Key Features

Fibre Channel

• Simultaneous traffic generation and analysis at wire speed for 10x (IQS-8535 only), 4x, 2x and 1x Fibre Channel rates
• BER testing of Fibre Channel circuits
• Fully integrated FC-0, FC-1 and FC-2 logical layer testing, enabling fabric and port login (F-port and N-port login)
• Round-trip latency measurements for assessing the capability of a link
• Buffer-to-buffer credit estimation for optimal configuration of Fibre Channel nodes

Ethernet

• Simultaneous traffic generation and analysis at wire speed for 10 Gbit/s LAN/WAN (IQS-8535 only), 1 Gbit/s optical, 100 Mbit/s optical, 1 Gbit/s electrical, 100 Mbit/s electrical and 10 Mbit/s electrical Ethernet rates
• EtherBERT™ for bit-error-rate testing of 10, 100, 1000 Mbit/s and 10 Gbit/s Ethernet circuits
• Complete carrier Ethernet services testing portfolio: PBB-TE (MAC-in-MAC), MPLS and IPv4/IPv6
• RFC 2544 (throughput, latency, frame loss and back-to-back) for Ethernet service performance assessment
• Bidirectional RFC 2544 testing for meshed network topologies
• Q-in-Q capability for up to three layers of stacked VLANs
• Broad set of remote control commands using SCPI
• Remote access through Visual Guardian Lite software, Remote Desktop, VNC and WebVNC
• Easy-to-use interface for configurable screens, customization of test routines, and real-time and historical performance reporting

IQS-8525/8535 Packet Blazer modules provide comprehensive testing capabilities for Fibre Channel network deployments, supporting multiple Fibre Channel interfaces.

Applications

Since most storage area networks (SANs) cover large distances and Fibre Channel has stringent performance requirements, it is imperative to verify that the network equipment meets performance requirements at each phase of network deployment to ensure appropriate service levels. EXFO’s IQS-8525/8535 modules provide wire-speed traffic generation at FC-0, FC-1 and FC-2 logical layers, allowing BER testing for link integrity measurements. In addition, latency, buffer-to-buffer credit measurements for optimization as well as login capabilities are supported.

Bit-Error-Rate Testing (BERT)

Bit-error-rate testing is commonly used in R&D, software verification and manufacturing to ensure proper functionality and reliability of the data path in the network equipment and on the fiber. BERT uses a pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) encapsulated into a Fibre Channel frame, making it possible to go from a frame-based error measurement to a bit-error-rate measurement.

Latency

Transmission of frames in a network is not instantaneous and is subject to multiple delays caused by the propagation delay in the fiber and by processing time inside each piece of network equipment. Latency is the total accumulation of delays between two end points. Some applications such as transaction processing and storage area networks are very sensitive to latency.

It is therefore critical to properly characterize the network equipment’s latency when offering Fibre Channel services. From the latency measurement that they perform, the IQS-8525/8535 modules estimate buffer-to-buffer credit value requirements.

Buffer-to-Buffer Credit Estimation

In order to regulate traffic flow and congestion, Fibre Channel ports use “buffers” to temporarily store frames. The number of frames a port can store is referred to as a “buffer credit”. Each time a frame is received by a port, an acknowledgement frame is sent. The buffer-to-buffer credit threshold refers to the amount of frames a port can transmit without receiving a single acknowledgement.

This crucial configuration parameter has a strong impact on latency and needs to be carefully selected for optimal equipment and network performance. The value is commonly calculated by taking into account latency in the network equipment, the data rate and the travel delay on the fiber. The IQS-8525/8535 modules are capable of estimating buffer credit values with respect to latency by calculating the distance according to the round-trip latency time. This value is critical when testing network equipment to ensure compliance with any network configuration, whether the latency is large or small.

Login Testing

Most new-generation transport devices (xWDM or SONET/SDHmux) supporting Fibre Channel are no longer fully transparent; they also have increased built-in intelligence, acting more as Fibre Channel switches. With switch fabric login ability, the IQS-8525/8535 Packet Blazer modules support connections to a remote location through a fabric or semi-transparent networks.

The login process not only permits the unit to connect through a Fibre Channel switch, but it also exchanges some of the basic port characteristics (such as buffer-to-buffer credit and class of service) in order to efficiently transport the traffic through the network. The login feature allows automatic detection of port/fabric login (often referred to as N-port and F-port login), login status (successful login, in progress, failure and logout) and response to remote buffer-to-buffer advertised credit.

