ADtech Ax/4000 pegasus test Equipment

user's manual

Table of Contents

Preface

General information

History

References

About this guide

Audience

A word on other contributors

About the AX/4000 Broadband Test System 

Setting up the ATM Generator 

Setting up the ATM Analyser 

Setting up the ATM interfaces 

Running/stopping the test measurements

Run Menu Commands

Stop Menu Commands

Generator Run/Stop Button

Analyzer Run/Stop Button

Monitoring the ATM generator statistics

Description

Parenthesized results

Clear Statistics button

Monitoring the ATM analyzer statistics

Stream Statistics

Substream Statistics

Monitoring the analyzer additional statistics

Monitoring the ATM stream statistics 

Aggregate Cell Count

Aggregate Cell Rate

Aggregate Cell Transfer Capacity

Bandwidth Percentage

Corrected Header Error Count

Uncorrected Header Error Count

Monitoring the ATM substream statistics

Defining the ATM interface statistics and control

typical test environment 

Pegasus Adtech ax/4000 test equipment object model

Software structure 

Adtech Test Equipment package 

Atm Test Equipment Manager Package 

CORBA TEST EQUIPMENT MANAGER CLASSES 

Description

PEGASUS adtech Ax/4000 configuration 

Example of Adtech AX/4000 configuration for generation and evaluation of ATM traffic with CBR 

How to run Adtech AX/4000 Test Equipment locally

Installation

Locally installed Pegasus Adtech Test Equipment in action 

Test traces and test results of successful run 

How to run CORBA Adtech AX/4000 Test Equipment

Installation

Run Adtech Server

Starting the Naming Service 

Running the Adtech Server 

Run Adtech Client

Adtech Client in action

Example of setup with Pegasus Test Suite based on Adtech Test Equipment model

Test traces and test results of successful run 

System Configuration File: Adtech and Physical Connections

Configuring for the DRY RUN

Adtech XSD schema and XML configuration file

Preface

This document describes how to use Adtech AX/4000 Pegasus Test Equipment object model as a base for development of generic powerful Pegasus test procedures for executing automated test cases with the ATM background traffic generated by the Adtech AX/4000 test equipment.

A a short introduction on the Adtech functional units that play major role in the test automation by Pegasus is given in first chapters. The design of the Adtech Test Equipment object model is described in detail for further development purposes. An overview on the existing generic test procedures released by Iskratel Ltd is provided here as well.

Proceeding chapters deal with the Adtech Test Equipment Framework installation and setup of the Pegasus test collection containing typical existing generic test procedures. In addition the system configuration file section that deals with Adtech data is described.

General information

History

References

Spirents Adtech AX/4000 Online Help

About this guide

Audience

This guide is intended for all Pegasus users that are using Adtech AX/4000 test equipment in their automated test cases performed by Pegasus.

Besides it tries to provide the help for developers who want to extend the Adtech Pegasus features with new test procedures and test managers.

A word on other contributors

Special thanks to Gregor Brodnjak who helped a big bunch with testing besides contributing to this document with traces and screenshots he found some very tricky bugs at the very late stage of integration testing.

Many special thanks of course to Robert Rogalski, the one and only AX/4000 master: thank you for your patience and the support through complete development phase. Thanks for hints and tricks and always working TCL code samples that opened the path towards the final solution.

Adtech Pegasus story would never happen without the support of our boss Robert Strubegger.

About the AX/4000 Broadband Test System

The AX/4000 Broadband Test System provides complete broadband traffic generation, full-rate analysis, bit error rate testing, network impairment emulation, and broadband WAN emulation for testing broadband equipment, switches, and networks for proper operation and Quality of Service (QoS) performance. It uses modular components, allowing custom configuration for various test applications.

The primary hardware components are the chassis (with a control module), an external controller, test modules, and port interfaces. With the exception of the power switch and front panel status indicators, the AX/4000 equipment is operated completely from the controller using the controller software. The controller software runs on IBM PC compatible computers operating in the Microsoft Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, or ME graphical environment or a Sun Solaris workstation operating on a UNIX platform.

