Network traffic simulator
Hi,I am looking to validate the performance specs of a core router. I am looking for a network traffic simulator which can simulate 40 gbps of traffic. I am looking for a simulator with sfp+ ports. I am interested in any input as to brands to look at, build one myself etc. Thanks,Mitchell
We are heavily invested in Ixia, they are very expensive, but if you need the kind of precision they provide they work very well. *Spencer Ryan* | Senior Systems Administrator | sryan@arbor.net *Arbor Networks* +1.734.794.5033 (d) | +1.734.846.2053 (m) www.arbornetworks.com On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 8:17 AM, Mitchell Lewis <mitchell@dash-networks.com> wrote:
Hi,I am looking to validate the performance specs of a core router. I am looking for a network traffic simulator which can simulate 40 gbps of traffic. I am looking for a simulator with sfp+ ports. I am interested in any input as to brands to look at, build one myself etc. Thanks,Mitchell
On 24 May 2016 at 23:04, Spencer Ryan <sryan@arbor.net> wrote: Hey,
We are heavily invested in Ixia, they are very expensive, but if you need the kind of precision they provide they work very well.
I've used all big three, Agilent (back in packets and protocols), IXIA and Spirent. And several smaller/cheaper like Anritsu, EXFO, etc. I think Agilent was the best product for SP's. But you no longer can purchase it. I was recently responsible for evaluating and purchasing product for one company and shortlisted both IXIA and Spirent. Neither one really was fully satisfactory after Agilent experience, but we needed a solution so we purchased Spirent. For that company QoS testing was one of the key use-cases and you really can't do that in IXIA at all, as you cannot make it burst for any significant time (i.e. not for even significant microseconds). Testing QoS with precisely paced packets is not going to be useful. Spirent can do this nicely, so we chose Spirent. I'm not being nasty or funny, but I think best thing that ever happened to Spirent was IXIA buying Agilent. Both Spirent and IXIA has much poorer graphing capabilities than Agilent had. In IXIA I mostly rely on exporting data and graphing with GNUPlot instead. For example you cannot graph packet loss as percentage in the tool itself. Which is huge annoyance to me, after coming from Agilent. Many times in QoS testing you'd have EF, AF, BE traffic, and you have expectation how many percentage in given situation should given class drop, doing this in Agilent is a chore. Agilent probably has best in the breed network with emulation capabilities. And focus generally seems to be in protocol testing/development where network emulation is tremendously useful. As the platforms are very expensive, not many SPs are using them, so they're not getting input from SPs what the boxes should be doing. This market is very poorly tapped, there is large demand in the market for proper testing equipment but it's just priced out of reach. I believe Spirent and Agilent should sell the hardware at-cost, then sell timed licenses, where maybe 1000h license would be today's full cost. Large segment of this market might not use box at all in some year and would generally only require modest hours from it. Bit harder to justify the cost with low use, compared to vendors who run them automated 24/7. -- ++ytti
Ugh. In all cases below, where it says Agilent it should say IXIA.
Many times in QoS testing you'd have EF, AF, BE traffic, and you have expectation how many percentage in given situation should given class drop, doing this in Agilent is a chore.
Agilent probably has best in the breed network with emulation capabilities. And focus generally seems to be in protocol testing/development where network emulation is tremendously useful.
As the platforms are very expensive, not many SPs are using them, so they're not getting input from SPs what the boxes should be doing. This market is very poorly tapped, there is large demand in the market for proper testing equipment but it's just priced out of reach. I believe Spirent and Agilent should sell the hardware at-cost, then sell timed licenses, where maybe 1000h license would be today's full cost. Large segment of this market might not use box at all in some year and would generally only require modest hours from it. Bit harder to justify the cost with low use, compared to vendors who run them automated 24/7.
-- ++ytti
Hi, This depends very much on which Ixia product you're using. In IxExplorer and IxNetwork require a lot of manual labor when setting up a test. IxLoad has a little less, but still. It is important to realize that most of the tests can be automated using TCL scripts. The company I'm currently with has an entire team doing nothing but test automation using Ixia TCL. Before the N2X acquisition by Ixia, I used both when I was still at Redback Networks. For access related test cases I found both of them to be equally suitable, with a slight preference towards IxNetwork because of their more intuitive gui. And pricing... yes, test gear is very expensive. But I guess that's because the market is pretty much dominated by Ixia and Spirent these days. Thanks, Sabri ----- Original Message -----
From: "Saku Ytti" <saku@ytti.fi> To: "Spencer Ryan" <sryan@arbor.net> Cc: "NANOG" <nanog@nanog.org>, "Mitchell Lewis" <mitchell@dash-networks.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2016 12:14:05 AM Subject: Re: Network traffic simulator
Ugh. In all cases below, where it says Agilent it should say IXIA.
