XenaCompact TM Series - PDF Free Download

Contents 1 Introduction...3 2 XENA Compact evaluation...3 2.1 XENA Compact brief description...3 2.2 Initial test scenario...4 2.3 Installation and commissioning...4 2.4 SW/FW upgrade...5 2.5 XENA Manager and XENA script client overview...5 2.5.1 Test bed explorer and test bed view...6 2.5.2 Properties tab...6 2.5.3 Traffic generation...7 2.5.4 Traffic filtering...8 2.5.5 Capture...8 2.5.6 Histograms...8 2.5.7 Statistics tab...9 3 Possible applications for NORDUnet...9 4 New feature development...10 5 Overall impression...11 6 About NORDUnet...11 Page 2 of 11

1 Introduction NORDUnet has been delivering point-to-point and multipoint-to-multipoint layer 2 services over different type of platforms over the last years. These services are 1GE, 10GE, or a subrate of 10GE but always terminated in GE or 10 GE interfaces. NORDUnet has encountered the need for a proper GE/10GE tester to be able to test the introduction of new services and to troubleshoot production services. Within the scope of above NORDUnet has been performing a basic evaluation of the XenaCompact TM testers. 2 XENA Compact evaluation XENA Networks provided NORDUnet with 2 units of the XENA compact series for evaluation. In the following sections a brief description of the boxes is provided and the evaluation process of the boxes. The evaluation carried out by NORDUnet was more first approach evaluation to the boxes than a deep and technical evaluation. 2.1 XENA Compact brief description The evaluated tester was the XenaCompact TM model C1-M2XFP. The tester is a one rack unit (1.7 (H) x 17.2 (W) x 9.8 (D)) with AC power. The unit was equipped with one module with 2 x 10 GE interfaces, using LR XFPs. Figure 1 XenaCompact TM 1U and 10 GE modules The XenaCompact TM unit has three main components the chassis, the modules and the ports. The unit borrowed to NORDUnet was 1U unit, like the shown in the picture with one horizontal module in charge of generating and analyzing the traffic and two 10 GE ports. This box is also available with a module for GE testing with 6 ports. Page 3 of 11

This series has also another unit with a bigger from factor which is the 4U unit which allows up to 12 modules vertically mounted. This unit is especially useful when a high density of test ports is necessary. 2.2 Initial test scenario NORDUnet got delivered two units that were installed in NORDUnet site at Ørestaden. The two units were connected to an Alcatel TSS 1850 via the 10 GE interfaces using single mode fiber. Figure 2 Initial test scenario A point-to-point E-Line Ethernet service was configured between the 2 interfaces to transfer traffic form one port the other. In this set-up traffic is transparent and no VLAN filtering is possible. This test scenario is a simple test scenario which allows to learn basic functionality of the testers. A second scenario was tested as well where an ELAN Ethernet Service with a connection-less EVC was configured with two termination points. In this scenario it is possible to transmit different traffic flows identified by their VLAN tab which can be manipulated at the TSS. This scenario is very interesting to analyze performance of different traffic flows and QoS among other possibilities. 2.3 Installation and commissioning The units were delivered with GE interfaces which needed to be change to 10GE as NORDUnet was more interested on testing these interfaces. The units are very easy to install and fit in standard rack unit. A network connection is needed for remote management which is provided by a standard Ethernet port with RJ-45 connector. The unit s form factor makes it especially recommendable for lab environments or for remote sides with limited rack space. Due to the small form factor the units can even be used as a portable tester in case is necessary. Previous to the installation the unit needs to be pre-configured with an IP address for management purposes. This is very easy operation to do via the provided management SW. Page 4 of 11

Once the management port is configured and connected to the LAN, the unit is reachable via the XENA Manager SW. 2.4 SW/FW upgrade The two units were delivered with software that needed to be upgraded. At the time of the evaluation XENA was adding new functionality that NORDUnet was interested in. For this reason NORDUnet had to upgrade the software in two occasions. The SW upgrades are done via the XENA Manager and it is an easy operation to do. The SW is delivered with proper information about how to perform the upgrade and documentation about the new functionality that new software provides. SW upgrades to major releases have to be done locally as the unit needs to be hard reset for the changes to take effect. After upgrade the units are reachable again via their management interface. XENA is continuously developing and improving the functionality of their testers to comply with customer s requirements. The simplicity of the SW/FW upgrade procedure is an advantage when this has to be done quite often. 2.5 XENA Manager and XENA script client overview XENA Networks provided with two different programs: The XENA Manager and the XENA Script client. The XENA Manager software allows remote management and configuration of the testers. The XENA Manager has very simple and easy to use GUI allowing at the same time all the functionality that can be expected. The SW can run in windows based PC and allows access to multiple users. The XENA Manager can as well connect to different devices installed in different locations. One advantage is the possibility to create test profiles called test beds which are a selection of resources in the testers with specific configuration. This way, different users can reserve different resources for different testing purposes. Figure 3 XENA Manager Page 5 of 11

The other SW provided is the XENA script client which allows configuration of the testers via command line interface and allows the creation of personalized scripts for specific purposes. NORDUnet has not been able to evaluate this option due to internal limitations. 2.5.1 Test bed explorer and test bed view The test bed explorer tab provides a view of units that the manager is connected to. It is possible to see the modules and the ports installed in each module. Selecting a chassis, module or port allows different configuration options under the properties tab on right side. The test bed view tab provides with a graphical representation of the testers connected. Figure 4 Test bed explorer 2.5.2 Properties tab The properties tab allows for different configuration options of the chassis, modules and ports. Module and port reservation can be done from the properties tab. Reservation prevents other users from using the port in case is necessary. SW and FW upgrades are done from the properties panel, in this case the module or chassis to be upgraded needs to be in reserved state. As shown in the picture 5, it is also possible to rate limit the line speed of an interface and to configure the MAC address and the IP address of the interface. Figure 5 Properties tab Page 6 of 11