Setting up the ATM Generator

Each ATM Generator is made up of seven functional blocks that determine the traffic that it generates plus several statistics and control blocks for controlling the operation of the generator.

• To generate cell streams with Continuous Bit Rate (CBR) or Variable Bit Rate (VBR) cell distributions with a default sequence, use the Traffic Wizard to set up a cell distribution model and sequence definition for each of up to seven foreground traffic sources.

• To generate cell streams with periodic, burst, Poisson, and other complex cell distributions, enable and set up a cell distribution model for each of up to seven foreground traffic sources.

• To define the foreground cell stream contents for each enabled traffic source, select between user-defined AAL cell sequence and test cells. Then define the cell header and payload contents.

• To regulate the cell distribution for conformance with traffic contract parameters, enable the traffic shaper and set up the traffic-shaping parameters.

• Select a foreground traffic priority mode.

• To regulate the peak cell rate of the aggregate cell stream, enable and set up the common traffic shaper.

• To corrupt the cell stream with bit errors, enable and set up the error injector parameters.

• To generate a cell stream with a precisely controlled cell sequence, or to generate additional VPI/VCI traffic beyond the foreground traffic sources, set up the background traffic source.

Setting up the ATM Analyser

Each ATM Analyzer is capable of performing full analysis of up to 2,040 VPI/VCIs without the setup of any analyzer parameters. Upon entering the Run mode, new VPI/VCIs are detected and added to the VPI/VCI list box. AAL type and the test cell pseudo random bit sequence (PRBS) patterns are determined automatically. Cell count statistics for a given VPI/VCI begin with the first cell that is received with that VPI/VCI. Error statistics begin once the AAL type and the PRBS pattern (if this is a test cell stream) are determined.

• To emulate QoS measurements based on OAM Performance Cells, segment the received cells into blocks and set the Severely Errored Threshold, which determines the blocks that are severely errored. Severely errored blocks are excluded from QoS measurements. Blocks are only used by test cells.

• Normally, the VPI/VCI list is built automatically, but manual VPI/VCI additions are allowed. Also, existing VPI/VCIs can be edited, deleted, locked, sorted, or selected for capture. A user-selected measurement can also be displayed in the last column of the VPI/VCI list box.

• The analyzer auto-detects the first 2,040 VPI/VCIs per physical interface. This feature enables the user to set the VPI/VCI address ranges through which the analyzer substream will filter.

• Sixteen groups of dual histograms display the delay distribution of the selected VPI/VCI as a bar chart of delays versus number of occurrences.

• Sixteen groups of charts display a selected measurement of the selected VPI/VCI as a function of time. The measurement is displayed as a strip chart, with the horizontal axis indicating the amount of time passed.

• Cells from the received cell stream can be captured and stored in the capture memory. Capture parameters provide the capture trigger qualifiers and cell capture qualifiers.

• Statistics are available on the analyzer for the cell stream. These statistics can be viewed at the stream and substream level.

• For certain types of substreams, additional statistics are available. The additional information is dependent on the substream type. Additional statistics are available for one cell stream.

• The VPI/VCI Histogram provides tracking of up to four parameters for all VPI/VCIs on the VPI/VCI list.

• Traffic policers are available for each cell stream for testing traffic conformance. Each policer can test its cell stream for peak cell rate and sustainable cell rate conformance.

• To decode a stream of analyzer capture data, the protocol decode is used.

Setting up the ATM interfaces

The AX/4000 currently supports 17 different ATM physical layer interfaces (not including multilayer interfaces). Additional physical layer interfaces are planned as ATM evolves.

The ATM interfaces below are set up from a Setup dialog box accessed from an Interface Status and Control dialog box. Press the interface button on the System window or select the Interface command from the View menu to access the Interface Status and Control dialog box. From this dialog box, press the Setup button to configure the interface.

Alternatively, rightclick on an interface button on the System window to run/stop tests, to clear statistics, to change operational modes or clock sources, or go to the setup screen to configure that specific interface.

