PacketExpert™
Quad Port Ethernet / VLAN / MPLS / IP / UDP Tester
PacketExpert™ Unit
Overview |
Main Features |
Applications | Layer 1 Frame Testing
Ethernet, Stacked VLAN Testing Features | MPLS Testing Features |
IP (Layer 3) Testing
UDP (Layer 4) Testing |
Wirespeed BER Testing | RFC 2544 Testing |
Loopback Testing
Frame Statistics |Command Line Interface (CLI) | Hardware Interfaces |
Buyer's Guide
PacketExpert™ Software Ver 1.1 is Now Available! Download it here
Click to watch
PacketExpert™ Video
Overview
PacketExpert™ is a portable (USB based) Quad Port Ethernet / VLAN / MPLS / IP / UDP Tester with 4 Electrical Ethernet Ports (10/100/1000 Mbps)
and 2 Optical Ports (1000 Mbps). The PacketExpert™ connects to a Notebook PC through a USB 2.0 interface. Each port provides independent
Ethernet/VLAN/MPLS/IP/UDP testing at wire speed for applications such as BERT, RFC 2544, and Loopback. BERT is implemented for all layers (as depicted
below). RFC 2544 is applicable for Layers 2, 2.5, and 3, and Loopback is applicable for Layers 2, 3, and 4.
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It truly takes confusion out of Ethernet testing at all protocol layers - from Layer1 frames to IP/UDP packets. It can be used as a general purpose Ethernet
to IP performance analysis tool for 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps Ethernet local area networks and wide area networks. Two of the 4 ports have both Electrical
and optical interfaces, enabling testing on optical fiber links as well.
PacketExpert™ provides 3 important functionalities – Wire speed BERT, Smart Loopback, and RFC 2544 Testing. It can perform Wire speed BERT (Bit Error Rate Testing) on all ports simultaneously over Layer1, Framed Ethernet (Layer2), Stacked VLAN (Q-in-Q), Stacked MPLS (Layer 2.5), IP and UDP. It can generate and receive various BER patterns, including various PRBS patterns, to properly test the Ethernet to IP link. It analyzes the received BER traffic and provides various vital measurements such as Bit Error Rate, Bit Error Count, Sync Loss Count, Sync Loss Seconds, and Error Free Seconds. PacketExpert™ also gives a real time graphical representation of the Bit Error count, plotted over time.
PacketExpert™ supports Throughput, Latency, Frame Loss and Back to Back test as specified in RFC 2544. Similar to BERT, RFC 2544 testing can be done over Framed Ethernet (Layer2), Stacked VLAN (Q-in-Q), Stacked MPLS (Layer 2.5), IP and UDP. The results can be viewed in tabular as well as graphical format. It also generates reports in pdf and csv format for the RFC 2544 tests and BERT.
With the capability to generate/receive traffic with stacked VLAN (Q-in-Q) and stacked MPLS, PacketExpert™ finds use in testing a wide range of
networks – from testing individual links/switches, testing local Ethernet/IP networks (LAN), end to end testing of Wide Area Networks (WAN), testing Core/MPLS
networks, and much more.
Below is a depiction of the protocol stack that is supported with PacketExpert™.
PacketExpert™ at Layer 1 (Physical), Layer 2 (Data Link)
with stacked VLAN tag, Layer2.5 (MPLS), Layer 3 (Network), and Layer 4 (Transport) of OSI model
GL also provides PacketCheck™, a software-only Ethernet to IP Test tool, with BERT and throughput (up to 800 Mbps) testing ability that is
comprehensive and very easy to use as a general purpose network performance analysis tool for 10Mbps, 100Mbps and 1Gbps LANs and WANs. Please
visit PacketCheck™ page for more details.
Screenshot of PackeExpert™ Main GUI
Main Features:
- Capable of generating/receiving Ethernet to IP traffic at wire speed
- Capable of handling full wire speed BERT, in both directions, on all available ports.
- Easily control multiple hardware units from a single GUI, multiplying the number of ports available per system
- Command Line Interfaces – Console based CLI as well as GL's WCS (Windows Client Server) based CLI, allowing remote control
- Supports Loopback, allowing for easy test setup.
