Network Performance Testing

I’m in the process of setting up a new set of test equipment that includes a lot of different vendors, pieces and parts.  My goal is to have a completely automated harness that tests various aspects of performance and is able to reconfigure devices, harnesses, switches, and all other pieces from one simple central console.  I’m not writing any code, using any TCL or other languages – my goal is to use Test Conductor from IXIA to drive the majority of this, but interface with a bunch of other vendors equipment.  So far, here’s the list:

• IXIA Test Conductor – central orchestrator, test and regression management
• IXIA X16 chassis with 8 ALM cards – generates L4-L7 traffic using the IxLoad application
• IXIA 400T chassis with 1 TXS card – generates L2-L3 traffic using the IxAutomate application
• ANUE GEM Network Emulator – used to emulate WAN conditions
• APCON IntellaPatch L1 switch – for changing port configurations and connecting/disconnecting devices
• Dell PowerEdge 1950 server - running CentOS 5.3 with a special Chelsio CX4 10GB network card and tuned software – more on this later
• Dell PowerConnect 6248 stacked switches – three of these provide all of the switching I need
• F5 BIG-IP 3600s – the devices I’m testing

So far that’s my equipment list.  I have a few other items I will likely be adding as the days go on, and may be able to scrounge up some additional interesting scenarios.

I will be writing here about the progress I’ve made with each device and test scenario, and discussing a bit about each device and the things I’ve found to be interesting.  Off we go!

A huge list of vendors today announced a partnership to collaborate on an open, multi-vendor solution for test automation, called TesLA. It seems to be led by IXIA, but there are some other big names along with them:

• Apcon
• Codenomicon
• Fanfare
• IXIA
• MuDynamics
• QualiSystems
• Shunra

It sounds too good to be true – a single framework for managing all of these types of devices from all of these vendors. I hope others will join as well so that we’re not stuck with just one choice for some of these areas…

I think this is a great idea, and I look forward to seeing the results of this sort of collaboration – I’m actually quite surprised that some of these folks are working together, since they have competing (somewhat) products.

I am sure a solution like this won’t work for everyone, and I am hoping folks in the alliance will consider the highly customizable nature of this sort of testing, and make sure their solutions keep that aspect in mind – many of us have needs to use our own external <insert whatever it is here> and will need a lot of flexibility in customizing any centralized tool to manage things.

Full press release can be found here: Press Releases :: Ixia – Leader in IP Performance Testing