Running/stopping the test measurements

Start test measurements by using the Run menu commands or Run buttons. Stop test measurements by using the Stop menu commands or Stop buttons.

Run Menu Commands

Use the Run menu's System command to start all analyzers and generators in the system. The analyzers are started first and then the generators. Use the Generator command to start only the generator whose dialog box is currently active. Use the Analyzer command to start only the analyzer whose dialog box is currently active. The Select command starts a selection of ports. The Timed command allows for timed run operation instead of continuous run. For continuous run, the generators and analyzers run until the stop command is given. For timed run, the generators and analyzers run until the time remaining (displayed at the bottom of the system screen) reaches zero.

Stop Menu Commands

Use the Stop menu's System command to stop all analyzers and generators in the system. The generators are stopped first and then the analyzers. Use the Generator command to stop only the generator whose dialog box is currently active. Use the Analyzer command to stop only the analyzer whose dialog box is currently active. The Select command stops a selection of ports.

Generator Run/Stop Button

You may start a single generator by pressing the Run button on the Generator dialog box. A window displays the run elapsed time. Pressing the Run button starts the run elapsed time from zero. Stop only this generator by pressing the Stop button on the Generator dialog box.

Also, you may right-click on a generator button on the System window to run or stop tests on a particular generator.

Analyzer Run/Stop Button

You may start a single analyzer by pressing the Run button on the Analyzer dialog box. A window displays the run elapsed time. Pressing the Run button starts the run elapsed time from zero. Stop only this analyzer by pressing the Stop button on the Analyzer dialog box.

Also, you may right-click on an analyzer button on the System window to run or stop tests on a particular analyzer.

Monitoring the ATM generator statistics

Description

The Generator Statistics dialog box shows the cell counts, cell rate, cell transfer capacity, and percent of bandwidth for the seven foreground traffic sources and the background traffic source. The aggregate traffic is the combined traffic of the seven foreground traffic sources and the background traffic source.

Parenthesized results

Each foreground traffic source contains a 1,024cell queue. The prioritizer mode, contention, and trafficshaping parameters can limit the cell transmission to a slower rate than requested and cause the queue to fill up. When the queue fills up, the foreground traffic source is stopped until queue space becomes available. Cells are not lost. To indicate that this is occurring, the software provides two indicators: (1) in the Generator Statistics dialog box, it puts parentheses around the cell rate, cell transfer capacity, and percent of bandwidth statistics of the congested traffic source and (2) in the System window the aggregate assigned cell count of the transmitted cells is displayed in blue, indicating at least one of the traffic sources in the generator is experiencing congestion. The congestion indicator can show congestion occurring for as long as the generator is running.

Clear Statistics button

After the AX/4000 system is run and the Generator Statistics dialog box is opened, press Clear Statistics. All values in the dialog box return to 0, except for elapsed time. Clearing generator statistics does not affect the actual cell generation or any analyzer measurements currently active, but it does clear the system counts. If the generator is stopped, the Clear Statistics button will also reset all values to 0, except for elapsed time.

NOTE: The statistics and elapsed time are also cleared once the generator is restarted.

Monitoring the ATM analyzer statistics

Stream Statistics

To display the aggregate cell count, uncorrected header error count, and corrected header error count (interface dependent), press the Stream Statistics button to open the Stream Statistics dialog box. A red bar is displayed on the Stream Statistics button to indicate nonzero, uncorrected header error counts.

Substream Statistics

To display substream cell counts, cell rates, and AAL statistics, double-click with the left mouse button on the desired VPI/VCI in the VPI/VCI list box.

Monitoring the analyzer additional statistics

To display additional statistics, press the Additional Statistics button and enter a VPI and VCI of the desired stream.

Additional statistics are provided for AAL 2 substreams. If additional statistics are enabled, the capture RAM is used so the capture function is disabled. When additional statistics are enabled, an Additional Statistics checkbox is displayed on the AAL 2 statistics screen. Checking and unchecking this box will display or hide additional statistics, respectively.

The CPS Packet Payload Length radio controls allow the user to select the maximum packet payload length for AAL 2.

