Spirent Journal of Core Routing and Tunneling PASS Test Methodologies
A core router forwards packets to computer hosts within a network, but not between networks). A core router is sometimes contrasted with an edge router, which routes packets between a self-contained network and other outside networks along a network backbone. In addition, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a Layer-2 data-carrying mechanism, operating at a layer below IP. It was designed to provide a unified data-carrying service for both circuit-based clients and packet-switching clients, which provide a datagram service model. It can be used to carry many different kinds of traffic, including voice telephone traffic and IP packets. These elements form a basis for the Next Generation Network (NGN). This journal presents a comprehensive set of test cases to measure PASS of the Device Under Test (DUT).
PASS
Spirent Journal of Core
Routing and Tunneling
PASS Test Methodologies
February 2011 Edition
Spirent Journal of Core Routing and Tunneling PASS Test Methodologies | © Spirent Communications 2011
1
Introduction
Today’s Devices Under Test (DUT) represent complex, multi-protocol network elements with an emphasis
on Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) that scale to terabits of bandwidth across the
switch fabric. The Spirent Catalogue of Test Methodologies represents an element of the Spirent test
ecosystem that helps answer the most critical Performance, Availability, Security and Scale Tests (PASS)
test cases. The Spirent Test ecosystem and Spirent Catalogue of Test Methodologies are intended to help
development engineers and product verification engineers to rapidly develop and test complex test
scenarios.
How to use this Journal
This provides test engineers with a battery of test cases for the Spirent Test Ecosystem. The journal is
divided into sections by technology. Each test case has a unique Test Case ID (Ex. TC_MBH_001) that is
universally unique across the ecosystem.
Tester Requirements
To determine the true capabilities and limitations of a DUT, the tests in this journal require a test tool that
can measure router performance under realistic Internet conditions. It must be able to simultaneously
generate wire-speed traffic, emulate the requisite protocols, and make real-time comparative
performance measurements. High port density for cost-effective performance and stress testing is
important to fully load switching fabrics and determine device and network scalability limits.
In addition to these features, some tests require more advanced capabilities, such as
Integrated traffic, routing, and MPLS protocols (e.g., BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, RSVP-TE, LDP/CR-LDP) to
advertise route topologies for large simulated networks with LSP tunnels while simultaneously
sending traffic over those tunnels. Further, the tester should emulate the interrelationships
between protocol s through a topology.
Emulation of service protocols (e.g., IGMPv3, PIM-SM, MP-iBGP) with diminution.
Correct single-pass testing with measurement of 41+ metrics per pass of a packet.
Tunneling protocol emulation (L2TP) and protocol stacking.
True stateful layer 2-7 traffic.
Ability to over-subscribe traffic dynamically and observe the effects.
Finally, the tester should provide conformance test suites for ensuring protocol conformance and
interoperability, and automated applications for rapidly executing the test cases in this journal.
Further Resources
Additional resources are available on our website at http://www.spirent.com
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Table of Contents
Testing Core Routing and Tunneling .......................................................................................3
ROUTE_001 MPLS-tunneled service traffic failover verification ............................................. 4
ROUTE_002 Verify that the DUT conforms to the RSVP-TE P2MP make-before-break
standard ............................................................................................................... 9
ROUTE_003 Verify that the DUT supports multi-topology IS-IS ............................................. 12
ROUTE_004 BGP peer, route, and AS capacity test .............................................................. 15
ROUTE_005 OSPF adjacency and route capacity test ........................................................... 19
ROUTE_006 mVPN test ......................................................................................................... 22
ROUTE_007 MPLS IP VPN test ............................................................................................... 26
ROUTE_008 Determine whether the DUT supports LSP Ping (MPLS OAM) ........................... 29
Appendix A – Telecommunications Definitions ..................................................................... 33
Appendix B – Layer 2 802.1q CoS .......................................................................................... 40
Appendix C – RFC 2474 Layer 3 QoS ...................................................................................... 41
Appendix D – RFC 2474 Layer 3 QoS Definitions .................................................................... 42
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Testing Core Routing and Tunneling
A core router forwards packets to computer hosts
within a network, but not between networks). A
core router is sometimes contrasted with an edge
router, which routes packets between a self-
contained network and other outside networks
along a network backbone. In addition,
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a Layer-2
data-carrying mechanism, operating at a layer below
IP. It was designed to provide a unified data-carrying
service for both circuit-based clients and packet-
switching clients, which provide a datagram service
model. It can be used to carry many different kinds
of traffic, including voice telephone traffic and IP
packets. These elements form a basis for the Next
Generation Network (NGN).
The NGN network is a mix of very high performance, QoS-enabled IPv4 and IPv6 routing IPv4 and IPv6.
Scale and performance is generationally denser than in previous routing paradigms. The NGN also mixes
in network intelligence and numerous access technologies, including wireless. The network is complex,
with protocols stacked and interlinked. This presents a testing challenge because older paradigms of
testing routing, such as treating each protocol as an independent stack, no long applies.
Testing core routing and tunneling for the next generation network evolves test and measurement
instrumentation to allow for real-world, object based modeling of network infrastructures. In addition,
the ability to simulate actions over time the converged core and tunneling has become a critical part of
testing.
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ROUTE_001 MPLS-tunneled service traffic failover verification
Abstract
In a service provider metro core, the flexibility provided the carrier to dynamically heal MPLS-
tunneled traffic in the event of a major core routing failure is a critical feature in the design,
deployment and offering provided to their customers. This test case simulates a catastrophic BGP
failure and measures the ability of the DUT to coordinate a response at the routing, tunneling
and SLA service levels for loaded traffic. Without verification, the user risks deploying a DUT
without understanding how the DUT will react in emergency scenarios.
Description
A Metro Ethernet is a communications network that covers a metropolitan area, based on the
Ethernet standard. It is commonly used as a metropolitan access network to connect subscribers
and businesses to a larger service network or the Internet. Businesses can also use Metro
Ethernet to connect branch offices to their Intranet.
Ethernet has been a well-known technology for decades. An Ethernet interface is much less
expensive than a SONET/SDH or PDH interface of the same bandwidth. Ethernet also supports
high bandwidths with fine granularity, which is not available with traditional SDH connections.
Another distinct advantage of an Ethernet-based access network is that it can be easily
connected to the customer network, due to the prevalent use of Ethernet in corporate and, more
recently, residential networks. Therefore, bringing Ethernet in to the Metropolitan Area Network
(MAN) introduces a lot of advantages to both the service provider and the customer.
With typical service provider Metro Ethernet network is a collection of Layer 2 or/and Layer 3
switches or/and routers connected through optical fiber. The topology could be a ring, hub-and-
spoke (star), or full or partial mesh. The network will also have a hierarchy: core, distribution
(aggregation) and access. The core in most cases is an existing IP/MPLS backbone, but may
migrate to newer forms of Ethernet Transport in the form of 10G or 100G speeds.
Ethernet on the MAN can be used as pure Ethernet, Ethernet over SDH, Ethernet over MPLS or
Ethernet over DWDM. Pure Ethernet-based deployments are cheap but less reliable and scalable,
and thus are usually limited to small scale or experimental deployments. SDH-based deployments
are useful when there is an existing SDH infrastructure already in place, its main shortcoming
being the loss of flexibility in bandwidth management due to the rigid hierarchy imposed by the
SDH network. MPLS based deployments are costly but highly reliable and scalable, and are
typically used by large service providers.
In this test, a Service Provider network will be created based on Layer 3 routed BGP, with LDP
MPLS transporting stateful customer traffic. Primary BGP AS path and Secondary AS Paths will be
created in the network and all control and data plane traffic will be converged. Then,
catastrophic primary AS path events will cause the Device Under Test (DUT) to failover traffic to
secondary Routes, cause MPLS to repath, and cause potential disruptions in customer traffic. This
test will measure if repathing occurs correctly and that QoS and QoE is maintained across the
backup MPLS paths.
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The test case will use the following QoS ACL schedule:
Target Users
Functionally, Scale and Performance Engineers
Target Device Under Test (DUT)
The DUT is a Metro Ethernet core router switch capable of high-scale BGP, MPLS LDP, and QoS.
