Overview
GL’s PacketExpert™ 10G provides comprehensive testing of 10 Gbps wirespeed Ethernet/IP networks. It has two 10 Gbps Electrical/Optical ports, and two 10/100/1000 Mbps Electrical/Optical ports capable of BERT, Smart Loopback, RFC 2544, ExpertSAM, Record and Playback, PacketBroker, Expert Analyzer, and ExpertTCP֭™ functionalities.
Each GigE port provides independent Ethernet/VLAN/MPLS/IP/UDP layer-wise testing at wirespeed. BERT is implemented for all layers. RFC 2544 is applicable for Layers 2, 2.5, and 3, and Loopback is applicable for Layers 2, 3, and 4.
Currently, PacketExpert™ 10G supports the following important functionalities –
- Wire speed BERT
- Smart Loopback
- RFC 2544 Testing
- Record and Playback
- ExpertSAM
- PacketBroker
- IP WAN Emulator (IPNetSim™, IPLinkSim™)
- Multi Stream UDP/TCP Traffic Generator and Analyzer
- ExpertTCP™ - (Available with Multi Stream Traffic Generator Analyzer)
With the capability to generate/receive traffic with stacked VLAN (Q-in-Q) and stacked MPLS, PacketExpert™ 10G 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.
With additional licensing (CXG100) enable remote controlling of PacketExpert™ through multiple command-line based clients. Supported clients includes C# and Python. The Command line Interface (CLI) feature allows the users to access all the aforementioned functionalities remotely via clients using MAPS™ CLI Server.
Main Features
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PacketExpert™ 10G - Portable
PacketExpert™ Hardware Unit
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Interfaces: |
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Protocols: |
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Bus Interface: |
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External Power Supply: |
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Physical Specification: |
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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
LAYER 1 Selection |
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.
VLAN Stack Field Type configured with Priority and VLAN IDs |
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
- Up to 3 MPLS stacked labels - Multiple MPLS label stacks are particularly useful in testing MPLS VPN implementations and multiple MPLS providers, and MPLS tunnels. MPLS#1 is the innermost label, while the other two are inserted in the outer levels.
Multiple MPLS Label stack
- Configuring the Label value, the CoS bits (also known as the EXP or experimental bits) and the TTL (Time-to-Live) for each label, in addition to selecting the number of MPLS labels.
- MPLS related statistics like the Packet Count per MPLS stack position are also provided for detailed analysis
- BERT and RFC 2544 test capabilities over MPLS Layer 2.5 – Supports sending MPLS enabled streams in its BERT and RFC 2544 tests and report various QoS characteristics like Bit Error Rate, Throughput, Frame Loss, and Latency.
MPLS Label Stacking |
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.
IPv4 and IPv6 configuration |
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.
UDP configuration |
UPD Statistics |
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 the Bit Error and FCS Error Insertion 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.
Bit Error Insertion |
FCS Error Insertion |
IP WAN Emulators (Single and Multi-Streams)
IP WAN Link Emulators help to test the performance of such WAN network-dependent applications by emulating the WAN conditions in a local setup easily and cost effectively. Typically, WAN links suffer from Packet effects such as Packet Loss, Packet Corruption, Packet Duplication and Packet reordering with additional burden on end-to-end applications to compensate for these impairments. Such frames are dropped at end points causing retransmissions.
GL’s WAN IP Link Emulators (IPNetSim™, IPLinkSim™) provide all necessary features to emulate these Packet effects and study network behaviour.
IPNetSim™ is an optional application available within PacketExpert™ platforms (PXG100 and PXN100).
IPNetSim™ emulates a bidirectional WAN IP Link with a 10 Gbps or a 10/100/1000 Mbps full duplex link. For each direction, incoming traffic can be identified into separate user defined streams (up to 16 streams for 1 Gbps pipe and up to 4 streams for 10 Gbps pipe). These user defined streams can be modified to simulate network impairments.
IPLinkSim™ option with PacketExpert™ platforms (PXG100 and PXN100) also supports a single stream WAN IP Link with a 10 Gbps or a 10/100/1000 Mbps full duplex link, where all the incoming traffic is streamed as a single link which can be modified to simulate network impairments.
Simply connect PacketExpert™ IPNetSim™ or IPLinkSim™ unit in series with existing optical or electrical links and introduce any impairment type to test the various applications in the lab prior to live deployment.
Both IPNetSim™ and IPLinkSim™ provides several user-defined impairments.
