Spirent TestCenter Intro Data Plane based on P4.10 This documentation is not official training or documentation material. The intention is to review basic features of the Spirent TestCenter after a Spirent Systems Engineer has given an introduction for evaluating the system or after purchasing the system. 1. Login to Chassis 1.1 Start Screen 1.2 Connect to Chassis 1.3 Reserving port(s) 2. Port Configuration
3. Create basic traffic with raw streams 3.1 Raw Stream Blocks (first section) 3.1.1 Modifiers 3.1 Raw Stream Blocks (continued) 3.2 Setting Port or Stream Block Load 3.3 Advanced Header Generation 3.4 Import Packets from Capture
4. real time Result Windows Basics
5. Devices and Bound Streamblocks 5.1 Add a Device Block 5.2 Generate Traffic between Devices 6. real time Result Windows Advanced 6.1 customize tabs 6.2 Create charts (results over time)
6.3 Analyze Results by packet content (Filtered Stream Results) 6.4 Filter Results (Interesting Stream Results)
Please do not hesitate to contact me at +49 (0)89 159275 12 or send me an email at
[email protected] or contact our Tech Support at +33 1 6137 2270 (
[email protected]).
1. Login to Chassis Start the Spirent TestCenter Application by Icon
Or from Start -> All Programs -> …
1.1 Start Screen
Feel free to use this Welcome Wizard. It could guide you through basic configurations. The Welcome Wizard will not be explained in this document.
1.2 Connect to Chassis
Connect to Chassis and Reserve Ports
First Time you need to Add Chassis IP Address
Enter the Chassis IP Address and press OK
If you have already added Chassis IP Addresses, then select the chassis you want to login by clicking the little + icon
1.3 Reserving port(s)
Select the ports you want to reserve for your test. You can select all ports of a chassis at a time, all ports of a module at a time, a port pair or a single port Press OK to reserve the port(s)
Alternatively you can select recent port reservations or configuration files.
2. Port Configuration
On the left site you have a navigation panel, to select what you would like to configure.
If you have selected an item on the left site you can enter configuration parameter on the right site.
You can enable/disable options or
select from a list of options.
Mark the lines and right click in the row you want to use additional features like Copy Down, Increment, etc.
Depending on what you want to configure you can configure port settings for All Ports or
for a specific port. Specific port configuration offers more parameters. Main parameters are Media Type (Copper or Fiber), Auto Negotiation settings or Auto MDIX.
3. Create basic traffic with raw streams 3.1 Raw Stream Blocks (first section) The number of stream blocks is limited to 4000 per port. The number of streams is limited to 64k per port (mX series), 32k per port (2000 series and CM modules) or 16k per port (1000 series and CV modules).
When reserving a port you can add a raw stream block to each reserved port by selecting Add Default Traffic.
Otherwise you select the Traffic Generator of a port and select Add and select Add Raw Stream Block.
This opens the StreamBlock Editor General tab and allows you to configure the packet. Press F1 to call context sensitive help.
The Frame tab allow to edit the frame content, add headers or add modifiers, which steps through a range of values between each transmitted packet.
3.1.1 Modifiers
When adding modifiers you can aggregate results for all stepped values by creating flows (Use Streams deactivated) or creating streams (Use Streams activated) which shows results for each stepped value. The max. number of streams per port is limited.
3.1 Raw Stream Blocks (continued)
You can change some values directly like source and destination addresses, or you can customize your view by changing the order of rows similar to Excel. Mark the lines and right click in the row you want to use additional features like Copy Down, Increment, etc.
When right clicking the header of any row
a Customize View window allows you to select the visible rows.
You can enter the Stream Block Editor again by marking the Stream Block and select Edit.
Within the Stream Block Editor you can jump directly to the next/previous or first/last Stream Block. Press OK to save the changes and to leave the StreamBlock Editor or Cancel or X to leave the Editor without saving the changes.
When marking a Stream Block and right click it, you open additional features like Cut/Copy/Paste Stream Blocks, Duplicate Streamblocks, etc. You can do this within a port or to a different port on the same/different module in the same/different chassis. You have individual control for starting/stopping the Stream Block or start L2/L3 learning for this Stream Block
3.2 Setting Port or Stream Block Load
You can control the port load by selecting Port load
Enter the Port Load in the unit you are familiar with. All stream blocks will generate the same number of frames per seconds.