Reference
RFC 4271, RFC 5036. RFC 793
Relevance
Once of the core functions of a Metro Ethernet core border router is to protect the integrity of
the network. This tests, under high load, the ability of BGP/MPLS router to ensure service under
extreme failure conditions.
Version
1.0
Test Category
Testing Core Routing and Tunneling
PASS
[x] Performance [x] Availability [ ] Security [ ] Scale
Required Tester Capabilities
The tester must have the ability to emulate a topology by placing emulated devices behind
devices. This must be done in a stateful manner such that when one event happens at the object
nearest to the DUT, the effects are cascaded through the device statefully and in real time. The
tester must have the ability to add and remove object content in real-time, not just frame size
and load. The tester must have the ability to custom configure layer 4-7 services alongside Layer
2-3 traffic. On the analysis side, the user must be able to detect QoS violations and QoE loss of
quality in real time, coordinated with change events
Codepoint Max
Jitter
(uSec)
Max
Latency
(uSec)
Max Loss
(Frames)
Max
Duplicate
(Frames)
Max
Reordered
(Frames)
Max Late
(Frames)
EF 0 >=1 0 0 0 0
AF31 0 2 0 0 0 0
AF21 2 5 0 1 1 1
AF11 3 5 1 1 1 1
BE ANY ANY ANY ANY ANY ANY
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Topology Diagram
Test Procedure
1. Reserve 4 test interfaces, named NA1, SA1, E1, A1. Connect interfaces to the DUT and bring
up the link.
2. On the DUT, setup 7K BGP peers and establish BGP:
a. NA1, Emulated AS 00010-7000.
b. SA, Emulated AS 10001-17000.
c. E1, Emulated AS 20001-27000.
d. A1, Emulated AS 30001-37000.
3. On the DUT, establish QoS according to Table 1. Setup all physical ports to participate in LDP,
with NA1 and E1 being primary paths and A1 and SA1 being failover paths.
4. On the emulated routers, advertise the following primary networks:
a. On port NA1, advertise networks x.y.0.0/24, where x represents the first two digits of
the AS, and y represents the two last digits of the peer AS.
b. On Port E1, advertise networks x.y.0.0/28, where x represents the first two digits of the
AS, and y represents the two last digits of the peer AS.
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c. On Port SA1, advertise networks x.y.0.0/28, where x represents the first two digits of
the AS, and y represents the two last digits of the peer AS.
d. On Port A1, advertise networks x.y.0.0/28, where x represents the first two digits of the
AS, and y represents the two last digits of the peer AS.
5. On port A1, advertise the network on port E1 with a secondary AS path of AS=(A1 Path,E1
Path).
6. On port AA1, advertise the network on port E1 with a secondary AS path of AS=(A1
Path,1000,E1 Path).
7. On each AS, setup 254 hosts per AS.
8. Establish an LDP tunnel from each host on each AS from port NA1 to each host on each AS
on Port A1.
9. Bring up LDP.
10. On each host, setup pair traffic to the far end LDP host with respective addressing. Generate
all of the DiffServ codepoints in Table 1. Set traffic to bi-directional with standard iMIX
pattern frame size. Set the port rate to 90% of load on each port.
11. On each port, setup a dynamic view according to Table 1. Only show flows that do not meet
the criteria in table 1.
12. Start traffic.
13. On the same hosts per LDP tunnel, create HTTP servers with a 64-byte return object size.
Setup HTTP clients on both sides of each LDP tunnel (HTTP tunneled through topology
emulation through LDP).
14. On both hosts per LDP tunnel, create video and voice endpoints. Configure video as a looped
MPEG2-TS clip. Configure voice as SIP with signaling and a WAV file as RTP content, looped.
15. For HTTP, video, and voice, set the specification to bandwidth, ramp up in the first 30
seconds and sustain for a long duration of time.
16. Chart HTTP minimum Goodput, video minimum MOS-AV, and voice minimum MOS-LQ
scores alongside active BGP routes and active LDP sessions.
17. Start stateful traffic.
18. Measure the traffic quality score as a baseline.
19. On the E1 interface, stop BGP on all odd-numbered AS peers.
20. Watch as LDP repaths to secondary interfaces.
21. Note whether all LDP tunnels come up on the new interfaces.
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22. Note whether the DUT forwards traffic to the old interfaces.
23. Measure the QoE and QoS scores during the transition.
24. Reverse the process, measure BGP, LDP and QoE and QoS Metrics.
25. Repeat Steps 19-24 ten times. Record the results.
26. End.
Control Variables & Relevance
Variable Relevance Default Value
BGP AS Paths Advertise unique Peers per port to stress the DUT. See Test Plan
QoS Traffic Add differentiated traffic. See Table 1
QoE Traffic Add multiplay across LDP over BGP. See Test Plan
Key Measured Metrics
Metric Relevance Metric Unit
BGP Peers Base routing element Count per port
LDP Primary and
Secondary Path
Customer tunneled traffic Count and state per port
QoS Traffic Differentiated traffic to load the
DUT queues
Compliant to Table 1
QoS Goodput, video and voice quality-
of-experience metrics
Score, MOS score
Desired Result
When BGP primary paths fail, traffic should fail over to backup LDP paths and be rerouted in 100
ms or less to avoid TCP timeout and windowing issues on customer traffic. Non-failed traffic
should continue to forward with no loss in quality or count.
Analysis
For each test and reversal of test, plot the QoS and QoE metrics as a function of LDP tunnel
count. Measure and report how long it takes for HTTP goodput, minimum MOS-AV and MOS-LQ
and Table 1 QoS compliance to occur. This time should be 100 ms or less to avoid TCP timeout
and windowing issues. Also report non-failover traffic performance as fail over occurs. Is there an
effect on QoS/QoS when the DUT fails over traffic?
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ROUTE_002 Verify that the DUT conforms to the RSVP-TE P2MP
make-before-break standard
Abstract
This test determines whether the DUT obeys the P2MP RSVP-TE make-before-break command
and builds a new tunnel with an optimized LSP and then tears down the old path. In this test
case, test ports establish P2MP RSVP-TE tunnels to multiple destinations through the DUT, create
an optimized path and issue the make-before-break command at the tunnel level. A new tunnel
LSP should be built, LSP ID should be incremented by one and then the existing tunnel path
should be removed. This whole process shouldn’t interrupt traffic flow.
Description
Some major service providers across the world have adopted the RSVP-TE P2MP technology for
reliable multicast delivery and achieve a high level of QoE. The make-before-break feature
ensures that backup resources are always allocated in case some of the delivery paths become
sub-optimized or cut-off, due to various reasons like topology changes, hardware issues etc.,
assuring that there is no service disruption for the end user.
Target Users
Anyone running RSVP-TE P2MP Tunneling tests.
Target Device Under Test (DUT)
Core Routers with RSVP-TE P2MP support
Reference
RFC 4875
Relevance
This test case shows that the DUT conforms to the P2MP RSVP-TE make-before-break feature as
described in RFC 4875.
Version
1.0
Test Category
Testing core routing and tunneling
PASS
[x] Performance [ ] Availability [ ] Security [ ] Scale
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Required Tester Capabilities
The tester needs to support:
RSVP-TE P2MP emulation
Make-before-break feature
Real-time LSP results display showing the change in the tunnel state and LSP ID
A sequencer within the GUI which can be configured to build and loop the desired test
Ability to change the parameters on the fly without interrupting the test
Dynamic label binding capability
Sequencing counters to verify no traffic is dropped
Ability to emulate a real network
Topology Diagram
Test Procedure
1. Create a RSVP-TE P2MP configuration using a wizard (if available) or manually.
a. Configure more than one LSPs per tunnel. The number of EROs at the sub-LSP
level should match the number of LSPs/tunnel count.
2. Enable make-before-break.
3. Bring up RSVP-TE and the IGP.
4. See the LSP real-time results for the tunnel state machine and other info (i.e. LSP ID).
5. Start traffic.
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6. Initiate the make-before-break command.