Monitoring the ATM stream statistics

The Stream Statistics dialog box displays an aggregate cell count, an uncorrected header count, and a corrected header count.

Aggregate Cell Count

The aggregate cell count displays the total number of assigned cells the analyzer received. Normally, the aggregate cell count does not include cells dropped because of uncorrected headers. However, if the Pass Bad Headers option is enabled on the interface setup, the aggregate cell count will also include cells with detected header errors.

NOTE: With HEC Error Correction is enabled, the interface drops successive cells with HEC errors immediately following a HEC error until a cell with a good HEC is received. These dropped cells do not enter the analyzer and are not counted.

Aggregate Cell Rate

Average cell rate of the aggregate cell stream in cells/sec (aggregate cell count / elapsed time).

Aggregate Cell Transfer Capacity

Average bandwidth of the aggregate cell stream in Mbits/sec (aggregate cell rate x 8 x 53).

Bandwidth Percentage

The percentage of line bandwidth used in the aggregate cell stream.

Corrected Header Error Count

Some interfaces support single bit error correction. The interface cannot correct two adjacent cells with HEC errors. The corrected header error count is the number of cells with header errors that have been corrected.

Uncorrected Header Error Count

The uncorrected header error count displays the number of cells with uncorrected header errors.

NOTE: When the uncorrected header error count becomes nonzero, the Stream Statistics button on the Analyzer diagram displays a red bar on the right side. The nonzero error count is also displayed in red on the Stream Statistics display.

Monitoring the ATM substream statistics

The AAL type displayed in the VPI/VCI list box determines the statistics displayed for a substream.

• Monitoring AAL 0 statistics

• Monitoring AAL 1 statistics

• Monitoring AAL 2 statistics

• Monitoring AAL 3/4 statistics

• Monitoring AAL 5 statistics

• Monitoring Test AAL 5 statistics

• Monitoring Test Cell statistics

NOTE: When at least one of the statistics error counts become nonzero, its VPI/VCI is displayed in red in the VPI/VCI list box.

Defining the ATM interface statistics and control

The interfaces below are monitored and controlled from an Interface Status and Control dialog box. Press the interface button on the System window or select the Interface command from the View menu to view interface statistics measurements or to control interface operation.

typical test environment

Figure below shows the typical test environment with Adtech AX/4000 Test Equipment:

Pegasus Adtech ax/4000 test equipment object model

Software structure

ClearCase VOB: pegasus07

Test Equipment root package :

pegasus. testEquipment

Test Equipment Manager root package:

pegasus. testEquipmentManager

Test Procedure root package:

pegasus. testProcedure. network. node. atmTraffic

Listed test procedures are generic in the means that they work as well with ATS test equipment.

Adtech Test Equipment package

Remark: shown are only most important classes and interfaces for visibility!

The class diagrams will be updated regulary the figure above is erroneous due to the problem with the reverse ingeeniring in Poseidon for UML (there is a missing reference between the AtmCellLoadgeneratorAdtech and the AdtechDriverLibrary)   !

Atm Test Equipment Manager Package

Remark: shown are only most important classes and interfaces for visibility!

The class diagrams will be updated regulary!

CORBA TEST EQUIPMENT MANAGER CLASSES

Description

There are two new managers developed for the distributed client-server setup over CORBA:

AtmCellLoadAnalyserEngine

AtmCellLoadGeneratorEngine

The name of these manager is like a key for names of related Java classes and packages.

That's to say for the AtmCellLoadAnalyserEngine

The test procedure uses following tester's test equipment manager class:

pegasus. testEquipmentManager. network. atm. AtmCellLoadAnalyserEngine. java

This class acts like an interface from the test procedure level to the corba client test equipment manager. It holds an reference to the CORBA object (this reference is named _manager or _servant).

The CORBA interface description (. idl file) and CORBA client classes are located in package:

pegasus. testEquipmentManager. network. atm. corba. atmCellLoadAnalyserEngine

Note: In this package only the . idl file is edited. All the other classes are generated automatically by the CORBA plugg-in of Netbeans.