The Duration mode allows to determine the duration of traffic generation, if Burst size is set to > 1 you can determine the burst behavior.
If you want to assign individual loads to Stream Blocks select Load per streamblock + Advanced Interleaving. This is selectable on a per port base.
When selected Load per streamblock you can enter individual rates per Stream Block. Mark the lines and right click in the row you want to use additional features like Copy Down, Increment, etc.
PRESS APPLY NOW
All configuration and/or changes will now be transmitted to the chassis. Result Windows will pop up. Press Apply again when changes should get in effect.
You can start/stop traffic by using the Start/Stop traffic on all ports button. Or you right click on one or a couple of marked Stream Blocks and select Start/Stop.
3.3 Advanced Header Generation For functional testing you may need to create a packet with more then just a basic L2/L3 header. The Add Header or Create new Frame options in the StreamBlock Editor allow you to create a packet from a list of predefined packets. The Add Header -> Custom Header allows you to create headers which are not included in predefined header list. You need to edit the header in Hex values.
3.4 Import Packets from Capture
You can create a raw stream block by importing the packet from a capture file. Each packet within that file will create a raw stream block (up to 4000). Click Generate Stream Block and select the capture file you want to import.
You need to setup the import under Settings -> Traffic -> Replay Capture.
4. real time Result Windows Basics
There are two independent Result Windows: Results 1 and Results 2. Each of them can have up to 16 independent Sub Windows (View -> Load Layout -> …). The layout of a Result Window is called Perspective and can be saved and reused.
The Result Windows Results 1 and Results 2 are real MS Windows and can be moved for example to a second screen, hidden, etc. You can auto hide the window or lock it.
Each sub window is a set of results based on ports, streams or protocols. You can select a subwindow by Change Result View -> System View -> …. The choice is based on the settings in the Technology Selector.
The main two sub windows at this point are Port Traffic and Counters -> Basic Traffic Results and Streams -> Detailed Stream Results. Both are included in the perspective Basic Traffic. You can load this perspective from the Menu: Perspective -> Load Perspective -> Basic Traffic. You can select each sub window individually from Change Result View -> …
The main detailed stream results you can find in the Basic Counters Tab (Tx/Rx statistics and Latency) and Advanced Sequencing Tab (packet loss). Please be aware that Tx/Rx statistics distinguish between L1 and L2 where applicable.
As there are more statistics you normally need within one test and they may are distributed over different tabs, you can create your own tab with just the statistics you need. In addition you can create filters and rules, which just shows the streams you want to see. Please contact me for additional information.
5. Devices and Bound Streamblocks As you may have noticed, it could be very tedious and buggy to configure all source and destination addresses within the raw stream blocks in a multi port test environment. In addition raw stream blocks do not support any stateful protocol other then ARP or PING. For this you need to create a device. A device could emulate simple laptops or clients, CPEs or STB, DSLAMs or BBRARs, switches or routers, real servers, etc. or any combination of these. The main attributes of a device are L2/L3 source addresses, VLAN information, CoS settings and associated protocols.
5.1 Add a Device Block without associated protocols
Start the Create Device Wizard from All Devices or Ports -> Port // x/y -> Devices -> Add. When starting the Create Device Wizard again, the GUI does not check for duplicated source addresses !!!
You can create Devices on a single port or over a couple of ports. The most effective way depends on your test setup.
Select None (Traffic only device) for pure L2/L3 (Data Plane) traffic generation.
Select the Upper Layer (above MAC) Protocol(s) and define the number of optional VLAN headers.
If you have selected 2 VLAN header , you may need to play a little with the options to find the necessary increment rule for the VLAN pairs. The Preview button helps to see the differences.
Enter the number of Devices, you want to create per port. Enter the start source MAC address and the start source IP address of the device(s).
If you want to create more then one device in a rush you can define the increment rules for the source addresses, CoS and VLAN. After Preview Finish the Wizard.
According to the stream block view (see chapter 3.1) you have the same or similar features available to customize the view or change parameters by marking and/or right clicking rows and lines (copy, increment, duplicate, etc.).
5.2 Generate Traffic between Devices
In All Streamblocks start the Traffic Wizard by clicking Add. The Traffic Wizard is generating bound stream blocks.
You can create Traffic between a single port or between a couple of ports. The most effective way depends on your test setup.