- Wire speed BERT and RFC 2544 testing over Framed Ethernet (Layer2), Stacked MPLS (Layer2.5), IP and UDP. BERT testing is also supported on Layer1.
- Support for BERT, RFC 2544 and Loopback testing with stacked VLAN (Q-in-Q) – up to 3 levels
- Support for BERT, and RFC 2544 testing with stacked MPLS, up to 3 levels
- Support for BERT, Loopback and RFC 2544 testing over IPv6
- Supports industry standards PRBS patterns 29-1, 211-1, 215-1,
220-1, 223-1, 229-1, and 231-1, constant patterns like all ones, all zeroes, alt ones-zeroes and
user-defined test patterns ranging between 1 to 32 bits.
- Optional sequence number insertion allows detecting out-of-sequence packets and packet loss.
- Error Insertion capability - Single as well as constant rate Bit Error and FCS Error Insertion.
- Throughput, back-to-back, latency and frame loss testing as per RFC 2544 for Uni-directional and Bi-Directional traffic between ports.
- Easy to setup and conduct RFC2544 tests using user-defined parameters such as frame size, trial duration, number of trials, etc.
- Real-time results are presented in both tabular as well as graphical format.
- • Detailed test result reports in PDF and CSV file formats.
- User selectable Electrical and/or Optical interface for Port2 and Port3 allows mixed technology testing.
- Detailed frame statistics in tabular format for all the ports.
- User-defined or auto-negotiated electrical ports can operate at 10/100/1000 Mbps line rates in Full Duplex mode; optical ports can operate at 1000 Mbps
line rate in Full Duplex mode only.
- Loopback capability for incoming traffic. Both smart loopback (auto layer detection) and selected user-defined layers loopback capabilities are supported.
- Support for frame lengths from 64 bytes to Jumbo frames (up to 2048 bytes).
- User-defined header parameters for MAC, VLAN, MPLS, IP and UDP layers.
- Support for ARP, Ping, IPv6 etc.
- Field upgradable technology allows tester to stay current with industry trend.
Applications
- Test and verify QoS Parameters of network devices like Switches/Routers etc.
- End to end testing of network paths for QoS parameters
- In-depth troubleshooting of the Carrier network in the event of network failures or impairments
- QoS testing of Triple-play services to ensure that they fully qualify SLA parameters
Layer 1 Frame Testing
In Layer1 testing, data is carried over Layer1 frames. Only the Preamble, SFD and Frame Check Sequence are present. Apart from these fields, the entire
frame consists of the payload (BERT pattern).
GL’s PacketExpert™ supports layer 1 testing with
- Intuitive GUI Layer selection option allows user to easily configure Layer1 testing, as well as other layers
- BERT and Loopback Testing
- Detailed Statistics
Screenshot of Layer 1 Selection
Screenshot of Layer 1 Statistics
Ethernet, Stacked Virtual LAN (VLAN) Testing Features
Ethernet is a most commonly used local area network (LAN) technology, whose transmission speed ranges from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps. It is defined by 802.3
standards. A typical Ethernet frame structure is shown below:
Ethernet Frame
With the implementation of frame tagging, the Ethernet frames can be identified as belonging to a particular logical LAN. This allows different ports of a
switch to be assigned to different logical LANs unlike traditional LANs. The 'tagging' feature evolved as VLANs allowing any user to be connected to any logical
LAN, without having the requirements of physical presence in same premises. The VLANs simplifies security, manageability, and load sharing. The implementation
is defined in 802.1q standard.
In order to accommodate tagging, a new optional IEEE 802.1Q tag field has been introduced between the Source MAC address and the Length field of the
Ethernet frame as shown below:
Ethernet Frame with VLAN Tagging
A multi-tagged frame having multiple VLAN IDs, EtherTypes and other VLAN header bit fields constitute Q-in-Q frames, also referred to as VLAN stacking.