EXFO’s IQS-8525/8535 Packet Blazers offer a wide range of Ethernet test functions aimed at performance validation and reliability testing, supporting multiple Ethernet interfaces, both optical and electrical.

Applications

The IQS-8525/8535 Packet Blazer modules deliver the features required to perform common Ethernet service testing, namely BER and RFC 2544 testing.

BER Testing

Because the transparent transport of Ethernet services over physical media is becoming common, Ethernet is increasingly carried across a variety of layer 1 media over longer distances. This creates a growing need for the certification of Ethernet transport on a bit-per-bit basis, which can be done using bit-error-rate testing (BERT). BERT uses a pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) encapsulated into an Ethernet frame, making it possible to go from a frame-based error measurement to a bit-error-rate measurement.

This provides the bit-per-bit error count accuracy required for the acceptance testing of physical-medium transport systems. In addition to BER testing, the IQS-8525/8535 Packet Blazer modules also provide service disruption time (SDT) measurements.

RFC 2544 Testing

RFC 2544 is a test methodology commonly used by network operators to validate the performance of their switched Ethernet network and define SLA and QoS parameters with their customers. As such, it is critical that network equipment manufacturers perform RFC 2544 testing to ensure optimal results of their equipment.

The IQS-8525/8535 Packet Blazer modules come with a complete set of RFC 2544 test capabilities, including:

• Throughput testing
• Burst (back-to-back) testing
• Frame loss analysis
• Latency measurement

Dual Test Set

RFC 2544 is optimal for traditional network testing, but is less relevant in today’s meshed networks where ingress and egress data can likely take different paths. EXFO’s dual test set capability—using two end ports and two test sets—allows for concurrent bidirectional RFC 2544 testing through the direct control of only one test set (two test sets are required for local/remote testing, also known as head-to-head testing). This brings better visibility to each test direction (local to remote, remote to local) than by viewing round-trip results.

IP Test Tools

The IQS-8525/8535 Packet Blazer modules provide tools to execute connectivity tests at the IP layer: ping and traceroute.

Ping

This tool sends a ping command to a specific destination IP address configured by the client in order to determine if the client is reachable within a given delay. When reached, the destination IP replies to this ping request and statistics are collected by the local module from these replies. Results collected include the response delay for each ping request, round-trip time measurement and a count of frames sent and received. The user has the ability to configure the parameters of the ping test.

Traceroute

This tool lists all client-configured routers identified between the local and the destination IP address, within a given delay. When link routers respond to the ping command, the route and statistics are collected by the local module from these replies. Results collected include the IP address of routers in the link and the response delay, round-trip time measurement and a count of frames sent and received. The user also has the ability to configure the parameters of the traceroute.

Ethernet QoS Measurements

Data services are making a significant shift toward supporting a variety of applications on the same network. Multiservice offerings such as triple-play services have fuelled the need for QoS testing to ensure the condition and reliability of each service.

The IQS-8525/8535 Packet Blazer allows simultaneous simulation and qualification of different applications through its multistream application. The user has the capability to configure up to ten streams with different Ethernet and IP QoS parameters such as VLAN ID (802.1Q), VLAN Priority (802.1p), VLAN stacking (802.1ad Q-in-Q), ToS and DSCP. Specific stream profiles to transmit VoIP, video and data can be selected for each stream. Throughput, latency, frame loss and packet jitter (RFC 3393) measurements are also available simultaneously for each stream, allowing fast and in-depth qualification of performance criteria.

EtherSAM: The New Standard in Ethernet Testing

ITU-T Y.1564 is the new standard for turning up and troubleshooting Carrier Ethernet services. This methodology is completely adapted to today’s Ethernet services especially mobile backhaul and commercial services. Up to now, RFC 2544 has been the most widely used methodology. However, it was designed for network device testing in the lab, not for services testing in the field. ITU-T Y.1564 is the first testing standard developed for the field. It has a number of advantages over the RFC 2544 including validation of critical SLA criteria such as packet jitter and QoS measurements. This methodology is also significantly faster, therefore saving time and resources while optimizing QoS.

Contrary to other methodologies, EtherSAM supports new multiservice offerings. It can simulate all types of services that will run on the network and simultaneously qualify all key SLA parameters for each of these services. Moreover, it validates the QoS mechanisms provisioned in the network to prioritize the different service types, resulting in more accurate validation and much faster deployment and troubleshooting. EtherSAM is comprised of two phases, the service configuration test and the service performance test.

Service Configuration Test

The service configuration test consists in sequentially testing each service. It validates that the service is properly provisioned and that all specific KPIs or SLA parameters are met. A ramp test and a burst test are performed to verify the committed information rare (CIR), excess information rate (EIR), committed burst size (CBS) and excess burst size (EBS).