- Check the stability or performance of the network with various real-world WAN Impairments including:
- Bandwidth control option to emulate various WAN link speeds (Modem, DSL, T1/E1/T3/E3/OC3/OC12 etc) – 1 Kbps up to 10 Gbps
- Latency/Delay (0 milliseconds up to 1.5 seconds per stream (for 1Gbps link)/0.5 seconds per stream (for 10 Gbps link) – single delay, uniform, random distributions) to emulate various wired, wireless, and network elements
- Packet Loss (loss rate % of total packets 0–100%)
- Packet Reordering (reordering rate (0-100%) with Delay Range of up to 2 seconds
- Packet Duplication (percentage of total packets duplicated 0 - 100%)
- Logic Error Insertion (10^-1 to 10^-9 error rate) within Ethernet packet to emulate faulty network devices or interference
Packet Duplication model configurations
Wire speed BERT Testing
PacketExpert™ 10G supports Wire speed BERT (Bit Error Rate Testing) up to 10 Gbps simultaneously over Framed Ethernet (Layer2), Stacked VLAN (Q-in-Q), Stacked MPLS (Layer 2.5), IP and UDP. It can generate and receive various BER Traffic Patterns, including various PRBS patterns, Bit Error Insertion, and FCS Error Insertion.
The screen below displays the PacketExpert™ 10G GUI, running All Port BER test on Port#1 and Port#2 10G optical ports.
For more information please visit: Wire-speed BERT Testing
BER Testing
Loopback Testing
PacketExpert™ 10G supports Loopback capability on all ports. The loopback can be layer wise loopback as well as Smart Loopback. In Smart Loopback method PacketExpert™ 10G analyses incoming traffic, automatically detects and swaps the Source and Destination Addresses and sends back the traffic on the same port.
For more information please visit: Loopback Testing
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.
All Port Loopback Testing
RFC 2544 Testing, RFC 2544 (Single-port) Testing
PacketExpert™ 10G supports RFC 2544 tests up to 10 Gbps. RFC 2544 tests includes Ethernet Throughput, Latency, Frame Loss, and Back-to-Back performance tests in accordance with RFC 2544 specifications. The test is setup such that the traffic can be generated and transmitted on either of the ports and the looped back traffic from the DUT is received on the opposite port validating the test parameters.
For more information please visit: RFC 2544 Testing
RFC 2544 Testing
Record and Playback
Record and Playback module is used to transmit and / or capture network traffic at wirespeed. Record and Playback feature is available in various operating modes such as Record Only mode, Playback Only mode.
Wirespeed Record application supports capturing traffic on both the 1G and 10G ports at full line rate simultaneously (10 Gbps * 2/1 Gbps *2), without disturbing the link. Internal 8GB of DDR3 memory allows capturing up to 8GB of traffic (from both ports) at full Wirespeed (10 Gbps/1 Gbps). The captured traffic can be transferred to the host PC for offline analysis. Capture formats supported are PCAP, NGPCAP (popular wireshark formats), DAT (GL proprietary Raw format), HDL (GL proprietary PacketScan™ format). Continuous capture can be achieved with "Wirespeed filters" to filter out traffic-of-interest, and continuously record to file on the hard disk. Up to 32 filters (16 per port) can be defined.
Wirespeed Playback allows playback of canned traffic files (in PCAP/NGPCAP/DAT/HDL formats) over one/both ports at full 10 Gbps rate, allowing real world conditions to be recreated in lab.
Record/Playback Testing
ExpertSAM™ (Y.1564 Testing)
PacketExpert™ - ExpertSAM™ module is a single test conducted to validate service-level agreements (SLAs) as per ITU-T Y.1564 standard. ExpertSAM™ is intended for multiservice testing to measure the maximum performance of the DUT or the Network under test. In particular, it is aimed at solving the limitations of RFC 2544 test. ExpertSAM™ defines a methodology to test Ethernet-based services to carry a variety of traffic.
The application is used to validate Ethernet Service Level Agreements (SLAs) as per ITU-T Y.1564 standard. It supports the two key Y.1564 subtests, the Service Configuration Test (SCT) and the Service Performance Test (SPT). SLA parameters measured include the Throughput, Frame Transfer Delay (FTD), Frame Delay Variations (FDV), and Frame Loss Ratio (FLR) service acceptance criteria to validate the network path under test. Up to 16 streams can be tested with full Wirespeed (10 Gbps/1 Gbps).
ExpertSAM Testing
PacketBroker™
PacketBroker is another optional application supported on GL’s PacketExpert™ 10G that allows the test tool to be used as a highly precise non-intrusive Wirespeed Ethernet Tap with all the necessary features such Pass through Tap, Hardware Filtering, Packet Modification and Output aggregation.
