WaveTest Multi Client Traffic Generator / Performance Analyzer

WaveTest is a powerful Traffic Generator / Analyzer capable of generating thousands of independent client sessions, each representing a unique user of the network. It offers native IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n interfaces as well as 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet interfaces. Using WaveTest, network traffic can be accurately, repeatedly and precisely created. WaveTest offers unique insight into the functionality, quality and performance of the network, or network component, under test.

Large Scale Testing

WaveTest is a chassis-based test system which utilizes individual WaveBlades for traffic generation and analysis:

• Each WaveBlade traffic generator / performance analyzer emulates up to 500 WLAN or 1,000 Ethernet clients across single or multiple subnets
• Each WaveTest 90 supports up to 9 WaveBlades with a combined capacity up to 4,500 individual WLAN clients (STAs)
• Unprecedented network scale can be achieved by daisy-chaining WaveTest 90 chassis to generate traffic from tens of thousands of clients
• Generate and analyze traffic between WLAN clients and Ethernet clients / servers or mobile WLAN clients
• Gigabit Ethernet traffic generation and analysis at full wire-speed
• Multiple traffic flows per client are supported with each flow offering stateful traffic at layers 2 through 7
• Real-time port statistics, per flow statistics, packet filters, triggers and capture capabilities for precise analysis
• Built-in client mobility allows precise roaming of each and every client between any Access Points, at pre-determined time or power settings

Real-World Stateful WLAN Client Traffic Generation

• The WaveBlade traffic scheduler offers fully interleaved traffic flows, creating real mobile clients contending for the shared medium
• The traffic scheduler dynamically adjusts offered load to approximate intended load with load resolution of better than 0.5%
• Client contention can be precisely emulated, guaranteeing real-world behavior in every test iteration
• Client behavior is individually controlled providing accurate control of 802.11, 802.3, and IP characteristics, including power, medium access control, authentication and encryption, frame size and rate

Anatomy of a VeriWave Stateful Client

• Each client supports the full MAC per 802.11 standard
• 802.1X supplicant supports full EAP stack per client
• Upper layer protocols (e.g., DHCP and TCP) are implemented using independent protocol state machines
• All state machines for all clients run concurrently
• Every client independently updates its state based on channel conditions e.g. 802.11n clients using protected-mode when .11g is detected
• Each Stateful client implements:
  • Carrier deference
  • Collision sensing
  • Random back-off
  • Retransmission
  • Collision emulation

• Multi level scheduler enables optimum channel utilization, multiple traffic flows per client, and mixing of Constant Bit Rate voice/video traffic with Best Effort data traffic

Stateful behavior of every client

• Layer 2 - 802.11
  • Fully Stateful MAC implementation as per IEEE 802.11

• Layer 4 - TCP/IP
  • Fully Stateful implementation as per IETF RFC-793, with TCP Congestion Control (as per IETF RFC-2581), including slow start, congestion avoidance, fast retransmit, and fast recovery
  • Line / air rate TCP traffic generation / analysis on every WaveBlade port
  • Per flow / client independent state machine
  • 1,000 Stateful TCP flows maintained, per WaveBlade port

• Comprehensive set of TCP connection stats
• WiMix - Real world vertical industries deployment scenarios provides pre-configured and easy to model real-world deployment scenarios to study end-users QoE (Quality of Experience)

Advantages

• Exercise and stress AP client state table with various client connection speeds and RSSI levels at unprecedented scales
• Verify AP’s ability to handle concurrent 802.1x port authentications and 802.11i key handshakes for high client loads
• Qualify effectiveness of IDS/IPS and DoS security policies and their impact on AP performance
• Evaluate AP’s 802.11e/802.1D/VLAN/SSID based QoS mechanisms to prioritize different traffic types
• Assess robustness of AP’s buffer management and load balancing schemes with clients at different power management, FER levels, data rates
• Quantify AP’s data plane performance using flow packets of different sizes, protocol types, encryptions and rates

Ease of use

• The WaveTest offers fully-integrated use-models:
  • WaveManager - A user interface offering comprehensive controls of multiple chassis and test ports
  • WaveApps - Fully automated tests offering rapid configuration and test result gathering for a variety of test modules including: benchmarking, QoE analysis, roaming, VoIP, and mesh network analysis.
  • VCL (VeriWave Command Library) - Programmatic control, test configuration, statistics, and reporting functions are supported via this common library that is accessible via Tcl, Perl, and Python
  • WaveAutomation - Creates a complete regression test setup to run hundreds of test cases, unattended and with minimal effort

• Configuration data, test control, and results are all seamlessly transferable between all use models
• Test results are collected and displayed using an extensive set of predefined counters, user defined counters, triggers and filters, as well as a 256 MB capture buffer per WaveBlade
• Comprehensive, management level reports are created automatically in PDF format at the conclusion of each test, and include:
  • Test details; date, version numbers, etc.
  • Measured results
  • Expected results
  • Explanation of how to interpret results

Testing the Issues that Matter Most

VeriWave Master Test Plan

The VeriWave Master Test Plan for Wireless LANs establishes guidelines, best practices and baseline evaluation criteria for testing the performance and scalability of wireless equipment. The plan outlines the goals, procedures, and expected results for thousands of unique test cases while offering insight into the behavior and performance of wireless LANs. The Master Test Plan offers the flexibility of selectively choosing the most appropriate individual tests needed to verify the functionality and performance of each unique system under test. The guide addresses every aspect of required network testing, from functional verification, performance measurement and network capacity assessment, to system testing, and stress testing.

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