The test equipment specific CORBA implementation and test equipment specific implementation of the AtmCellLoadAnalyserEngine itself is located in package:

pegasus. testEquipment. adtech. atmCellLoadAnalyserEngine

The java main class 'pegasus. testEquipment. adtech. AdtechServer. java' is the server for all the test equipment managers running on a specific test equipment. It starts all the factories and registers them to the COS Naming Server (which is running anywhere in the net).

There is one factory per test equipment manager. These factories are used for creating a new 'Servant' for a certain test equipment manager (i. e AtmCellLoadAnalyserEngine). The following statement in a test procedure causes to create a servant using the proper factory and to register the servant to the COS Naming server:

TestEquipment te = _system. getTestEquipment('Tester1');

AtmCellLoadAnalyserEngine mgr = ((AtmCellLoadEngineItf)_tester). newAtmCellLoadAnalyserEngine();

PEGASUS adtech Ax/4000 configuration

Example of Adtech AX/4000 configuration for generation and evaluation of ATM traffic with CBR

Let assume we want to setup two cell distribution models each having it's own VPI/VCI combination driven by the Adtech STM1 155Mb card for generating the load with 2000 cells/s.

Working with the Adtech GUI application following minimal setup shall be performed:

1. Generator:

To achive this following configuration shall be performed:

Set up first distribution model with the VPI/VCI = 99/33, CBR, Peak Cell Rate = 1000 cells/s.

Set up second distribution model with the VPI/VCI = 99/66, CBR, Peak Cell Rate = 1000 cells/s.

2. Analyser

Set up the VPI/VCI streams to be analysed.

How to run Adtech AX/4000 Test Equipment locally

Installation

To be able to run the ATM Cell Load Generator/Analyser test equipment manager using the Adtech AX/4000 without CORBA, the following installation steps have to be followed:

1. Install the Pegasus Test Automation Framework with Clear Case 36190 project configuration specification. Install the axjni. dll, libax4k. dll and msvcrtd. dll libraries (/pegasus/Pegasus/ TestEquipment/ Adtech/data/lib/). Ensure that the *. dll are put into C:/Winnt/system32 or the directory in the PATH variable

Locally installed Pegasus Adtech Test Equipment in action

To run Adtech Test Equipment with Pegasus, execute following steps:

Start Pegasus

Open the Test Suite containing the test procedures driving the Adtech test equipment (Adtech_NO_CORBA. xml)

Start the Test Suite (Adtech_NO_CORBA. xml)

IMPORTANT: ATM test procedures are designed on the way that they are capable to work with or without CORBA. At least one of two CORBA related parameters ORB_INITIAL_HOST and ORB_INITIAL_PORT must be set to EMPTY string for proper local configuration!

Please refer to following configuration of initialization procedures:

1. Initializion of first cell distribution (GENERATOR_1/ANALYSER_1)

2. Initializion of second cell distribution (GENERATOR_2/ANALYSER_2)

When configuration is set up properly start the test by pressing the START button.

Test traces and test results of successful run

Wooow!!! A beautiful view on the Pegasus GUI when everything works as expected:

Please refer to the following log and trace files for reference:

Trace file:

How to run CORBA Adtech AX/4000 Test Equipment

Installation

CAUTION: Without starting and configuring the Adtech AX/4000 test equipment properly the ATM Cell Load Generator/Analyser Test Equipment managers will never work. This means all Adtech modules (Cards) being used by the Pegasus test equipment managers have to be configured and started.