Service Performance Test

Once the configuration of each individual service is validated, the service performance test simultaneously validates the quality of all the services over time.

EtherSAM Bidirectional Results

EXFO’s EtherSAM approach proves even more powerful as it executes the complete ITU-T Y.1564 test with bidirectional measurements. Key SLA parameters are measured independently in each test direction, thus providing 100 % first-time-right service activation—that is the highest level of confidence in service testing.

MPLS, MPLS-TP and PBB-TE: Carrier Ethernet Transport Solution Testing

As technologically-sophisticated business and residential consumers continue to drive demand for premium, high-bandwidth data services such as voice and video, service providers worldwide are evolving their transport infrastructures to support these bandwidth and quality intensive services. No longer is an all-IP core sufficient – providers must now expand their IP convergence to the edge/metro network, in a cost-effective, quality-assured manner. Ethernet has long been accepted as an inexpensive, scalable data networking solution in LAN environments. The stringent quality of service expectations require solutions that tap into the cost-effectiveness of Ethernet without sacrificing the benefits of connection-oriented (albeit it costly) time-division multiplexing (TDM) solutions such as SONET/SDH.

Ethernet tunneling technologies such as Provider Backbone Bridge-Traffic Engineering or PBB-TE (also referred to as PBT) and transport MPLS address these requirements. These technologies enable connection-oriented Ethernet, providing carriers with a means of offering scalable, reliable and resilient Ethernet services. The PBB-TE and MPLS options on the IQS-8525/8535 Packet Blazer offer service providers a comprehensive field tool to efficiently qualify Ethernet services from end-to-end, validating metro and core tunneling technologies.

TCP Throughput

The Internet protocol (IP) and transmission control protocol (TCP) together form the essence of TCP/IP networking. While IP deals with the delivery of packets, TCP provides the integrity and assurance that the data packets transmitted by one host are reliably received at the destination. Applications such as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), e-mail or file transfer protocol (FTP) depend on TCP as their delivery assurance mechanism within networks.

Customers deploying such applications expect not only physical and link level SLAs from their service providers, but assurance that their TCP traffic requirements will be supported across the network. The TCP throughput feature on the Packet Blazer™ offers Ethernet service providers the capability of measuring and validating that the services offered to their customers support the TCP traffic performance they expect.

Ethernet Advanced Troubleshooting

The IQS-8525/8535 provides a number of advanced features essential for in-depth troubleshooting in the event of network failures or impairments. The advanced filtering option allows the user to configure up to ten filters each with up to four operands, which will be applied to the received Ethernet traffic. Detailed statistics are available for each configured filter providing the user with critical information required to pinpoint specific problems. Additionally, the IQS-8525/8535 supports a traffic scan feature that allows quick identification and monitoring of VLAN and MPLS flows on the network. This can help clearly identify top bandwidth users.

The IQS-8525/8535 also supports full-line-rate data capture and decode. This key troubleshooting tool enables field technicians to easily identify complex network issues. The comprehensive capture feature includes the capability to configure capture filters and triggers to quickly zero-in on network events.

Automation and scripting, traditionally found in manufacturing applications, is gaining momentum in system verification testing and manufacturing environments to facilitate repeatability and improve quality and efficiency. EXFO is committed to addressing manufacturing and system verification test (SVT) needs with its automation features.

The IQS-8525/8535 Packet Blazer modules include a wide range of SCPI commands (standard commands for programmable instrumentation), which are powerful enough to provide repeatable testing of complex configurations, yet simple enough to create a 10gigabit BERT in as little as six commands. As with all IQS-8500 series modules, the IQS-8525/8535 offer an intuitive macro recorder enabling users to easily record test actions and automatically create test scripts in VB.Net.

Flexible Remote Access

Through their optional Visual Guardian Lite management software, the IQS-8525/8535 Packet Blazer modules support remote testing, monitoring and data analysis via standard Ethernet with the same familiar user interface. In addition, users can remotely access the IQS-600 platform with a simple Web browser, a VNC client or through Remote Desktop to control any module housed in the platform.

Part of EXFO’s Layer 0/1/2/3/4 Unified Testing Solution

EXFO’s IQS-600 platform can house a mix of optical test modules, SONET/SDH and OTN modules, as well as datacom modules (Ethernet and Fibre Channel). This makes the IQS-600 the industry’s first truly integrated and unified testing platform. This multilayer, multitechnology modular test platform simplifies upgrades and is the ideal solution for system verification, manufacturing and R&D testing environments.