7. Verify that the paths come up and bind normally.
8. The LSP ID of the Ingress/Egress tunnels should increment by 1.
9. The labels should increment by .1
10. Traffic shouldn’t be interrupted and there should be no dropped frames.
11. Optionally, increase the number of tunnels and EROs to scale up the configuration and
perform Step 2 thru 9.
12. Optionally repeat the make-before-break command and observe the effect. The LSP ID
should increment by 1 each time.
13. End test.
Control Variables & Relevance
Variable Relevance Default Value
Number of LSPs
per Tunnel
Must be more than one for the make-before-break feature
to work. Increase the number of LSPs/Tunnel for scaled
testing.
2
Number of EROs Number of EROs at the sub-LSP should match the number of
LSPs/tunnel count.
2
Key Measured Metrics
Matric Relevance Metric Unit
LSP ID LSP ID should increment by one every time
the make-before-break command is initiated.
LSP ID number per tunnel
Tunnel State Shouldn’t be affected by initiating the make-
before-break command.
Up/Down
Desired Result
Initiating the make-before-break command should build a new LSP path to the destination and
the LSP ID should be incremented by one. This process should be seamless and there should be
no traffic loss.
Analysis
Initiating the make-before-break command should build a new LSP path to the destination and
then tear down the original path. The LSP ID should be incremented by one. This process should
be seamless and there should be no traffic loss.
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ROUTE_003 Verify that the DUT supports multi-topology IS-IS
Abstract
This test case determines whether the DUT can support multi-topology IS-IS. In this test case, we
build an IS-IS topology with both IPv4 and IPv6 routers in the same area and bring up the
adjacencies.
Description
There are a number of emerging, competing technology/proposals to interconnect the islands of
LAN (LAN interconnects) in the data center and service provider segments by leading NEMS.
Most of the proposals involve using IS-IS as the control protocol. These emerging technologies
are alternatives to L2VPN and MPLS/VPLS. The one proposed by Cisco is called OTV (Overlay
Transport Virtualization) and Nortel/Avaya has proposed PBB/PBT/PLSB (Provider Link State
Bridging).
Both the technologies make use of MT-IS-IS as a foundation for distributing the LAN topology
between different LAN domains. Hence, it becomes increasingly important to support and test
this feature on the DUT.
In this test case, test ports emulate IS-IS v4 and v6 routers within the same domain and establish
adjacencies with the DUT. The DUT should be able to successfully establish these adjacencies and
maintain them for an extended period of time.
Target Users
Engineering, Product Verification, Integration Testers
Target Device Under Test (DUT)
Any ISIS supported deployment where both IPv4 and IPv6 are configured together.
Reference
RFC 5120
Relevance
This test case shows that the DUT conforms to the multi-topology IS-IS standards.
Version
1.0
Test Category
Testing Core Routing and Tunneling
PASS
[x] Performance [ ] Availability [ ] Security [ ] Scale
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Required Tester Capabilities
The tester needs to support:
Multi-topology IS-IS emulation
Real-time counters showing the IS-IS control plane state diagram
Topology Diagram
Test Procedure
1. Create an emulated IS-ISv4 and IS-ISv6 device in the same level/domain.
2. Bring up the adjacencies.
3. Using the real-time counters, verify that the adjacencies come up.
4. Scale the number of v4 and v6 IS-IS routers up to the DUT limit and verify that it can stay
up.
5. End test.
Control Variables & Relevance
Variable Relevance Default Value
Number of IS-IS
v4/v6 routers
Number of IS-IS v4 and v6 routers configured per device 1
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Key Measured Metrics
Metric Relevance Metric Unit
Router State Should go from down to full when the adjacency is
established.
Down/Full
Desired Result
The DUT should be able to establish and maintain IS-IS v4/v6 adjacencies.
Analysis
The DUT should be able to establish and maintain IS- IS v4/v6 adjacencies.
If it does not, troubleshoot the issue using the real-time control plane counters to isolate the
problem. Also use control plane captures to determine whether the protocol exchange messages
comply with RFC 5120.
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ROUTE_004 BGP peer, route, and AS capacity test
Abstract
BGP peer performance is a critical attribute of a service routers performance. In this test, the
number of peers, routes, and autonomous systems scale until failure. Finding the upper limits is a
critical requirement for router planning and deployment.
Description
BGP routing performance is based on many factors including route scale, peer scale, and AS
scale. The device under test must have the ability to scale to a high number of BGP peers without
loss of performance on the control plane and the data plane. This test enables the user to
determine the upper boundaries of BGP performance on the device under test across multiple
vectors, including peer, route, and AS. Configure routing on the DUT to the upper limits of the
DUT. The test scales the number of BGP peers, routes and emulated AS connected to the DUT.
This test case also sets up data plane traffic over routing. The data plane is inspected for a peak
of 20 uSec latency. The test results include the peak number of routes, peers, and AS of the DUT.
Target Users
Performance test, scale test, and engineering.
Target Device Under Test (DUT)
The intended device under test for this test case includes core BGP router, distribution routers,
virtualized routers, and edge PE routers.
Reference
RFC 1771, RFC 4271, RFC 4193
Relevance
This test case determines not only the upper low performance limits of the DUT, but also the true
real-world routing performance with traffic. This demonstrates that the DUT has the ability to
establish a high rate of peers, AS, and routes and to actively use those networking structures
while maintaining service quality levels in a real-world production network.
Version
1.0
Test Category
Core routing and tunneling
PASS
[ ] Performance [ ] Availability [ ] Security [x] Scale
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Required Tester Capabilities
The tester must have the ability to emulate BGP routing protocols that scale to high-performance
across multiple vectors including BGP peers, routes, and AS. The tester must have the ability to
add control plane traffic while the existing control plane is up. This is critical because the user
needs the ability to test new control plane relationships while existing BGP peers are up and
providing stress against the DUT control fabric. The tester must have the ability to emulate
advanced BGP route attributes that change from peer-to-peer as in a production network. This is
important because the majority of the control plane processing by the DUT is for BGP route
attributes. On the traffic side, the tester must have the ability to align traffic to routes, create
true QoS, and analyze QOS without tearing down traffic. This is important because high rate
traffic can provide high degrees of instantaneous QoS stress on the DUT switch fabric.
Topology Diagram
Test Procedure
1. Reserve two test interfaces. Connect them to the DUT and name them East and West.
2. Configure the DUT for IP Routing for BGP.
3. Select IBGP or EBGP, the percentage of IPv4 routes advertised and the percentage of IPv6
routes advertised. Configure the DUT AS number and type (2-bytes or 4-byte) and the
beginning emulated AS numbers for each test interface.
4. Configure the initial number if BGP peers, evenly divided between the East and West test
interfaces.
5. Use binary search to scale up the number for BGP peers from the starting BGP peer count
until failure is detected. If EBGP was selected, then set the DUT AS and an incrementing AS
on both East and West test interfaces, otherwise set the emulated BGP peers to the DUT AS.
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6. Report the peak number of BGP peers achieved by the DUT. If EBGP was selected, report the
range of successful AS emulated.
7. With the peak number of BGP peers emulated and running, add route blocks. Set the AS
Path to <DUT AS>,<Emulated Peer AS>. Create one route block for IPv4 routes and, if IPv6
routes are desired, add a second block for IPv6 Routes.
8. Select binary search to determine the peak number of routes using the following procedure:
a. Choose total routes.
b. Divide the total number of routes across each emulated BGP peer on both interfaces.
c. Sub-divide each allocated number of routes as a percentage of IPv4 and IPv6 routes.
d. Generate pair-based traffic between IPv4 routes and IPv6 routes respectively.
e. To pass, the DUT must pass traffic across any traffic pair within 20 usec or less of
maximum latency.