To be able to run the ATM Cell Load Generator/Analyser test equipment manager using the Adtech AX/4000 over CORBA, the following installation steps have to be followed:

2. Client: Install the Pegasus Test Automation Framework with Clear Case 36190 project configuration specification.
3. Server: Install the Pegasus Test Automation Framework on the Server PC with Windows OS. Install the axjni. dll, libax4k. dll and msvcrtd. dll libraries (/pegasus/Pegasus/ TestEquipment/Adtech/ data/lib/). Ensure that the *. dll are put into C:/Winnt/system32 or the directory in the PATH variable

Run Adtech Server

To run the Adtech server, execute the following steps:

1. Open an Command Prompt window.
2. Start the CORBA naming service by entering the following command:
   
   java -cp allexternjars. jar com. ooc. CosNaming. Server -ORBthreaded -OAthread_pool 10 -OAhost -OAport
3. Start the Adtech server by entering the following command:
   
   java AdtechServer -ORBInitRef NameService = corbaloc:: /NameService -Name Tester1

Note:

The IP address and port number given by this command line has to refer to host and port the CORBA naming service is running on.

The example above shows the setup for testing on a local host: if you are intending to access the Naming Server started somewhere in the network, a valid external IP address of the machine must be provided.

Further ensure the name of the test equipment referes to an entry in the system configuration file.

Also ensure that the AdtechServer main-class is found in the Java's class path.

Starting the Naming Service

Running the Adtech Server

Run Adtech Client

To run Adtech client, execute following steps:

Start Pegasus

Open the Test Suite containing the test procedures driving the Adtech test equipment (let's call it adtech. ts)

Start the Test Suite (adtech. ts)

Adtech Client in action

Example of setup with Pegasus Test Suite based on Adtech Test Equipment model

To drive the Adtech AX/4000 Test Equipment with Pegasus following prerequisites must be assured:

Naming Service running

Adtech Server running

Proceed with following steps:

Start Pegasus

Open the Test Suite containing the test procedures driving the Adtech test equipment (let's call it adtech. ts)

Start the Test Suite (Adtech_CORBA. xml)

The cell distribution models are simulated with virtual generators and analysers. Basically exacltly one virtual generator/analyser pair corresponds to one particular distribution model.

Please note that there is only one generator and analyser pair per Adtech interface card existing. So called virtual generator/analyser pairs are simulation of different distributions on the generator side and corresponding monitors of the VPI/VCI combibnations on the analyser side.

The figure below shows the proper configuration of the Pegasus Test Suite:

The parameters of the initialization test procedures must be set up as shown bellow:

1. Initializion of first cell distribution (GENERATOR_1/ANALYSER_1)

Following aspects must be taken in consideration:

Specified LIC cards (Node 36190) with ports must be specified in the System Configuration file: these are the LICs with ports the physical connections from Adtech AX/4000 test equipment are set up to

Physical connections between the Adtech AX/4000 tester and the Node's LICs must be as well provided in the System Configuration file

Note: The dependancy pointed out above is subject of discussion and possible change in the future!

Remark: Both CORBA parameters (ORB_INITIAL_HOST and ORB_INITIAL_PORT of the CORBA Naming Service) that are temporary incorporated (due to the current version of Adtech Parser that needs some enchancements to support this parameters in the configuration file) will be removed from the initialization test procedure .

1. Initializion of second cell distribution (GENERATOR_2/ANALYSER_2)

Starting, stopping and evaluation of the traffic with special test procedures like TpAtmTrafficCellLossEvaluation. xml is done by referencing particular distribution (virtual generator/analyser pairs).

After proper configuration the test is performed by pressing the START button.

Test traces and test results of successful run

Can life be better? A beautiful view on the Pegasus GUI when everything works as expected:

Please refer to the following log and trace files for reference:

Adtech Server

Adtech Client

System Configuration File: Adtech and Physical Connections

An example of current Adtech System Configuration section is shown below:

Please keep in mind that the structure is currently subject of changes. The XML format has been introduced and we are working on porting the data to the XML format. As well two new attributes will be introduced for CORBA support.

Configuring for the DRY RUN

Great feature called dry run was introduced to the Adtech test equipment object model.

It provides the possibility to run the equipment without being connected to real hardware. The responses are hard coded.

You can simply switch to the dry run by setting the UserID parameter to DryRun

The traces embeded in this document are result of the dry run!

Adtech XSD schema and XML configuration file

Adtech XSD schema is defined as follows:

Example of a XML system configuration file with Adtech Test Equipment: