-world traffic loads in order to support the testing of content delivery and network equipment. Gauges the performance of a firewall's performing NAT (Network Address Translation). Determines maximum application transaction capacity. Measures application throughput with TCP acting as the transport agent. Evaluates a firewall's ability to deal with DoS (Denial of Service) attacks. TeraVPN � Designed to measure the network performance of IP Virtual Private Networks. Determines IP-VPN tunnel creation capacity using IPSec protocols. Also generates UDP or HTTP traffic over each tunnel and measures data performance characteristics like packet loss, latency, and response time. The Adtech AX/4000 Broadband Test System The AX/4000 is a modular, multi-port system that can currently test four different transmission technologies (IP, ATM, Ethernet, and Frame Relay) simultaneously at speeds of up to 10 Gbps. Unlike software-based testing solutions, the AX/4000�s FPGA hardware-based architecture is fast enough to provide more than one million full-rate measurements and statistics continuously and in real time. The AX/4000 Generator and Generator/Analyser modules include tools for creating unlimited traffic variations and detail. Set-up �wizards� and logical functional blocks allow you to build complex traffic streams quickly and easily. When injected onto the network, these traffic streams can be �shaped� (to simulate constant or bursty traffic) and even introduce error conditions. The controller software, available in both Windows and UNIX versions, has a very intuitive graphical user interface. Test set-up is logical and quick and when tests are running, the software displays real-time data and statistics that are thorough and easy to understand. With an Ethernet control module installed in the AX/4000 chassis, the system can be connected to an Ethernet-based LAN for access by remote users. Because every test module in the chassis has its own address on the network, users can access the modules they need and leave the remainder for others to use. This enables multiple users to access the same chassis simultaneously across a network. The AX/4000 is available with a 16-slot mainframe or a four-slot portable chassis. Both are functionally identical except for the number of available slots, and all AX/4000 components will operate in either chassis. Control modules provide the interface between the chassis and an external controller such as a PC or a workstation. Control modules are available with a high-speed IEEE-488 GPIB connector for direct cable connection to a controller or with a 10BaseT Ethernet connector for a network connection. The actual broadband testing occurs inside the AX/4000 test modules. Each test module is essentially a single port tester that can operate independently or as part of a larger multi-port test set-up. Adtech currently produces ten different test modules to support different test requirements and speeds. The AX/4000 uses plug-in port interfaces to provide the physical interface for test modules. These cards are interchangeable allowing a single test module to perform tests with a variety of physical connections and speeds. Over 30 port interfaces are available supporting a wide range of interface standards for ATM, Frame Relay, Ethernet, and IP. In addition to creating an extremely wide range of packet and cell types, the AX/4000 allows you to program sequences of packets with looping, jumps, repeats, conditional branching and even error injection. Errors can be injected randomly or manually, and can be set to hit any byte or even certain bits within specific bytes. It is also possible to simulate multiple classes of service by prioritising each traffic source. For example, you can assign a higher priority to constant bit rate (CBR) traffic and a lower priority to variable bit rate (VBR) traffic sources. After generating the traffic, you can use an AX/4000 analyser to check your device�s ability to maintain proper QoS levels. In addition to providing live statistics, the analyser can also capture traffic at full rate for further analysis or protocol decoding. Captures can be triggered manually or automatically based on specific events or errors and can include packets or cells received before, after, or both before and after the trigger event. The AX/4000 can maintain over 125,000 simultaneous QoS measurements per port at full rate and in real time. All statistics can be saved on disk for further analysis and for printing detailed test reports. Click here to return to the VA Index Section |
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