Abstract: A test system for testing a plurality of switches. A test platform requests the resources required for performing a test. A central configuration queue manager (CQM) determines whether the requested resources are available and allocates the resources to the test platform. However, Some resources may be allocated in blocking mode. That is, subsequent commands requesting such an allocated resource are queued until the resource is released/available. An example of a resource which may be allocated in blocking mode is a connection to a switch from a test platform. Other resources may be allocated in a non-blocking mode. An example of a resource which may be allocated in a non-blocking mode is an operator services trunk.