9. Report the peak number of routes achieved by the DUT.
10. End.
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Control Variables & Relevance
Variable Relevance Default Value
EBGP or IBGP Test interior or exterior BGP session EBGP
% of IPv4 Routes Percentage of IPv4 routes to emulate 100%
% of IPv6 Routes Percentage of IPv6 routes to emulate 0%
2-Byte or 4-Byte AS BGP AS class 2-bytes starting at AS2
East Interface Starting
IPv4 Route
Beginning IPv4 route for BGP on the East
interface
1.0.1.0 /24
West Interface
Starting IPv4 Route
Beginning IPv4 route for BGP on the West
Interface
100.0.1.0/24
East Interface Starting
IPv6 Route
Beginning IPv6 route for BGP on the East
interface
2001::0 /64
West Interface
Starting IPv6 Route
Beginning IPv6 route for BGP on the West
Interface
2400::0/64
Key Measured Metrics
Metric Relevance Metric Unit
Peak BGP Peers Maximum number of BGP peers achievable
in the DUT RIB (Routing Information Base)
Count
Peak EBGP AS Total number of external BGP peers
achievable by the DUT
Count
Peak IPv4 verified
Routes
Number of IPv4 Routes achievable Count
Peak Verified IPv6
Routes
Number of IPv6 Routes achievable Count
Desired Result
A modern BGP router should cache approximately 4000-5000 EBGP peers and over 2 million
routes.
Analysis
Examine the number of BGP peers that are routable in the RIB and the time it takes per peer to
setup the RIB database entry. Look at the number of advertised routes and the peak latency
across routes while new peers are added. Pay special attention to loss of forwarding or routing
performance as peers are added.
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ROUTE_005 OSPF adjacency and route capacity test
Abstract
The OSPF network capacity test is a critical measure of a service router’s ability to perform key
network interchanges. This test scales the number of OSPF adjacencies and attached network
routers while actively transmitting traffic. Finding real-world performance is a critical
requirement for OSPF topology network planning.
Description
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a resource intensive interior gateway protocol that can be a
bottleneck to the DUT. The management of OSPF adjacencies in the OSPF RIB can take
substantial switch fabric resources and tax the memory and queuing to abilities of the DUT. This
test case determines the peak OSPF adjacency capacity of the DUT. Beginning with the desired
number of emulated test interfaces and the initial starting point for a number of OSPF
adjacencies, the test scales the number of adjacencies until OSPF can no longer be established.
Once the peak number of OSPF adjacencies is determined, the system scales the number of
attached networks advertised through those adjacencies as routes. After a route is advertised
into the network, the system places traffic the connection, stimulating the OSPF RIB database.
Target Users
Functional test, system test, engineering, and marketing.
Target Device Under Test (DUT)
A high performance IGP enabled router with OSPF support.
Reference
RFC 2338
Relevance
The scalability performance of both adjacencies and emulated routes is an important attribute
of OSPF enabled routers. The number of emulated OSPF adjacencies determines how many
physical routers must be deployed in the core of the network to maintain a minimum degree of
QoS and QoE within the network. The scalability performance of routes reveals how scalable the
DUT truly is for future deployment.
Version
1.0
Test Category
Core routing and tunneling
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PASS
[ ] Performance [ ] Availability [ ] Security [x] Scale
Required Tester Capabilities
The tester must be able to emulate OSPF on every port even in large port densities. The
emulated protocol has the ability to bring up adjacencies while other adjacencies are in play, in
addition to advertising changing route blocks. The tester must be able to generate traffic from
OSPF routes live while other traffic is in place.
Topology Diagram
Test Procedure
1. Reserve the desired number of test interfaces, connect them to their respective device
under test ports, and bring up the link.
2. Configure the starting point for the number of adjacencies to be emulated to the DUT.
Evenly divide the number of provided adjacencies across the selected test interfaces. This is
the number of beginning OSPF adjacencies to emulate per port.
3. Begin a linear search starting at the recommended beginning number of OSPF adjacencies
per port.
a. Add an adjacency per port and increment the host device source IP.
b. Determine whether the OSPF adjacency came up.
c. If the adjacency was established, loop back to number one within the section.
d. If the adjacency was not established, the peak number of OSPF adjacencies per port has
been reached. Total the number of estimated OSPF adjacencies across all emulated test
interfaces to determine the peak number of OSPF adjacencies that may be established
against the DUT.
4. Once the peak OSPF adjacency capacity has been determined, the peak advertised route
capacity is determined. A successfully processed route within the OSPF RIB in the DUT means
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that not only can the DUT accept the emulated route but can also pass bidirectional traffic
from that route to a foreign route learned from another adjacency within the OSPF RIB.
5. Configure the starting point number of OSPF routes to be advertised globally.
6. Begin a linear search for the total OSPF route capacity:
a. Advertise the selected number of OSPF routes. The first route on the first port on the
first adjacency should be 1.0.0.0.
b. Create a full mesh of traffic from all routes to all routes across the DUT switch fabric.
c. Burst exactly one packet across each route.
d. If no packet loss occurs, add one route per adjacency and loop to step one.
e. If packet loss occurs then the peak capacity of advertised routes across the OSPF RIB has
been reached.
7. End of test.
Control Variables & Relevance
Variable Relevance Default Value
Beginning Number of OSPF Adjacencies Capacity metric of DUT 100 per port
Beginning Number of Routes w/ traffic Capacity metric of DUT 5,000 router LSAs
Key Measured Metrics
Metric Relevance Metric Unit
Measured number of OSPF Adjacencies Capacity metric of the DUT Count of adjacencies
Measured Peak Routes w/ Traffic Capacity metric of the DUT Number of router LSAs
Desired Result
The DUT should be able to maintain at least 150 adjacencies, double if in a virtual network
environment, and at least 20,000 network LSAs.
Analysis
Examine the number of adjacencies and routes advertised and stored within the DUT. If a route
experiences sequencing errors such as packet loss, reorder, or duplication, or latency in excess of
10 uSec across the DUT, then the traffic path fails. Report the number of adjacencies and routes
learnable by the DUT.
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ROUTE_006 mVPN test
Abstract
This test determines whether the DUT has the ability to support multicast VPN and pass labeled
multicast traffic. In this test case, the tester emulates CE, P and PE devices and customer and
provider side VPNs along with the required protocols. It also creates multicast traffic to run
between VPNs. The VPN tunnels should be successfully established and labeled multicast traffic
should be able to successfully pass through the DUT.
Description
MPLS IP VPN (unicast) became a popular method of connecting different LANs/networks and
providing VPN support for service providers due to the simplicity and the ease of deployment.
However, multicast was not supported on these traditional IP VPN (RFC2547-based) networks.
Recently multicast became the preferred method of delivering content for audio/video
streaming, software downloads and critical financial applications. A new draft was written to
support multicast traffic over these VPNs. It borrows heavily from the RFC2547 implementation,
but additionally uses protocols like GRE and PIM on both the customer and the provider side.
GRE is used to encapsulate multicast traffic for transport across the IP network and a point-to-
multipoint GRE tunnel is built from the multicast source to the receivers. This formation is also
called MDT or multicast distribution tree. PIM is used on both the customer side (to attach
multicast sources and receivers) and the provider side (to signal MDT).
In this test, test ports emulate the customer side (CE, VPN sites) connected to the DUT (usually
PE) which in turn are connected to other test ports emulating the provider side (P,PE, CE and VPN
sites). The IGP, MPLS and PIM protocols should come up successfully and labels should be
appropriately bound. The GRE tunnels should successfully come up and we should be able to
successfully pass multicast data through the DUT.
Target Users
NEMs and service providers testing mVPN
Target Device Under Test (DUT)
Core routers with multicast VPN support
Reference
Draft-rosen-vpn-mcast-08.txt, RFC 2547, RFC 4364
Relevance
This test case determines whether the DUT is able to successfully bring up the GRE/VPN tunnels
between the customer and provider and pass multicast traffic through it.
Version
1.0
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Test Category
Core routing and tunneling
PASS
[x] Performance [ ] Availability [ ] Security [x] Scale
Required Tester Capabilities
Ability to emulate a real network topology
Multicast VPN emulation support
Real-time counters showing the corresponding control and data plane stats
Ability to change configuration on the fly
GRE tunneling
Dynamic label assignment capability
Separately control unicast and multicast traffic
Switchover capability between the default and data MDT
Topology Diagram
M P L S N e t w o r k
S i t e A
S i t e B
C E R o u t e r
P R o u t e r
C E R o u t e r
C E R o u t e r
S i t e C
S i t e D
P E R o u t e r
P E R o u t e r
P E R o u t e r
I P T r a f f i c M P L S L a b e l e d I P T r a f f i c I P T r a f f i c
I G P / P I M / R S V P - T EI G P / P I M I G P / P I M
U n i c a s t V P N / V R F
P 2 M P G R E T u n n e l V R F
M u l t i c a s t
S e n d e r
M u l t i c a s t
R e c e i v e r s
M u l t i c a s t
R e c e i v e r s
Test Procedure
1. Use the Multicast VPN Wizard.
a. Select the provider side ports.
i. Configure the IGP (OSPF, ISIS, RIP etc.) and the MPLS (RSVP-TE or LDP) protocols.
ii. Configure the emulated P and PE routers with appropriate IP addressing and scale.