Many times in QoS testing you'd have EF, AF, BE traffic, and you have expectation how many percentage in given situation should given class drop, doing this in Agilent is a chore.
Agilent probably has best in the breed network with emulation capabilities. And focus generally seems to be in protocol testing/development where network emulation is tremendously useful.
As the platforms are very expensive, not many SPs are using them, so they're not getting input from SPs what the boxes should be doing. This market is very poorly tapped, there is large demand in the market for proper testing equipment but it's just priced out of reach. I believe Spirent and Agilent should sell the hardware at-cost, then sell timed licenses, where maybe 1000h license would be today's full cost. Large segment of this market might not use box at all in some year and would generally only require modest hours from it. Bit harder to justify the cost with low use, compared to vendors who run them automated 24/7.
-- ++ytti
On 25 May 2016 at 23:34, Sabri Berisha <sabri@cluecentral.net> wrote:
This depends very much on which Ixia product you're using. In IxExplorer and IxNetwork require a lot of manual labor when setting up a test. IxLoad has a little less, but still. It is important to realize that most of the tests can be automated using TCL scripts. The company I'm currently with has an entire team doing nothing but test automation using Ixia TCL.
I think the problems I pointed out are not fixable by TCL. The hardware itself simply cannot burst for any reasonable period, it only paces. You could create multiple streams and have TCL turn the burst on occasionally, but how to synchronise this in nanosecond level with the main stream, and at least in tens of microseconds resolution in duration? You can't do that, it takes easily 10s to command it to do something on TCL. Lot can be done, but for device costing that much, and virtually no QoS testing can be done, I'm not happy camper. QoS by nature is not paced. And QoS configuration which looks perfect in IXIA may not work in real-life. And in my case conversely, real-life problem we had, we could not replicate in lab with IXIA. I know two other companies who experienced same, and IXIA SE was unable to solve it. It is very clear development of software is being dominated by hardware vendors, not by SPs. -- ++ytti
IXIA would be the only company I know of. Josh Luthman Office: 937-552-2340 Direct: 937-552-2343 1100 Wayne St Suite 1337 Troy, OH 45373 On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 8:17 AM, Mitchell Lewis <mitchell@dash-networks.com> wrote:
Hi,I am looking to validate the performance specs of a core router. I am looking for a network traffic simulator which can simulate 40 gbps of traffic. I am looking for a simulator with sfp+ ports. I am interested in any input as to brands to look at, build one myself etc. Thanks,Mitchell
Siama also does this. I don't own any. But I've used them with some of my customers. http://siamasystems.com/?page_id=2280 Regards, Ray Orsini – CEO Orsini IT, LLC – Technology Consultants VOICE DATA BANDWIDTH SECURITY SUPPORT P: 305.967.6756 x1009 E: ray@orsiniit.com TF: 844.OIT.VOIP 7900 NW 155th Street, Suite 103, Miami Lakes, FL 33016 http://www.orsiniit.com | View My Calendar | View/Pay Your Invoices | View Your Tickets -----Original Message----- From: NANOG [mailto:nanog-bounces@nanog.org] On Behalf Of Josh Luthman Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2016 4:05 PM To: Mitchell Lewis <mitchell@dash-networks.com> Cc: NANOG <nanog@nanog.org> Subject: Re: Network traffic simulator IXIA would be the only company I know of. Josh Luthman Office: 937-552-2340 Direct: 937-552-2343 1100 Wayne St Suite 1337 Troy, OH 45373 On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 8:17 AM, Mitchell Lewis <mitchell@dash-networks.com> wrote:
Hi,I am looking to validate the performance specs of a core router. I am looking for a network traffic simulator which can simulate 40 gbps of traffic. I am looking for a simulator with sfp+ ports. I am interested in any input as to brands to look at, build one myself etc. Thanks,Mitchell
On 2016-05-24 6:17 AM, Mitchell Lewis wrote:
Hi,I am looking to validate the performance specs of a core router. I am looking for a network traffic simulator which can simulate 40 gbps of traffic. I am looking for a simulator with sfp+ ports. I am interested in any input as to brands to look at, build one myself etc. Thanks,Mitchell
SPIRENT offers such products (along with Ixia already mentioned).
