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Using RFC-2544 for Traffic Generation and Analysis
- 25 Sep 2024
- 9 Minutes to read
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Using RFC-2544 for Traffic Generation and Analysis
- Updated on 25 Sep 2024
- 9 Minutes to read
- Contributors
- Print
- PDF
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Use the traffic generator to pinpoint devices or network problems, or to measure current throughput, frame delay, and frame delay variation on a specific network segment. This article describes how to set up your Carrier Ethernet network to perform end-to-end testing.
With advanced traffic generation and monitoring capabilities, you can perform fully automated and documented turn-up tests.
You must pair the traffic generator with another device that loops the traffic back. The Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance (formerly Skylight) modules contain pre-programmed loopbacks for certain types of layer-2 frames (LBM). When testing with layer-3 packets (UDP), you must configure the peer unit with a loopback that matches the test traffic, and with a swapping action on the source/destination MAC addresses, IP addresses, and UDP port numbers.
This figure illustrates a typical network for traffic generation tests:
You can use the traffic generator to generate one to four flows of test traffic and provide separate results for each flow. Each flow has specific characteristics, such as traffic type and bit rate. You have the following choices when setting up each flow:
- Layer-2 and layer-3
- VLAN or VLAN-in-VLAN encapsulation of test traffic
- Different traffic types and frame/packet sizes
Setting Up the Traffic Generator
You can set up the traffic generator to send one to four traffic flows, each having a different traffic type and VLAN. To view the elements that can be configured for each traffic flow, refer to the table RFC-2544 generator configuration (SAT ▶ RFC-2544 ▶ Generator ▶ Configuration).
Note: The Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance modules contain pre-programmed loopbacks for layer-2 frames (LBM-based). For layer-3 testing with UDP segments, you need to program the peer unit to have a manual loopback to match the test traffic, with a swapping action on the MAC addresses, IP addresses, and port numbers. You can do this by using the OAM menu.
▶ To set up the traffic generator:
Access the page SAT ▶ RFC-2544 ▶ Generator ▶ Configuration.
Click the Add button to add new test or click the Port Name of an existing test to edit its settings.
Complete the required fields, and then click Apply.
Note: The page content varies, depending on the traffic type you select.
For information on specific parameters, refer to the following table.
RFC-2544 generator configuration (SAT ▶ RFC-2544 ▶ Generator ▶ Configuration)
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Description | A description to identify the flow and its characteristics. |
| Outgoing port | Port on which to send the flow(s). |
| Enable flow(s) | Select to enable the flow(s) included in the test. |
| Exclude VLAN size | Select so that when excluding the VLAN size, the frame length increases by the size of the VLAN tag header(s) being added to the frame. |
First to Fourth packet header settings
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Type | Type of test traffic:
|
| MAC destination | Peer MAC address. Applies to layer-2 traffic only. |
| Y.1731 MEG level | Maintenance Entity Group level. Applies to layer-2 traffic only. For details, refer to ITU-T Y.1731. Range: 0–7 |
| Destination IP address | IP address of the remote unit interface. Applies to layer-3 traffic only. |
| DSCP | DiffServ Code Point to set in the generated packets. Applies to layer-3 traffic only. |
| Source port | Near-end UDP port number used to generate the test's PDU. Applies to layer-3 traffic only. |
| Destination port | Far-end UDP port number associated with the IP address of the unit that will receive, process, and display the traffic statistics and report. Applies to layer-3 traffic only. Note: You must set the port to a value in the range of 0–65535 but you cannot set the destination port value to 8793, since this is Accedian's proprietary port number. For information on destination ports default values, refer to "Network Requirements — TCP/UDP Ports". A port cannot be defined as the UDP port here if it is already in use for TWAMP. In the case of the following features, the same UDP port could be defined to any SAT instances as Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance Sensor Control allows to start only one SAT instance at the same time on the same remote device.