This results in the tagged data frame to be tagged again with a VLAN tag, when it traverses the service provider network. The additional tag is removed at the
edge of the service provider network before entering to destination network.
GL’s PacketExpert™ is capable of doing Wire speed Ethernet testing over Ethernet/IP networks.
GL’s PacketExpert™ Ethernet and Stacked VLAN testing supports -
- User configurable Source and Destination MAC Addresses (6 byte hex format), Len/Type field and VLAN fields. Length/Type field can be populated with User
Defined value or preset values for IPv4/IPv6
- Up to 3 stacked VLANs configuration. The sequence of insertion is such that VLAN#1 forms the innermost tag; followed by VLAN#2 and VLAN#3 forms the
outermost tag. Flexibility is provided to the user to select the VLAN type field (0x8100, 0x88A8, 0x9100, 0x9200, 0x9300) for each level.
- BERT, RFC 2544, and Loopback Testing
- Setting the VLAN Type Field, VLAN Id, and the Priority Fields for each VLAN stack
- Statistics per stack position level
PacketExpert™ allows verifying the VLAN implementation meets the QoS expectations. User can set the VLAN Priority field to various levels and
conduct the BERT and RFC 2544 tests to verify QoS. Utilizing the stacked VLAN feature, along with VLAN priority setting and combining with BERT/RFC 2544
testing helps extend the Layer2 testing over carrier Ethernet networks.
Screenshot of VLAN Stack Field Type configured with Priority and
VLAN IDs
Screenshot of Stacked VLAN Statistics
Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Testing Features
Quality of Service (QoS) and traffic engineering are inherent features of MPLS. Testing essentially involves sending appropriately formatted MPLS packets
through an MPLS provisioned network and verifying:
- Connectivity - traffic is properly routed to the correct destination, i.e., Label Switching Path
- Performance – Controlling QoS characteristics like Packet Loss, Latency, and Bandwidth within defined limits.
Both end to end testing from customer edge to customer edge as well as testing within the core MPLS network is important. PacketExpert™ does
both.
GL’s PacketExpert™ supports MPLS testing with MPLS related statistics like the Packet Counts per Stack position provided for detailed analysis.
GL’s PacketExpert™ MPLS testing supports
Screenshot of MPLS Label Stacking
Screenshot of Stacked MPLS Statistics
IP (Layer 3) Testing
Layer3 configuration allows editing source and destination IP Addresses. In addition, users can configure various IP header fields like TOS, TTL, Protocol,
Header Checksum, and Identification field. User can choose to allow hardware to calculate/verify checksum or provide a fixed value. IPv6 is also supported.
Screenshot of Ipv4 and Ipv6 configuration
Screenshot of IP Statistics
UDP (Layer 4) Testing
Layer4 configuration requires source and destination UDP ports to be defined. User can choose to allow hardware to calculate/verify checksum or provide a
fixed value.
Screenshot of UDP configuration
Screenshot of UDP Statistics
Wire speed BER Testing
Wire speed BERT measures Bit Error Rate on Layer1, Framed Ethernet (Layer2), MPLS (Layer2.5), IP and UDP layers. Supports generating various
PRBS patterns such as 29-1, 211-1, 215-1, 220-1, 223-1, 229-1, and
231-1 including constant patterns such as All Ones, All Zeroes, Alternate Ones-Zeroes and user-defined test patterns ranging from 1 bit to 32 bits.
Selection of optional sequence number insertion allows detecting out-of-sequence packets and packet loss.
Both BERT and Loopback support Stacked VLAN and Stacked MPLS. BERT can be configured to send/receive streams with Stacked VLAN/Stacked MPLS frames.
In addition, the PacketExpert™ allows sending traffic of specific frame length and rate.
Flexible Options:
BERT and Loopback functionality can be accessed via various combinations, according to the testing needs:
- All port BERT – all 4 ports run BERT (at full wire speed, simultaneous Tx and Rx) per unit
- 2 port BERT/2 port Loopback – 2 ports run BERT, while 2 ports run Loopback
per unit
- All port Loopback – All 4 ports run Loopback
per unit
User can select the application to load, depending on the testing needs.