I’m in the process of building a box using MoonGen [1] and a supported Intel 82599 6 port SFP+ NIC [2] that is coming in at just under US$3800 all-in. Supposed to be able to drive at least the entire card at line rate for that price and have enough CPU and memory slots free to fill the box up with as many of these NICs as it will take if need be. [1] https://github.com/emmericp/MoonGen [2] http://www.interfacemasters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=153&Itemid=103
On May 24, 2016, at 8:17 AM, Mitchell Lewis <mitchell@dash-networks.com> wrote:
Hi,I am looking to validate the performance specs of a core router. I am looking for a network traffic simulator which can simulate 40 gbps of traffic. I am looking for a simulator with sfp+ ports. I am interested in any input as to brands to look at, build one myself etc. Thanks,Mitchell
I've used Spirent in the past. They do a hardware option, as well as a VM. Lots of things supported like BGP, and PPP. Regards, Dave On 24 May 2016 at 21:31, Jason Lixfeld <jason+nanog@lixfeld.ca> wrote:
I’m in the process of building a box using MoonGen [1] and a supported Intel 82599 6 port SFP+ NIC [2] that is coming in at just under US$3800 all-in. Supposed to be able to drive at least the entire card at line rate for that price and have enough CPU and memory slots free to fill the box up with as many of these NICs as it will take if need be.
[1] https://github.com/emmericp/MoonGen [2] http://www.interfacemasters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=153&Itemid=103
On May 24, 2016, at 8:17 AM, Mitchell Lewis <mitchell@dash-networks.com> wrote:
Hi,I am looking to validate the performance specs of a core router. I am looking for a network traffic simulator which can simulate 40 gbps of traffic. I am looking for a simulator with sfp+ ports. I am interested in any input as to brands to look at, build one myself etc. Thanks,Mitchell
Spirent can do this, Have worked with them at 100G. On 2016-05-24 08:17, Mitchell Lewis wrote:
Hi,I am looking to validate the performance specs of a core router. I am looking for a network traffic simulator which can simulate 40 gbps of traffic. I am looking for a simulator with sfp+ ports. I am interested in any input as to brands to look at, build one myself etc. Thanks,Mitchell
-- Jim Greene Lockheed Martin AFRL/RCM 2435 Fifth St WPAFB, OH. 45433 937-656-5692 greenejk.ctr@afrl.hpc.mil
On 24 May 2016 at 13:17, Mitchell Lewis <mitchell@dash-networks.com> wrote:
Hi,I am looking to validate the performance specs of a core router. I am looking for a network traffic simulator which can simulate 40 gbps of traffic. I am looking for a simulator with sfp+ ports. I am interested in any input as to brands to look at, build one myself etc. Thanks,Mitchell
COTS hardware is cheap enough, TRex should do what you want: http://trex-tgn.cisco.com/ Cheers, James.
If this is a one time thing, you're probably better off renting an Ixia or Spirent device. If you find yourself doing this a few times a year, might be worth investing in one. Not only for just throughput testing but spamming packets for testing DoS, testing convergence times of routing protocols, generating complex topology routing updates, etc. On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 6:25 PM, James Bensley <jwbensley@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi,I am looking to validate the performance specs of a core router. I am looking for a network traffic simulator which can simulate 40 gbps of
On 24 May 2016 at 13:17, Mitchell Lewis <mitchell@dash-networks.com> wrote: traffic. I am looking for a simulator with sfp+ ports.
I am interested in any input as to brands to look at, build one myself etc. Thanks,Mitchell
COTS hardware is cheap enough, TRex should do what you want:
Cheers, James.
-- Just my $.02, your mileage may vary, batteries not included, etc....
Hi Michell, the CCR series from MT is probably is as cost effictive a 10G+ Capable system that you can use to generate and measure the packet troughput of a core router under test... check out traffic generator http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Tools/Traffic_Generator you can generate small packets / large packets ... simulate TCP throughput and play wireshark pcap files.. .. it is prety comprehensive... somre of the configuration syntax is not that intutive ... but its worakable... any system that I have tested with traffic generator vs an expensive calibrated tests the results were always corelating between MT traffic generator and the expensive testers with an error margin of 1-2 % I hope that helps... Peace out On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 1:17 PM, Mitchell Lewis <mitchell@dash-networks.com> wrote:
Hi,I am looking to validate the performance specs of a core router. I am looking for a network traffic simulator which can simulate 40 gbps of traffic. I am looking for a simulator with sfp+ ports. I am interested in any input as to brands to look at, build one myself etc. Thanks,Mitchell
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On 5/24/16 05:17, Mitchell Lewis wrote:
Hi,I am looking to validate the performance specs of a core router. I am looking for a network traffic simulator which can simulate 40 gbps of traffic. I am looking for a simulator with sfp+ ports. I am interested in any input as to brands to look at, build one myself etc.
If you want DYI check out http://osnt.org/
Thanks,Mitchell
participants (14)
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chip -
Dave Bell -
David -
James Bensley -
Jason Lixfeld -
Jim Greene -
Josh Luthman -
Mitchell Lewis -
Ray Orsini -
Sabri Berisha -
Saku Ytti -
Scott Whyte -
Spencer Ryan -
Tom Smyth