|
| TTL | Time To Live (TTL) value of the packets transmitted on the flow. Applies to layer-3 traffic only. |
| Enable VLAN 1 header | Select to encapsulate all frames with one VLAN header. |
| VLAN 1 ID | First VLAN ID. When enabled, all test frames are encapsulated with the specified VLAN ID. |
| VLAN 1 Ethernet type | First VLAN Ethernet type. Applies only when the VLAN 1 header is enabled. Possible values are:
|
| VLAN 1 priority | First VLAN priority bits. Applies only when the VLAN 1 header is enabled. |
| VLAN 1 CFI | First VLAN Canonical Format Indicator (CFI). Applies only when the VLAN 1 header is enabled. |
| Enable VLAN 2 header | Select to encapsulate all frames with two VLAN headers (as in QinQ). Note: VLAN 1 must be enabled to use two VLAN headers. |
| VLAN 2 ID | Second VLAN ID. Applies only when the VLAN 2 header is enabled. When enabled, all test frames are encapsulated with the second specified VLAN ID (inner VLAN). |
| VLAN 2 Ethernet type | Second VLAN Ethernet type. Applies only when the VLAN 2 header is enabled. Possible values are:
|
| VLAN 2 priority | Second VLAN priority bits. Applies only when the VLAN 2 header is enabled. |
| VLAN 2 CFI | Second VLAN Canonical Format Indicator (CFI). Applies only when the VLAN 2 header is enabled. |
First to Fourth flow profile settings
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Flow name | Name assigned to the flow for reference in the Results section. |
| Traffic type | Type of traffic. May be one of the following:
|
| Bit rate (Kbps) | For constant traffic type, enter a bit rate that does not exceed the capacity of the outgoing port used for that test. Supported values vs. step size are:
|
| Packets per burst | For burst traffic type, specify the number of frames to send per period. |
| Inter-burst gap (ms) | For burst traffic type, specify the period, expressed in milliseconds, between the beginning of two successive bursts of frames. |
| Size type | Select whether frame sizes are fixed or random. |
| Size | For a fixed frame, specify the packet size. Acceptable values range from 64 bytes to 10240 bytes. Note: Modify the port MTU sizes as required to accommodate your selection. |
| Minimum size | For random frame sizes, specify the minimum value. The size of test frames will vary randomly between the minimum and maximum values you indicate. Acceptable values range from 64 bytes to 10240 bytes. Note: Modify the port MTU sizes as required to accommodate your selection. |
| Maximum size | For random frame sizes, specify the maximum value. The size of test frames will vary randomly between the minimum and maximum values you indicate. Acceptable values range from 64 bytes to 10240 bytes. Note: Modify your port MTU sizes to accommodate your selection. |
| Duration type | Duration type may be one of the following:
|
| Duration (s) | Specify the duration in seconds. Range: 1 to 604,800 seconds. |
| Duration (packets) | Specify the duration in packets. Range: 1 to 4,000,000,000 packets. |
Starting the Traffic Generator and Viewing Test Results
▶ To view a summary of the traffic generator results:
Access the page SAT ▶ RFC-2544 ▶ Generator ▶ Results.
When you first enter this page, the results of the last test performed dipslay.
To start a new test, click Start.
Tip: You can stop the test manually at any time by clicking Stop.
Click details of the first or second flow to view the detailed results for this flow.
For more information on these results, refer to the following table.
RFC-2544 Generator Results (SAT ▶ RFC-2544 ▶ Generator ▶ Results)
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Flow name | Name assigned to a flow. |
Transmit statistics
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Transmitted packets | Total packets transmitted by this flow for this test. |
| Transmitted bytes | Total bytes transmitted by this flow for this test. |
| L1 Rate (Mbps) | Transmitting bit rate of Layer-1 traffic, expressed in Mbps. |
| L2 Rate (Mbps) | Transmitting bit rate of Layer-2 traffic, expressed in Mbps. |
| State | The flow's current state may be one of the following:
|
| Working rate | The flow's working rate may be Layer-1 or Layer-2. |
Receive statistics
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Received packets | Total packets received by the generator’s analysis component for this test after being looped back by the peer device. |
| Received bytes | Total bytes received by this generator (analysis component) for this test. |
| L1 Rate (Mbps) | Receiving bit rate of Layer-1 traffic, expressed in Mbps. |
| L2 Rate (Mbps) | Receiving bit rate of Layer-2 traffic, expressed in Mbps. |
| OOO or duplicates | Out-of-order or duplicate frames received by this generator (analysis component). |
| Number of gaps | Number of gaps contained in the numbered sequence. Each frame contains a sequence number allowing to identify the gap. |
| Maximum gap | Maximum size, expressed in frames, of the received gaps. |
Two-way delay
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Instantaneous (μs) | Two-way instantaneous delay, expressed in microseconds. The delay is measured for each frame from the generator to the loopback device and back to the generator. |
| Average (μs) | Average two-way packet delay, expressed in microseconds. The delay is measured for each packet from the generator to the loopback device and back to the generator (analysis). |
| Minimum (μs) | Minimum two-way delay, expressed in microseconds. |
| Maximum (μs) | Maximum two-way delay, expressed in microseconds. |
Two-way delay variation
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Instantaneous (μs) | Two-way instantaneous delay variation value, expressed in microseconds. The delay variation is measured for each frame from the generator to the loopback device and back to the generator. |
| Average (μs) | The average two-way delay variation, expressed in microseconds. |
| Minimum (μs) | Minimum two-way delay variation, expressed in microseconds. |
| Maximum (μs) | Maximum two-way delay variation, expressed in microseconds. |
Test times
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Test started at | Time when the test was started. |
| Test stopped at | Time when the test was completed or halted. |
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