Wire speed BERT GUI
Wire speed BERT Results (with LEDs and Graph)
PacketExpert™ analyzes the received BER pattern and provides various vital measurements such as Bit Error Rate, Bit Error Count, Bit Error Seconds,
Sync Loss Count, Sync Loss Seconds, Error Free Seconds, No Rx Data Count/Seconds, and Bert Status. It also gives a real time graphical representation of the
Bit Error count, plotted over time as shown in screenshots below
Bit Error Insertion option allows manually inserting single or constant rate (10-1 to 10-9) errors on to the out-going stream.
BERT Results with Bit Error Insertion
Screenshot of BERT Graph
Error Insertion
PacketExpert™ provides 2 types of Error Insertion – Bit Error Insertion and FCS (Frame Check Sequence) Error Insertion. Bit Error insertion allows inserting Bit Errors into the outgoing Tx traffic. FCS Error insertion allows sending frames with wrong FCS value.
In both types, single as well as Rate Error Insertion is supported. Single error insertion allows user to manually introduce a single Bit/FCS error. Rate Error insertion allows the user to select a constant error rate, ranging from 10^-1 to 10^-9, to be introduced into the outgoing stream. Also, FCS Error insertion allows Continuous Error insertion, where every outgoing frame will have FCS error.
BERT Rx provides an option to process frames, even if they have FCS errors, as if they were normal BERT frames.
Screenshot of Bit Error Insertion
Screenshot of FCS Error Insertion
RFC 2544 Testing
PacketExpert™ supports Throughput, Latency, Frame Loss and Back to Back tests as specified in RFC 2544. Similar to BERT, RFC 2544 can be done over
Framed Ethernet (Layer2), Stacked VLAN (Q-in-Q), Stacked MPLS, IP or UDP.
RFC 2544 allows the test frame to be configured with Stacked VLAN and Stacked MPLS. This way, end to end RFC 2544 test can be conducted across a
Carrier Ethernet/MPLS network.
It includes various parameter configurations such as Test Selection, Frame Sizes, Unidirectional/Bidirectional, Number of
trials, Trial Duration, and many more. It also provides user-defined options to configure various packet header parameters, like MAC addresses, IP addresses, UDP ports, VLAN ID,
MPLS Labels, and others.
RFC 2544 Testing GUI
RFC 2544 Test Results
Results are displayed in both tabular as well as graph format.
- Status – displays test status such as In Progress, Completed, and Aborted. In addition, it displays status of learning frames and test frames for the current
trial along with Bandwidth, Frame Size, and Frame Count.
- Throughput – Throughput results are displayed in terms of bandwidth (both in percentage as well as Mbps) for each frame size. Graphically, it is plotted as
throughput vs frame size.
- Latency – Latency values are displayed in terms of microseconds for each frame size. Graphically, the latency value is plotted against frame size.
- Back-to-Back – Back-to-Back values are displayed in terms of the burst size (in milliseconds) for each frame size. Graphically, the burst size is plotted against
frame size.
- Frame Loss – Frame Loss results are displayed in terms of the throughput (in percentage) measured over the range of input rates (in percentage) for each
frame size. Graphically, for each frame size, the throughput is plotted against the test rate. For multiple frame sizes, there will be multiple line graphs.
Screenshot of RFC 2544 Test Results
Link Status & Configuration
The hardware Interface details are displayed independently per port. It includes:
- Hardware MAC address
- Link status
- Current Operating Mode (Electrical/Optical)
- Auto Negotiation Status
- Current Link Speed
- Current Duplex Mode
- Flow Control Setting
Various options are provided to change the hardware interface settings:
Interface Type – User can select Electrical or Optical interface, available for Ports 2 and 3 only.
Link Speed – User can select Auto, meaning allowing the port to do the Auto negotiation procedure, or can force the link speeds to one of 10/100/1000
Mbps speed. For Optical mode, only 1000 Mbps allowed.
