Abstract: A method and system for measuring a convergence time of a network. Test traffic including a plurality of packet groups may be transmitted and received via the network. The network may be instructed to redirect packets belonging to a selected packet group from a first port of the network to a second port of the network. A first test port unit coupled to the first port may determine an arrival rate for the selected packet group and store a below threshold timestamp when the arrival rate first falls below a predetermined threshold rate. A second test port unit coupled to the second port may determine an arrival rate for the selected packet group and store an above threshold timestamp when the arrival rate first equals or exceeds the predetermined threshold rate. The convergence time may be determined based on the below threshold timestamp and the above threshold timestamp.

Abstract: Apparatus, method, and storage medium for testing a network. A network card may include four transmit engines and four receive engines to respectively generate and process packets at a data rate of 10 GHz. The network card may be configured in a first mode to also include four 10 GHz network interface units coupled to respective ones of the four 10 GHz transmit engines and the four 10 GHz receive engines. The network card may be configured in a second mode to also include a coherent multiplexer to combine packets generated by the four 10 GHz transmit engines into test traffic at a 40 GHz data rate, a packet distribution engine to accept packets at a 40 GHz data rate and distribute the accepted packets between the four 10 GHz receive engines, and a 40 GHz network interface unit coupled to the coherent multiplexer and the packet distribution engine.

Abstract: There are disclosed apparatus, methods, and a storage medium for testing a network. A plurality of flows may be received and performance statistics for the flows may be measured and stored. At least a portion of the performance statistics may be analyzed in near real-time using a hierarchical array of processors.

Abstract: A method and system for measuring a convergence time of a network. Test traffic including a plurality of packet groups may be transmitted and received via the network. The network may be instructed to redirect packets belonging to a selected packet group from a first port of the network to a second port of the network. A first test port unit coupled to the first port may determine an arrival rate for the selected packet group and store a below threshold timestamp when the arrival rate first falls below a predetermined threshold rate. A second test port unit coupled to the second port may determine an arrival rate for the selected packet group and store an above threshold timestamp when the arrival rate first equals or exceeds the predetermined threshold rate. The convergence time may be determined based on the below threshold timestamp and the above threshold timestamp.

Abstract: Apparatus, method, and storage medium for testing a network. A network card may include four transmit engines and four receive engines to respectively generate and process packets at a data rate of 10 GHz. The network card may be configured in a first mode to also include four 10 GHz network interface units coupled to respective ones of the four 10 GHz transmit engines and the four 10 GHz receive engines. The network card may be configured in a second mode to also include a coherent multiplexer to combine packets generated by the four 10 GHz transmit engines into test traffic at a 40 GHz data rate, a packet distribution engine to accept packets at a 40 GHz data rate and distribute the accepted packets between the four 10 GHz receive engines, and a 40 GHz network interface unit coupled to the coherent multiplexer and the packet distribution engine.

Abstract: There are disclosed an apparatus, a machine readable media, and methods for testing a network. The apparatus may include a statistics engine coupled to a memory. The statistics engine may extract a packet group identifier (PGID) from a packet received from the network and retrieve traffic statistics associated with the PGID from the memory. The retrieved traffic statistics may include a packets-per-interval count and a packets-per-interval threshold, the packets-per-interval count indicating a number of packets received within a time interval of a sequence of time intervals. At the start of each new time interval, the statistics engine may set a flag indicating whether or not the packets-per-interval count for the previous time interval was equal to or greater than the packets-per-interval threshold. The flag may be saved in the memory as part of the traffic statistics associated with the extracted PGID.

Abstract: There is disclosed a scheduler for a traffic generator and a method of scheduling traffic. A working memory may stores N respective timer values for N count-down timers, where N is an integer greater than one. An arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) may update each timer value in rotation every N cycles of a clock. A temporal interpolator may delay output data from the ALU by a selectable delay period of 1 to N cycles of the clock.

Abstract: There are disclosed an apparatus, a machine readable media, and methods for testing a network. The apparatus may include a statistics engine coupled to a memory. The statistics engine may extract a packet group identifier (PGID) from a packet received from the network and retrieve traffic statistics associated with the PGID from the memory. The retrieved traffic statistics may include a packets-per-interval count and a packets-per-interval threshold, the packets-per-interval count indicating a number of packets received within a time interval of a sequence of time intervals. At the start of each new time interval, the statistics engine may set a flag indicating whether or not the packets-per-interval count for the previous time interval was equal to or greater than the packets-per-interval threshold. The flag may be saved in the memory as part of the traffic statistics associated with the extracted PGID.

Abstract: An apparatus, method, and storage medium for testing a network. A traffic generator may generate and transmit test traffic including a plurality of packet streams associated with a plurality of flow control groups. A traffic receiver may receive flow control packets from the network. Flow control logic may generate traffic class state data indicating a paused/not paused state for each of a plurality of traffic classes in accordance with the received flow control packets. A conversion table may map the traffic class state data into flow control data indicating a paused/not paused state for each of the plurality of flow control groups. The traffic generator may be configured to stop transmission of all packet streams associated with paused flow control groups in accordance with the flow control data.

Abstract: There is disclosed a scheduler for a traffic generator and a method of scheduling traffic. A working memory may stores N respective timer values for N count-down timers, where N is an integer greater than one. An arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) may update each timer value in rotation every N cycles of a clock. A temporal interpolator may delay output data from the ALU by a selectable delay period of 1 to N cycles of the clock.

Abstract: There are disclosed apparatus, methods, and a storage medium for testing a network. A plurality of flows may be received and performance statistics for the flows may be measured and stored. At least a portion of the performance statistics may be analyzed in near real-time using a hierarchical array of processors.