2.5.3 Traffic generation Traffic generation is configured from the stream tab. The unit supports up to 256 simultaneous streams. It is possible to configure several traffic flows per stream by manipulating the content of the frame/packet. From this tab the operator can easily configure the stream rate in different ways: by specifying the rate percentage of the total interface bandwidth, the packets per second or the Mbps. The two other fields are automatically adjusted by changing one of the fields. There is also a possibility for error injection to simulate errors in the line. The stream configuration panel allows as well for configuration of a specific Inter Packet Gap (IPG) and for introduction of a burst pattern which is very useful for network performance testing. Moreover this tab includes what is called The packet editor which allows full configuration of the content of the frame header and payload for many different protocols. For example it is possible to configure a frame with a specific VLAN ID, a specific p-bit value, source and destination MAC address, payload size and thanks to the modifiers it is possible to create a flow of frames with different values, following a specific pattern. Like the one show on the picture where the source MAC address value is configured to increment its value per generated frame. This feature is convenient for stress testing. Figure 6 Stream configuration tab Page 7 of 11

2.5.4 Traffic filtering The traffic filtering tab allows for configuration of user defined filters to identified specific traffic flows based on different parameters. This option was not evaluated. 2.5.5 Capture The traffic capture tab is used to configure traffic capture. The capture can be started manually or can be triggered by specific user defined conditions. Figure 7 Traffic capture This is a very interesting feature in combination with third party Network Analyzer Software, which allows inspecting the content of the frames. NORDUnet was able to combine this capture functionality with Wireshark, which allowed packet inspection. This is very useful for troubleshooting purposes to be able to identify problems like for example, wrong VLAN tagging, p-bit mapping or mismatched Ethertype. The capture buffer at wire speed is of 64KB for 10GE interfaces. 2.5.6 Histograms Another useful functionality is that XENA Manager is able to provide a graphical view of packet statistics that can be configured according to various criteria. This is very useful for analysis and reporting traffic performance in the network. The following picture is an example of this functionality. Page 8 of 11

Figure 8 Histogram 2.5.7 Statistics tab The statistic tab provides some basic information about the traffic measures as shown in the following picture. Figure 9 Traffic statistics 3 Possible applications for NORDUnet The XenaCompact TM series have many applications but the following applications can be especially interesting for NORDUnet due to the activities and projects NORDUnet is currently involved but also taking into account future projects that are in the roadmap. These applications are: Stress testing: It is possible to simulate a big amount of end users connected to for example a switch by creating many flows and using the field modifiers in the packet editor to simulate different MAC addresses. This way it is possible to simulate a big amount of end users and stress the equipment under investigation. This could be used during vendor evaluation or test network performance under stress conditions. Page 9 of 11

RFC 2544 Benchmarking Methodology for Network Interconnect Devices test : This is an IETF standard defining a series of test (figure 10) that can be used to test the performance of a network. This test includes throughput, latency, frame loss and back-to-back testing. This is very useful to test performance of for example end-toend point-to-point Ethernet services and mp-to-mp Ethernet Services to ensure network SLAs. Figure 10 RFC 2544 test QoS monitoring: The tester allows us to test QoS functionality in our equipment giving as the advantage of delivering services which complies with the QoS demands of customers. SLA verification: As mentioned before there are different test capabilities that allows the possibility to perform SLA verification and reporting. Troubleshooting: Possibility to identify the causes of a network outage and configurations errors. Inter frame gap (IFG) analysis: This gives the possibility to test performance of specific flows and shaping functionality for egress interfaces. BERT testing: Allows improving the quality of the services delivered to our customers by verification of new network connections. Moreover, taking into account the direct involvement of NORDUnet in GN3 project, the XenaCompact TM tester could play an important role in the evaluation of technologies like Ethernet OAM, PBB-TE, and MPLS-TP among others. 4 New feature development Since we have being cooperating with XENA we realized that XENA Networks is constantly at the edge of innovation always providing the latest functionality available. XENA has also shown constant interest towards NORDUnet to get its enrolment on testing new capabilities and helping XENA to further develop their products. Page 10 of 11

Examples of new functionality are: 40/100 GE testers: These interfaces for XENACompact series and XENABay series will be commercially available during 2010. More information can be found: http://www.xenanetworks.com/07_oct_2009_-_xena_networks_- _Press_Release.pdf. Joint effort with Net-O2 combining XENA hardware with Net-O2 test suites: This joint solution provides a quite extensive amount of functionality like Ethernet OAM testing, PBB and PBB-TE, MPLS BFD among other protocols. For more information: http://www.xenanetworks.com/xena_neto2_joint_solution_brief.pdf 5 Overall impression The XenaCompact TM tester is a high quality tester providing a large amount of testing capabilities and functionality, covering most of the requirements of today s test environments. Moreover its simplicity allows for easy integration in lab environment and production networks. 6 About NORDUnet NORDUnet is the Nordic Infrastructure for Research and Education and provides the Nordic backbone to the Global Infrastructure for Research and Education. NORDUnet has its roots in the NORDUNET program which was financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers. NORDUnet is a Danish limited company owned by the governments or government institutions in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. NORDUnet is based on next generation research network that provides the Nordic research and education community with a high bandwidth Optical Private Network, Northern Light Optical Exchange which is a part of the Global Optical Light Exchange and a Pan Nordic IP network. NORDUnet will ensure adequate capacity both for e-science, e-engineering, and e- Business requirements for the foreseeable future. Further information can be found on http://www.nordu.net The history of NORDUnet can be found on http://www.nordu.net/history Page 11 of 11