IP Address settings – User can configure the port IP address, subnet mask and the default gateway. This way, the port automatically responds to ARP and
PING requests
Screenshot of Link Status & Configuration
Loopback Testing
PacketExpert™ has all ports/2 ports Loopback capability. PacketExpert™ supports Layer-wise Loopback as well as Smart Loopback.
Loopback Types
- Smart Loopback - Analyses incoming traffic, automatically detects and swaps Source and Destination MAC, IP, and UDP addresses before sending
back the packet.
- Layer 1 – Loops back incoming packets as is
- Ethernet – Swaps Source and Destination MAC addresses before sending back the packet
- IP – Swaps Source and Destination MAC addresses, IP addresses before sending back the packet.
- UDP - Swaps Source and Destination MAC addresses, Destination IP addresses, and UDP ports before sending back the packet.
Layer 2 -Ethernet swaps Source and
Destination MAC addresses
Loopback helps in easy test setup, especially in end-to-end testing, when the other end is in a remote place. In such cases, one PacketExpert™
can be put in constant Loopback at the remote end, and BERT tests can be started / stopped anytime at the local end.
Loopback helps in easy BERT test setup
Screenshot of All port Loopback
Frame Statistics
Detailed statistics per port are provided. In addition to statistics like frame count, frame rate, data rate etc., statistics are provided based on various
categories like Frame Type (Broadcast, Multicast, VLAN), Frame Lengths (64, 65-127, 1024-1518, Oversized, Undersized), Protocol Type (IPv4, IPv6, UDP,
TCP,ICMP,IGRP etc.)
Statistics for Stacked VLAN and Stacked MPLS are provided for detailed analysis. Statistics based on the Packet Count per VLAN/MPLS stack position are
provided.
Screenshot of Tx and Rx Frame Statistics
Command Line Interface (CLI)
PacketExpert™ supports Command line Interface (CLI) to access all the functionalities such as All Port Bert, Bert Loopback, All Port Loopback, and RFC 2544 using any one of the 3 modes - Console based CLI, Client-Server based CLI, and WCS (GL Windows Client/Server).
Console based CLI
This is a stand-alone console based application. User can enter the commands in the console prompt, which is executed and the results are displayed in the console itself.
Screenshot of Console based Command Line Interface (CLI)
Client-Server based CLI
This is also a console based application. But, here, the CLI runs as a console based server, waiting for client commands. The client is also a console based application that accepts commands through the command line, and executes only one command at a time. It sends the command to the server locally through a local UDP socket, waits for the result of execution, prints the result and exits the console
This is useful for automation, where the commands need to be called from a different third-party application. Both client and server must run on the same PC.
Screenshot of PacketExpert™ Client Server
Windows Client Server (GL Windows Client/Server)
This utilizes GL's WCS framework. It makes use of GL WCS Client and WCS server applications. Client and Server communicate to each other through TCP/IP socket. Client sends the command to the server. Server processes the commands and replies with the results to the client, which then prints the results in the client window. This does not necessarily require the client and server to run on the same PC.
Screenshot of PacketExpert™ Windows Client Server (WCS)
Download sample scripts for PacketExpert™ CLI application
Layer2 Testing without VLAN
Layer2 Testing with VLAN upto 2 stacks
Layer3 Testing without VLAN and without MPLS enabled
Layer3 Testing with MPLS and with VLAN enabled
Layer4 Testing without VLAN and with MPLS enabled
Layer4 Testing without VLAN and without MPLS enabled
Layer4 Testing with VLAN and with MPLS enabled
Hardware Interfaces
Interfaces
- 2 x 10/100/1000 Base-T Electrical only
- 2 x 1000 Base-X Optical OR 10/100/1000 Base-T Electrical
- Single Mode or Multi Mode Fiber SFP support with LC connector
Back Panel
Protocols:
Bus Interface:
Power:
Front Panel
Physical Specification
- Length: 8.45 in. (214.63 mm)
- Width: 5.55 in. (140.97 mm)
- Height: 1.60 in (40.64 mm)
- Weight: 1.66 lbs. (0.75 kg)
Buyer's Guide:
* Specifications are subject to change without notice.
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