1. Optionally, for BGP, enable Route Reflectors and/or BFD.
b. Select the customer-side ports.
c. Configure the VRFs.
i. Configure the number of VPNs and how they are assigned (Round
Robin/Sequential) – if more than 1 CE.
DU
T
Test Port 2 Test Port 1
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ii. Select the CE protocol (BGP, OSPF, RIP, ISIS or Mixed).
iii. Select the RD assignment (Router Target or Manual).
1. If RT, configure the appropriate values.
2. If Manual, configure appropriate values.
iv. Configure the VRFs per PE.
d. Configure the PIM type and parameters for both the customer and provider sides.
e. Configure the Default MDT and Group addresses.
f. Optionally configure the Data MDT and PIM Type.
g. Configure the VRF Route Ranges and the Starting Label number.
h. Configure the VRF Traffic – select end points as well as customer and provider Load %
and the Frame Size.
i. Optionally, configure Unicast Traffic.
i. Finish the Wizard.
2. Start the protocol emulation and verify that they come up. Verify that the GRE tunnel comes
up, that unicast traffic is established, and that the MPLS labels bind.
3. Start multicast traffic and verify that the receive test port receives the multicast and unicast
traffic (if configured) appropriately
4. Verify that no traffic loss occurs.
5. Optionally configure MDT Switchover.
6. Scale the number of P, PE, CE and/or VRF routes until frames are dropped.
7. End of test.
Control Variables & Relevance
Variable Relevance Default Value
Number of P Routers
on the provider side
Emulated routers connected directly to the DUT. The
more P routers, the more taxing for the DUT.
1
Number of PE routers
per P router
Emulated PE routers which will have the VRF
configurations.
2
Number of VPNs/CE VPN sites per CE/sub-interface on the customer side. 1
Number of VRFs/PE VRFs per PE on the provider side. Equal to the number
of VPNs/CE on the customer side.
1
Provider and customer
PIM Protocol Type
PIM-SM or PIM-SSM PIM-SM
Data MDT Allows testing the switchover scenario from the
default MDT
Not enabled
Key Measured Metrics
Metric Relevance Metric Unit
IGP Protocols
State Machine
All IGP protocols should come up successfully and
tunnels should be established properly for traffic flow.
Up, Down,
Established, Full
Multicast
Protocols State
Machine
Both the customer and provider PIM are vital to build
the MDT and associate the source and receivers for
the traffic to flow successfully.
Neighbor/Down
Number of
Tunnels
All configured tunnels should be UP for traffic to flow
successfully.
Up/Down
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Metric Relevance Metric Unit
Latency per
stream
Should be within the expected range of the DUT. Microseconds
Packet loss,
Sequencing
issues
Any packet loss or sequencing issues, such as
duplicate, re-ordered, or late packets, indicate an
issue with the DUT’s traffic forwarding capability.
Whole number
Desired Result
The configured GRE/VPN tunnels should come up successfully and the multicast/unicast traffic
should successfully pass through the DUT.
Analysis
The configured IGP Protocols (BGP, OSPF, RIP or ISIS), GRE/VPN tunnels, PIM, MPLS protocols
(RSVP-TE or LDP) should come up successfully and the multicast/unicast traffic should flow
successfully.
Check the state machine of any protocol that doesn’t come up and verify that the tester
configuration matches the DUT.
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ROUTE_007 MPLS IP VPN test
Abstract
This test determines whether the DUT has the ability to support IP VPN and pass labeled
multicast traffic. In this test case, test ports emulate CE, P and PE devices and customer and
provider side VPNs using the required protocol. The VPN tunnels should be successfully
established and labeled traffic should be able to successfully pass through the DUT.
Description
MPLS IP VPN (unicast) has become a popular method of connecting different LANs/networks and
providing VPN support for the service providers due to the simplicity and the ease of
deployment.
In this test, test ports emulate the customer side of the configuration (CE, VPN sites) connected
to the DUT (usually PE) which in turn is connected to other test ports emulating the provider side
of the configuration (P,PE, CE and VPN sites). The IGP and the MPLS protocols should come up
successfully and labels should be appropriately bound. The VPN tunnels should come up and the
DUT should be able pass traffic.
Target Users
NEMs and service providers testing MPLS and labeled traffic forwarding
Target Device Under Test (DUT)
Core routers
Reference
RFC 2547, RFC 4364 (Obsolete RFC 2547)
Relevance
This test case determines whether the DUT can bring up the VPN tunnels between the customer
and provider and pass labeled traffic.
Version
1.0
Test Category
Core routing and tunneling
PASS
[x] Performance [ ] Availability [ ] Security [x] Scale
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Required Tester Capabilities
Ability to emulate a real network topology
RFC 2547 emulation
Real-time counters showing the corresponding control and data plane stats
Ability to change configuration on the fly
Dynamic label assignment capability
Separate control of unicast and multicast traffic
Topology Diagram
S i t e
C
S i t e
D
S i t e A
S i t e
B
C E R o u t e r
C E R o u t e r
C E R o u t e r
P E R o u t e r
P E R o u t e r
P E R o u t e r
P R o u t e r
D U T
S p i r e n t T e s t C e n t e r P o r t 2
S p i r e n t T e s t C e n t e r P o r t 1
Test Procedure
1. Use the RFC 2547 (MPLS IP VPN) Wizard.
a. Select the provider-side ports.
i. Configure the IGP (OSPF, ISIS, RIP etc.) and MPLS (RSVP-TE or LDP) protocols.
ii. Configure the emulated P and PE routers with appropriate IP addressing and scale.
1. Optionally, for BGP, enable Route Reflectors and/or BFD.
b. Select the customer-side ports.
c. Configure the VRFs.
i. Configure the number of VPNs and how they are assigned (Round
Robin/Sequential) – if more than 1 CE.
ii. Select the CE protocol (BGP, OSPF, RIP, ISIS or Mixed).
iii. Select the RD assignment (Router Target or Manual),
1. If RT, configure the appropriate values.
2. If Manual, configure appropriate values.
iv. Configure the VRFs per PE.
d. Configure the VRF Route Ranges and the Starting Label number.
e. Configure the VRF Traffic. Select end points and customer and provider Load % and the
Frame Size.
f. Finish the Wizard.
2. Start protocol emulation and verify that they come up. Verify that the VPN tunnels come up,
the MPLS labels bind, and that traffic passes successfully.
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3. Scale the number of P, PE, CE and/or VRF routes until frames are dropped.
4. End of test.
Control Variables & Relevance
Variable Relevance Default
Value
Number of P Routers
on the provider side
Emulated routers directly connected to the DUT. The more
P routers, the more taxing for the DUT.
1
Number of PE routers
per P router
Emulated PE routers with VRF configurations. 2
Number of VPNs/CE VPN sites per CE/sub-interface on the customer side. 1
Number of VRFs/PE VRFs per PE on the provider side. Equal to the number of
VPNs/CE on the customer side.
1
Key Measured Metrics
Metric Relevance Metric Unit
IGP Protocols State
Machine
All IGP protocols should come up successfully and
tunnels should be established properly for traffic flow.
Up, Down,
Established, Full
Number of Tunnels All configured tunnels should be UP for traffic to flow
successfully.
Up/Down
Latency per stream Should be within the expected range of the DUT. Microseconds
Packet loss,
Sequencing issues
Packet loss or sequencing issues, such as duplicate, re-
ordered, or late packets, indicate an issue with the
DUT’s traffic forwarding capability.