Here you define between which devices traffic will be sent. First select the distribution model, you want to use, then Encapsulation, Orientation, Endpoint Mapping and finally Source and Destination … Distribution: There are three distribution models: Pair allows to create traffic between a pair of devices Backbone allows to create traffic between m devices to n device (for example 3 devices on three ports are sending traffic to a fourth device on port 4) Fully Meshed allows to create traffic between all selected devices with an equal traffic load between all devices
Encapsulation
Ethernet II is cutting the Upper Layer Header from the device including VLAN. The destination MAC address is the source address of the destination device VLAN is cutting the Upper Layer Header from the device excluding VLAN. The destination MAC address is the source address of the destination device IPv4 is taking the full L2/L3 header from the device. The destination MAC address is 00:00:01:00:00:01 and can automatically replaced by starting ARP
Use Select Multiple on Source and Destination if you need to select a group of devices. Don’t forget to Add your choice of Source and Destination
Give a Name to the stream block and define the Frame Size.
Here you can add headers to the frame (for example UDP, UDP/RTP, TCP) and use modifiers like explained in raw stream blocks. Source and Destination addresses (and others) are automatically taken from the devices.
Here you specify the load for the stream block similar as described in raw stream blocks.
6. real time Result Windows Advanced 6.1 customize tabs
To customize your tab, create your own tab by selecting Change Result View -> Create Table View.
Enter a name and select the location, where in Change Result View -> Select View you would like to find your table.
Select Port, if you want to create your own table with port based counters
Open the sub groups and select the counters you want to have in your own table.
Add or Remove selected counters and finish the Wizard.
It will display the new table in one of your sub windows. You can reopen this view in Change Result View -> Select View …
Instead or in addition of port based counters you can create your table based on Stream counters by selecting TxStreamBlockResults (or similar).
Open the sub groups and select the counters you want to have in your own table and continue similar to port based counters.
6.2 Create Charts (results over time) You can chart all (none computed) counters. You can have up to 64 counters within one chart.
Set the Real-time Charting options in Tools -> Options.
Mark the line(s) you would like to chart. Right click the counter (not the header) you want to chart.
Select Add to chart and Create Chart (for the first time) or add the counter to an already created chart.
If new, give the chart a name and a location. You need to select the chart view (Change Result View -> Select View …) in a sub window to start the chart if you are reusing the configuration.
6.3 Analyze Results by packet content (Filtered Stream Results) If you want to analyze the Tx/Rx Statistic based on packet content (MAC/VLAN/IP addresses, TOS/DiffServ, UDP/TCP ports, etc.) instead of Stream ID,
you need to setup the Port Traffic Analyzer (or select the filter button in the Filtered Stream Result window). The Template Filter tab allows you to select a predefined value. You can add any supported or custom header similar to the stream block setup.
Change the sub window to Filtered Stream Results (Change Results View -> Select View -> Streams -> …) and select the Analyzer Port.
To see Filtered Stream Results select Change Result View -> Select View -> Streams … Filtered Stream Results are showing all received values within the filter and is doing all possible Rx statistics (no Tx statistic here) The real time counters in Filtered Stream Results for advanced sequencing may show unexpected results for packet loss and sequencing, which do not reflect the real behavior of the DUT. This could be caused by the real time analyzer algorithm, used by STC. Please check for consistency or contact Spirent for explanation. Detailed Stream Results do not work anymore for Rx, when anything is activated in the Port Analyzer Filter.
6.4 Filter Results (Interesting Stream Results) You may do not want to check manually each real time Stream Result against a Threshold.
Under Filter you can Create a New Filter
Under Counter Name you can select the result(s) you want to see and under Condition and Value you can define the Threshold for the results.
You can logically combine different Thresholds.
Interesting Stream Results are showing only these streams, which fulfill the filter rules. As this View is not realtime you need to refresh the view.
You can automate the Refresh under Settings -> Timed Refresh Settings. Please be aware, that this will impact the performance of the system if set to less then 5 seconds.
Stream Threshold Results are giving an overview over all ports about how many streams are fulfilling the filter criteria of Interesting Streams Results. Under Select you can choose which Filter(s) should be monitored. A Technology Selector allows you to improve overview. Disable all protocols you don’t want to use in your setup. You can enable them later on at any time..