Up to 32 Wirespeed filters on each port (16 per port) allows to capture traffic of interest, modify the captured packet to insert useful information such as nanosecond precision timestamp, Port number etc., and forward the modified packets on the output port to be analyzed using packet analysis applications like GL’s PacketScan™.
PacketExpert™ 10G operation is bi-directional, which means that both transmission directions are simultaneously processed by the equipment.
PacketBroker Testing
Multi Stream UDP/TCP Traffic Generation and Analysis
Multi Stream UDP/TCP Traffic Generator and Analyzer (PXG108) is a hardware based Ethernet tester capable of generating multi-stream Ethernet traffic of varying packet length and also analyze the loopback traffic. This tool finds itself especially useful for end-to-end testing of 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps WAN (Wide Area Network) links. It is currently available on GL’s powerful test platform - PacketExpert™ 10G, that supports dual 10 Gbps Electrical/Optical and dual 1 Gbps Electrical/Optical ports.
As depicted in the network diagram above, the generated streams can be defined according to the intended application type such as Data - HTTP, FTP, ARP, ICMP and many more, VoIP - RTP streams (over UDP) carrying Voice codec payload like G711, G729, AMR etc., and Video - RTP streams (over UDP) with H264 codec.
The test results include Frame Loss, Frame Delay and Frame Delay Variation metrics for each stream. Easily monitor the bandwidth performance using live throughput consolidated graphical view for all the streams (16 streams over 1G/ 10G ports).
The Port#2 on PacketExpert™ 10G offers Smart Loopback functionality on both 10G/1G to loopback the incoming traffic back to the source in the network. Loopback option 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™ 10G can be put in constant Loopback at the remote end, and tests can be controlled at the local end.
Multi-Stream Traffic Generations & Analysis
ExpertTCP™
ExpertTCP™ is an optional application with GL's PacketExpert™ 10G, a dual port tester for 10 Gbps/1 Gbps Ethernet/IP Networks. It supports RFC 6349 based TCP Throughput test methodology.
GL's ExpertTCP™ performs bi-directional TCP throughput measurements in combination with another unit at the remote location (other end of the network), that acts as the TCP server. ExpertTCP™ supports both Upstream (Client → Server) and Downstream (Server → Client) direction testing.
ExpertTCP™ supports the TCP throughput testing as per RFC 6349 specification, conducted in 3 steps:
- Path MTU Discovery
- Determine Baseline RTT
- Conduct TCP Throughput test
Simultaneous bi-directional testing/unidirectional testing can be performed. Up to 8 TCP connections are supported on 1G platform, whereas up to 16 TCP connections are supported on 10G platform. Results are reported for both directions. The server at the remote location is completely controlled by the client side (located locally). User configures both client and server locally, and the results are displayed locally, avoiding the hassles of configuring the test at multiple locations.
ExpertTCP™ on 10G (up to 16 TCP Connections)
Port-wise Frame Statistics
Detailed statistics per port are provided. In addition to statistics like Frame Count, Frame Rate, Link Utilization (Layer 1 line rate in %), Data Rate (Layer 2 data rate in Mbps), 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. |
'All Ports' result screen for BERT displays consolidated Frame Statistics for Tx / Rx, Bert Status, and Bert Statistics results for all the 4 ports. |
Tx and Rx Frame Statistics |
All Port BERT Statistics |
Generate Report
PacketExpert™ 10G includes report generation option to generate consolidated reports in CSV and PDF file formats. The following sample CSV and PDF reports generated for ‘All Ports BERT' test includes Interface, BERT Statistics, Tx/Rx Statistics, Tx/Rx Configuration details for each of the 10G ports.
BERT Report Generated in PDF file formats |
BERT Report Generated in CSV file formats |
Resources
Please Note: The 'Pxx' in the Item No. refers to the hardware platform on which the software will be running. Therefore, 'Pxx' can either be PXE (1G) or PXG (10G) or PXN (10GX) depending upon the hardware.
| Item No. | Item Description |
| PXG100 | PacketExpert™ 10G/1G Accessories USB 3.0 cable (1) Power adapter 12 volts (1) Ethernet Cable (2) |
| CXG100 | CLI Server for PXG100 |
| PXG105 | PacketExpert™ Wirespeed Record / Playback for PXG100 |
| PXG106 | ExpertSAM™ - for PXG100 |
| PXG107 | PacketBroker™ - for PXG100 |
| PXG108 | Multi-Stream UDP/TCP Traffic Generator and Analyzer - 10G/1G (on PXG100) (up to 16 users) |
| IPN506 | IPNetSim™ Option for PXG100 (1G and 10G) |
Webinars