Whole number
Desired Result
The configured VPN tunnels should come up successfully and multicast/unicast traffic should
successfully pass through the DUT.
Analysis
The configured IGP Protocols (BGP, OSPF, RIP or ISIS), GRE/VPN tunnels, MPLS Protocols (RSVP-
TE or LDP) should come up successfully and the VPN traffic should flow successfully.
Check the state machine of any protocol that doesn’t come up and verify that the tester
configuration matches the DUT.
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ROUTE_008 Determine whether the DUT supports LSP Ping (MPLS
OAM)
Abstract
This test determines whether the DUT supports LDP LSP Ping messages (part of MPLS OAM) and
sends correct return codes.
Description
MPLS IP VPN has become a popular method of connecting different LANs/networks and
providing VPN support for service providers due to the simplicity and the ease of deployment.
Traditional MPLS networks have no inherent OAM mechanism. New standards are being
developed to address that requirement. LSP Ping is part of that effort. It supports fault
determination within the various nodes of the network and troubleshooting in case of an issue.
In this test, test ports emulate the customer side of the configuration (CE, VPN sites) connected
to the DUT (usually PE) which in turn are connected to other test ports emulating the provider
side of the configuration (P,PE, CE and VPN sites). The LSP Ping feature is enabled on the P and PE
routers on the provider side of the network. The IGP and the MPLS protocols should come up
successfully and labels should be appropriately bound. The VPN tunnels should successfully come
up and should be able to pass traffic. The DUT should respond with the correct codes for all the
LSP Ping packets that are sent.
Target Users
NEMs and service providers
Target Device Under Test (DUT)
Core routers
Reference
RFC 4369
Relevance
This test case determines the DUT is able to respond to LSP Ping messages and reply with the
correct codes.
Version
1.0
Test Category
Core routing and tunneling
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PASS
[x] Performance [x] Availability [ ] Security [ ] Scale
Required Tester Capabilities
Ability to emulate a real network topology
MPLS IP VPN emulation
LSP Ping feature support
Real-time counters showing the corresponding control and data plane stats
Ability to change configuration on the fly without affecting the control or the data plane
Dynamic label assignment capability
Topology Diagram
S i t e
C
S i t e
D
S i t e A
S i t e
B
C E R o u t e r
C E R o u t e r
C E R o u t e r
P E R o u t e r
P E R o u t e r
P E R o u t e r
P R o u t e r
D U T
S p i r e n t T e s t C e n t e r P o r t 2
S p i r e n t T e s t C e n t e r P o r t 1
Test Procedure
1. Use the RFC 2547 (MPLS IP VPN) Wizard.
a. Select the provider-side ports.
i. Configure the IGP (OSPF, ISIS, RIP etc.) and the MPLS (RSVP-TE or LDP) protocols.
ii. Configure the emulated P and PE routers with appropriate IP addressing and scale.
1. Optionally, for BGP, enable Route Reflectors and/or BFD.
b. Select the customer-side ports.
c. Configure the VRFs.
i. Configure the number of VPNs and how they are assigned (Round
Robin/Sequential) – if more than 1 CE.
ii. Select the CE protocol (BGP, OSPF, RIP, ISIS or Mixed).
iii. Select the RD assignment (Router Target or Manual).
1. If RT, configure the appropriate values.
2. If Manual, configure appropriate values.
iv. Configure the VRFs per PE.
d. Configure the VRF Route Ranges and the Starting Label number.
e. Configure the VRF Traffic. Select end points and customer and provider Load % and the
Frame Size.
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f. Enable LSP Ping on both the Core and the VPN tunnels.
i. Optionally, if it isn’t enabled in the wizard, it can be enabled on a per-P/PE basis in
the main configuration window.
g. Finish the Wizard.
h. Input the appropriate parameters for the Echo Request/Replies.
2. Start protocol emulation and verify that they come up. Verify that the VPN tunnels come up,
that the MPLS labels bind, and that the traffic passes successfully.
3. Start the LSP Pings and verify that the correct return codes are sent from the DUT, showing
results per FEC..
4. Introduce faults on the DUT, such as mis-matched labels, broken LDP adjacencies and other
software/hardware errors, and verify that the appropriate return codes appear in the
results.
5. End of test.
Control Variables & Relevance
Variable Relevance Default
Value
Number of P Routers on
the provider side
Emulated routers directly connected to the DUT. The
more P routers, the more taxing for the DUT.
1
Number of PE routers per
P router
Emulated PE routers with VRF configurations. 2
Number of VPNs/CE VPN sites per CE/sub-interface on the customer side. 1
Number of VRFs/PE VRFs per PE on the provider side. Equal to the
number of VPNs/CE on the customer side.
1
LSP Ping operation mode Construct the outgoing ping packet. IP/UDP
Ping Interval The time between each ping request. 5 seconds
Ping Time Out Time until the ping request is declared dead. 2 seconds
Time to Leave Hops before the packet is discarded by the
forwarding router.
1
EXP bits QoS bits for MPLS. 0
Validate FEC Stack Option to validate the FEC to which the ping is sent. Not
checked
Destination IPv4 Address IP address to which the ping is sent. 127.0.0.1
Key Measured Metrics
Metric Relevance Metric Unit
IGP Protocols State
Machine
All IGP protocols should come up successfully and
tunnels should be established properly for traffic flow.
Up, Down,
Established, Full
Number of Tunnels All configured tunnels should be UP for traffic to flow
successfully.
Up/Down
LSP Ping Up Count Determines whether LSP Ping emulation is running for
that particular P/PE router.
Up/Down
Tx Echo Request Transmitted ping counts per emulated P/PE router. Whole number
Rx Echo Reply Received ping reply count per emulated P/PE router. Whole number
Rx Echo Request Received ping counts from the DUT per emulated P/PE
router.
Whole number
Tx Echo Reply Transmitted ping replies to the DUT per emulated
P/PE router.
Whole number
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Metric Relevance Metric Unit
Min, Avg and Max
Ping latency
The minimum, average and max ping latency per
emulated P/PE router.
Ms
Rx Return Code Code the DUT returns to the Echo request sent by the
tester.
Defined in the
specification
Desired Result
The configured VPN tunnels should come up successfully and the multicast/unicast traffic should
successfully pass through the DUT.
The DUT should receive and appropriately process the LSP Ping/Echo messages.
Analysis
The configured IGP Protocols (BGP, OSPF, RIP or ISIS), GRE/VPN tunnels, MPLS Protocols (RSVP-
TE or LDP) should come up successfully and the VPN traffic should flow successfully.
Check the state machine of any protocol that doesn’t come up and verify that the tester
configuration matches the DUT.
The DUT should receive and appropriately process the LSP Ping/Echo messages and return the
appropriate codes.
The DUT should also be able to reply with the correct codes when a fault or multiple faults are
introduced.
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Appendix A – Telecommunications
Definitions
APPLICATION LOGIC. The computational aspects of an application, including a list of instructions that tells a
software application how to operate.
APPLICATION SERVICE PROVIDER (ASP). An ASP deploys hosts and manages access to a packaged application by
multiple parties from a centrally managed facility. The applications are delivered over networks on a
subscription basis. This delivery model speeds implementation, minimizes the expenses and risks incurred
across the application life cycle, and overcomes the chronic shortage of qualified technical personnel
available in-house.
APPLICATION MAINTENANCE OUTSOURCING PROVIDER. Manages a proprietary or packaged application from
either the customer's or the provider's site.
ASP INFRASTRUCTURE PROVIDER (AIP). A hosting provider that offers a full set of infrastructure services for
hosting online applications.
ATM. Asynchronous Transport Mode. An information transfer standard for routing high-speed, high-
bandwidth traffic such as real-time voice and video, as well as general data bits.
AVAILABILITY. The portion of time that a system can be used for productive work, expressed as a
percentage.
BACKBONE. A centralized high-speed network that interconnects smaller, independent networks.
BANDWIDTH. The number of bits of information that can move through a communications medium in a
given amount of time; the capacity of a telecommunications circuit/network to carry voice, data, and
video information. Typically measured in Kbps and Mbps. Bandwidth from public networks is typically
available to business and residential end-users in increments from 56 Kbps to 45 Mbps.
