Xena Overview

Products Platform Overview—click here to view Xena Test Platform in pdf

Test components

The Xena test platform provides a flexible and high port count L2-3 test platform, with Ethernet interfaces to any 3rd party L4-7 applications and test software. Clients connect with standard Ethernet GigE interfaces to the test platform, with support for remote access using IP addressing. The Xena wire speed test modules are provided in high-density 1U and 4U chassis form factors, with full support for multi-user environments for both interactive GUI based and automated script based test sessions.

Stream oriented traffic generation

Users can define and generate hundreds of transmit and receive streams with their own unique traffic profile. Each stream can generate 100k’s of unique traffic flows by using programmable packet field modifiers to increment or randomize field values such as IP addresses or VLAN identifiers, making it easy to scale your tests beyond the maximum performance parameters of your network or device. The stream rate can be defined as a percentage of line rate, frames per second, bit-rate, and the injection of packets can be controlled as a single-packet shot, number of packets, time duration, or in continuous mode. Traffic profiles can be defined as uniform or bursty, and custom packet editing is facilitated by a graphically driven field editor that allows the user to build any packet format from Ethernet frames through any user-defined packet format, in addition to predefined packet templates for Ethernet, VLAN, IPv4, and IPv6.

Real time analysis and reporting

Packet flow statistics are tracked per stream, or per user defined filters which can include any combination of programmable field values. Incoming packet streams are automatically identified using optionally auto inserted Test Payload fields. Analysis of traffic throughput, latency, jitter, loss, sequence, and misorder errors is performed real-time per received stream with 16 ns resolution. Users can capture packets at wire speed on each port for detailed analysis, which in conjunction with event triggering and programmable filters provides a unique ability to identify and isolate performance issues.

API scripting from any tool environment

An open specification text based API allows the user to script for test automation purposes from any tool and scripting environment, only requiring that the scripting environment support text and line-based TCP/IP communication. Any changes made through the API are automatically reflected on the GUI. This unique and easy to use scripting-from-anywhere concept allows the user to access the Xena test platform from any proprietary or commercial scripting environment based on languages such as Tcl or Python development environments.

External L4-7 traffic ports

The wire speed L2-3 traffic generation and analysis, combined with an open and transparent interface to 3rd party generated layer 4-7 traffic provides a scalable and flexible test environment, ideal for stress and functional testing at L2-7.