Answers to your Questions

What are the test challenges for edge routers?

The sophistication and complexity of this new breed of edge routers makes testing them a challenging task. Essentially, every protocol implementation must be tested with respect to conformance, functionality, performance, and scalability. This is difficult not only because of the sheer number of protocols implemented on these devices, but also because a test tool must be capable of exceeding the protocol performance of the router in order to identify scalability limitations. Since the router must manage all protocols simultaneously, a test tool must be capable of concurrently emulating and scaling multiple protocols over the same test port. But even this is not enough. To ensure a router can perform under the complex, volatile conditions of today's networks and beyond, the device's data plane must be stressed along with its control plane. Therefore, while testing these complex multi-protocol implementations and services, an edge router must also be stressed to its limit with wire-speed traffic containing a realistic mix of packet types, lengths, and service classes. A test tool must offer an incredibly high port density and system scalability in order to generate thousands of traffic streams over the broad range of interfaces found on edge routers. Ultimately, edge routers must be able to meet QoS expectations, such as packet throughput, latency and loss, while managing dynamic topology and service changes at the same time. Taken together, these requirements make for challenging test situations, indeed!