BIT ERROR RATE. The number of transmitted bits expected to be corrupted per second when two computers
have been communicating for a given length of time.
BURST INFORMATION RATE (BIR). The rate of information in bits per second that the customer may need over
and above the CIR. A burst is typically a short duration transmission that can relieve momentary
congestion in the LAN or provide additional throughput for interactive data applications.
BUSINESS ASP. Provides prepackaged application services in volume to the general business market,
typically targeting small to medium size enterprises.
BUSINESS-CRITICAL APPLICATION. The vital software needed to run a business, whether custom-written or
commercially packaged, such as accounting/finance, ERP, manufacturing, human resources and sales
databases.
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BUSINESS SERVICE PROVIDER. Provides online services aided by brick-and-mortar resources, such as payroll
processing and employee benefits administration, printing, distribution or maintenance services. The
category includes business process outsourcing (BPO) companies.
COMMERCE NETWORK PROVIDER. Commerce networks were traditionally proprietary value-added networks
(VANs) used for electronic data interchange (EDI) between companies. Today the category includes the
new generation of electronic purchasing and trading networks.
COMPETITIVE ACCESS PROVIDER (CAP). A telecommunications company that provides an alternative to a LEC
for local transport and special access telecommunications services.
CAPACITY. The ability for a network to provide sufficient transmitting capabilities among its available
transmission media, and respond to customer demand for communications transport, especially at peak
usage times.
CLIENT/DEVICE. Hardware that retrieves information from a server.
CLUSTERING. A group of independent systems working together as a single system. Clustering technology
allows groups of servers to access a single disk array containing applications and data.
COMPUTING UTILITY PROVIDER (CUP). A provider that delivers computing resources, such as storage, database
or systems management, on a pay-as-you-go basis.
CSU/DSU. Channel Server Unit/Digital Server Unit. A device used to terminate a telephone company
connection and prepare data for a router interface.
DATA MART. A subset of a data warehouse, intended for use by a single department or function.
DATA WAREHOUSE. A database containing copious amounts of information, organized to aid decision-
making in an organization. Data warehouses receive batch updates and are configured for fast online
queries to produce succinct summaries of data.
DEDICATED LINE. A point-to-point, hardwired connection between two service locations.
DEMARCATION LINE. The point at which the local operating company's responsibility for the local loop ends.
Beyond the demarcation point (also known as the network interface), the customer is responsible for
installing and maintaining all equipment and wiring.
DISCARD ELIGIBILITY (DE) BIT. Relevant in situations of high congestion, it indicates that the frame should be
discarded in preference to frames without the DE bit set. The DE bit may be set by the network or by the
user; and once set cannot be reset by the network.
DS-1 OR T-1. A data communication circuit capable of transmitting data at 1.5 Mbps. Currently in
widespread use by medium and large businesses for video, voice, and data applications.
DS-3 OR T-3. A data communications circuit capable of transmitting data at 45 Mbps. The equivalent data
capacity of 28 T-1s. Currently used only by businesses/institutions and carriers for high-end applications.
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ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE (EDI). The electronic communication of business transactions (orders,
confirmations, invoices etc.) of organizations with differing platforms. Third parties provide EDI services
that enable the connection of organizations with incompatible equipment.
ENTERPRISE ASP. An ASP that delivers a select range of high-end business applications, supported by a
significant degree of custom configuration and service.
ENTERPRISE RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (ERM). Solutions that enable the enterprise to share comprehensive,
up-to-date customer, product, competitor and market information to achieve long-term customer
satisfaction, increased revenues, and higher profitability.
ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP). An information system or process integrating all manufacturing and
related applications for an entire enterprise. ERP systems permit organizations to manage resources
across the enterprise and completely integrate manufacturing systems.
ETHERNET. A local area network used to connect computers, printers, workstations, and other devices
within the same building. Ethernet operates over twisted wire and coaxial cable.
EXTENDED SUPERFRAME FORMAT. A T1 format that provides a method for easily retrieving diagnostics
information.
FAT CLIENT. A computer that includes an operating system, RAM, ROM, a powerful processor and a wide
range of installed applications that can execute either on the desktop or on the server to which it is
connected. Fat clients can operate in a server-based computing environment or in a stand-alone fashion.
FAULT TOLERANCE. A design method that incorporates redundant system elements to ensure continued
systems operation in the event of the failure of any individual element.
FDDI. Fiber Distributed Data Interface. A standard for transmitting data on optical-fiber cables at a rate of
about 100 Mbps.
FRAME. The basic logical unit in which bit-oriented data is transmitted. The frame consists of the data bits
surrounded by a flag at each end that indicates the beginning and end of the frame. A primary rate can be
thought of as an endless sequence of frames.
FRAME RELAY. A high-speed packet switching protocol popular in networks, including WANs, LANs, and
LAN-to-LAN connections across long distances.
GBPS. Gigabits per second, a measurement of data transmission speed expressed in billions of bits per
second.
HOSTED OUTSOURCING. Complete outsourcing of a company's information technology applications and
associated hardware systems to an ASP.
HOSTING PROVIDER. Provider who operates data center facilities for general-purpose server hosting and
collocation.
INFRASTRUCTURE ISV. And independent software vendor that develops infrastructure software to support
the hosting and online delivery of applications.
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INTEGRATED SERVICES DIGITAL NETWORK (ISDN). An information transfer standard for transmitting digital voice
and data over telephone lines at speeds up to 128 Kbps.
INTEGRATION. Equipment, systems, or subsystem integration, assembling equipment or networks with a
specific function or task. Integration is combining equipment/systems with a common objective, easy
monitoring and/or executing commands. It takes three disciplines to execute integration: 1) hardware, 2)
software, and 3) connectivity – transmission media (data link layer), interfacing components. All three
aspects of integration have to be understood to make two or more pieces of equipment or subsystems
support the common objective.
INTER-EXCHANGE CARRIER (IXC). A telecommunications company that provides telecommunication services
between local exchanges on an interstate or intrastate basis.
INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER (ISP). A company that provides access to the Internet for users and businesses.
INDEPENDENT SOFTWARE VENDOR (ISV). A company that is not a part of a computer systems manufacturer
that develops software applications.
INTERNETWORKING. Sharing data and resources from one network to another.
IT SERVICE PROVIDER. Traditional IT services businesses, including IT outsourcers, systems integrators, IT
consultancies and value added resellers.
KILOBITS PER SECOND (KBPS). A data transmission rate of 1,000 bits per second.
LEASED LINE. A telecommunications line dedicated to a particular customer along predetermined routers.
LOCAL ACCESS TRANSPORT AREA (LATA). One of approximately 164 geographical areas within which local
operating companies connect all local calls and route all long-distance calls to the customer's inter-
exchange carrier.
LOCAL EXCHANGE CARRIER (LEC). A telecommunications company that provides telecommunication services
in a defined geographic area.
LOCAL LOOP. The wires that connect an individual subscriber's telephone or data connection to the
telephone company central office or other local terminating point.
LOCAL/REGIONAL ASP. A company that delivers a range of application services, and often the complete
computing needs, of smaller businesses in their local geographic area.
MEGABITS PER SECOND (MBPS). 1,024 kilobits per second.
METAFRAME. The world's first server-based computing software for Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Server,
Terminal Server Edition multi-user software (co-developed by Citrix).
MODEM. A device for converting digital signals to analog and vice versa, for data transmission over an
analog telephone line.
MULTIPLEXING. The combining of multiple data channels onto a single transmission medium. Sharing a
circuit - normally dedicated to a single user - between multiple users.
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MULTI-USER. The ability for multiple concurrent users to log on and run applications on a single server.
NET-BASED ISV. An ISV whose main business is developing software for Internet-based application services.
This includes vendors who deliver their own applications online, either directly to users or via other
service providers.
NETWORK ACCESS POINT (NAP). A location where ISPs exchange traffic.
NETWORK COMPUTER (NC). A thin-client hardware device that executes applications locally by downloading
them from the network. NCs adhere to a specification jointly developed by Sun, IBM, Oracle, Apple and
Netscape. They typically run Java applets within a Java browser, or Java applications within the Java
Virtual Machine.
NETWORK COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE. A computing architecture in which components are dynamically
downloaded from the network onto the client device for execution by the client. The Java programming
language is at the core of network computing.
ONLINE ANALYTICAL PROCESSING (OLAP). Software that enables decision support via rapid queries to large
databases that store corporate data in multidimensional hierarchies and views.
OPERATIONAL RESOURCE PROVIDER. Operational resources are external business services that an ASP might
use as part of its own infrastructure, such as helpdesk, technical support, financing, or billing and payment
collection.
OUTSOURCING. The transfer of components or large segments of an organization's internal IT infrastructure,
staff, processes or applications to an external resource such as an ASP.
PACKAGED SOFTWARE APPLICATION. A computer program developed for sale to consumers or businesses,
generally designed to appeal to more than a single customer. While some tailoring of the program may be
possible, it is not intended to be custom-designed for each user or organization.
PACKET. A bundle of data organized for transmission, containing control information (destination, length,
origin, etc.), the data itself, and error detection and correction bits.
PACKET SWITCHING. A network in which messages are transmitted as packets over any available route rather
than as sequential messages over circuit-switched or dedicated facilities.
PEERING. The commercial practice under which nationwide ISPs exchange traffic without the payment of
settlement charges.
PERFORMANCE. A major factor in determining the overall productivity of a system, performance is primarily
tied to availability, throughput and response time.
PERMANENT VIRTUAL CIRCUIT (PVC). A PVC connects the customer's port connections, nodes, locations, and
branches. All customer ports can be connected, resembling a mesh, but PVCs usually run between the
host and branch locations.
POINT OF PRESENCE (POP). A telecommunications facility through which the company provides local
connectivity to its customers.
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PORTAL. A company whose primary business is operating a Web destination site, hosting content and
applications for access via the Web.
REMOTE ACCESS. Connection of a remote computing device via communications lines such as ordinary
phone lines or wide area networks to access distant network applications and information.
REMOTE PRESENTATION SERVICES PROTOCOL. A set of rules and procedures for exchanging data between
computers on a network, enabling the user interface, keystrokes, and mouse movements to be
transferred between a server and client.
RESELLER/VAR. An intermediary between software and hardware producers and end users. Resellers
frequently add value (thus Value-Added Reseller) by performing consulting, system integration and
product enhancement.
ROUTER. A communications device between networks that determines the best path for optimal
performance. Routers are used in complex networks of networks such as enterprise-wide networks and
the Internet.
SCALABILITY. The ability to expand the number of users or increase the capabilities of a computing solution
without making major changes to the systems or application software.
SERVER. The computer on a local area network that often acts as a data and application repository and that
controls an application's access to workstations, printers and other parts of the network.
SERVER-BASED COMPUTING. A server-based approach to delivering business-critical applications to end-user
devices, whereby an application's logic executes on the server and only the user interface is transmitted
across a network to the client. Benefits include single-point management, universal application access,
bandwidth-independent performance, and improved security for business applications.
SINGLE-POINT CONTROL. One of the benefits of the ASP model, single-point control helps reduce the total
cost of application ownership by enabling widely used applications and data to be deployed, managed
and supported at one location. Single-point control enables application installations, updates and
additions to be made once, on the server, which are then instantly available to users anywhere.
SPECIALIST ASP. Provide applications which serve a specific professional or business activity, such as
customer relationship management, human resources or Web site services.
SYSTEMS MANUFACTURER. Manufacturer of servers, networking and client devices.
TELECOMS PROVIDER. Traditional and new-age telecommunications network providers (telcos).
THIN CLIENT. A low-cost computing device that accesses applications and and/or data from a central server
over a network. Categories of thin clients include Windows-Based Terminals (WBT, which comprise the
largest segment), X-Terminals, and Network Computers (NC).
TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP (TCO). Model that helps IT professionals understand and manage the budgeted
(direct) and unbudgeted (indirect) costs incurred for acquiring, maintaining and using an application or a
computing system. TCO normally includes training, upgrades, and administration as well as the purchase
price. Lowering TCO through single-point control is a key benefit of server-based computing.
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TOTAL SECURITY ARCHITECTURE (TSA). A comprehensive, end-to-end architecture that protects the network.
TRANSMISSION CONTROL PROTOCOL/INTERNET PROTOCOL (TCP/IP). A suite of network protocols that allow
computers with different architectures and operating system software to communicate over the Internet.
USER INTERFACE. The part of an application that the end user sees on the screen and works with to operate
the application, such as menus, forms and buttons.
VERTICAL MARKET ASP. Provides solutions tailored to the needs of a specific industry, such as the healthcare
industry.
VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK (VPN). A secure, encrypted private connection across a cloud network, such as
the Internet.
WEB HOSTING. Placing a consumer's or organization's web page or web site on a server that can be
accessed via the Internet.
WIDE AREA NETWORK. Local area networks linked together across a large geographic area.
WINDOWS-BASED TERMINAL (WBT). Thin clients with the lowest cost of ownership, as there are no local
applications running on the device. Standards are based on Microsoft's WBT specification developed in
conjunction with Wyse Technology, NCD, and other thin client companies.
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Appendix B – Layer 2 802.1q CoS
The following tables represent best practices for Layer 2 VLAN / Q-in-Q CoS. Each row relates the
appropriate metric to measured minimum acceptable for its respective traffic class.
VLAN 802.1p CoS / Q-in-Q Priority
802.1 PRI
CoS
Min. RX / TX
Bandwidth
Ratio
Max
Jitter
(uSec)
Max
Latency
(uSec)
Max
Loss
(Frames)
Max
Duplicate
(Frames)
Max
Reordered
(Frames)
Max
Late
(Frames)
7 1 0 >=1 0 0 0 0
6 1 0 2 0 0 0 0
5 .99 1 2 0 0 0 0
4 .98 1 3 0 0 0 0
3 .95 2 5 0 1 1 1
2 .90 3 5 1 1 1 1
1 .85 5 10 1 2 2 2
0 ANY ANY ANY ANY ANY ANY ANY
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Appendix C – RFC 2474 Layer 3 QoS
The following tables represent best practices for Layer 2 VLAN / Q-in-Q CoS. Each row relates the
appropriate metric to measured minimum acceptable for its respective traffic class.
IPv4 / IPv6 DiffServ
Codepoint Max Jitter
(uSec)
Max
Latency
(uSec)
Max Loss
(Frames)
Max
Duplicate
(Frames)
Max
Reordered
(Frames)
Max Late
(Frames)
EF 0 >=1 0 0 0 0
AF31 0 2 0 0 0 0
AF21 2 5 0 1 1 1
AF11 3 5 1 1 1 1
BE ANY ANY ANY ANY ANY ANY
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Appendix D – RFC 2474 Layer 3 QoS
Definitions
The following table represents the definitions of each DiffServ Codepoint possibility.
DSCP Value DF Code
Point
Equivalent IP
Precedent
Description
000 000 00 BE 000 - Routine Best Effort, Unclassified Quality
001 010 10 AF11 001 - Priority High-Throughput Transactions with high loss
sensitivity
001 100 12 AF12 001 - Priority High-Throughput Transactions with some loss
sensitivity
001 110 14 AF13 001 - Priority High-Throughput Transactions with loss
resiliency
001 010 18 AF21 001 - Immediate Low-Latency Transactions with high loss
sensitivity
010 100 20 AF22 001 - Immediate Low-Latency Transactions with some loss
sensitivity
010 119 22 AF23 001 - Immediate Low-Latency Transaction with loss resiliency
011 010 26 AF31 011 - Flash Broadcast Media with high loss sensitivity
011 110 28 AF32 011 - Flash Broadcast Media with some loss sensitivity
011 110 30 AF33 001 - Flash Broadcast Media with loss resiliency
100 010 34 AF41 100 – Flash Override Live Media with high loss sensitivity
100 110 36 AF42 100 – Flash Override Live Media with some loss sensitivity
100 110 38 AF43 100 – Flash Override Live Media with loss resiliency
101 110 46 EF 101 – Critical Mission Critical Transactions or VoIP
