IxNetwork Virtual Edition (VE)

Virtualized network performance testing

Problem: The Many Unknowns of Virtualizing Networks, Services, and Functions

Cloud computing and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) are creating a new paradigm of user experience. Users expect immediate access to a wide range of media-rich applications and services, instantly, from any location. Integrating virtualization across servers within a data center is key to creating an adaptable cloud network. Service providers are looking to accelerate the deployment of these new services, while reducing capital and operating expenses, and integrating NFV into their network. These new services require thorough testing to ensure functionality, performance, security, and reliability of the applications and devices, as well as the new infrastructure, to ensure it can deliver the touted advantages.

Solution: Reliable Testing of Network Migration from Physical to Virtual

IxNetwork VE is designed to test physical and virtual network infrastructures and devices, with the ability to validate conformance, functionality, performance, scalability, and convergence by using scaled protocol emulation and powerful traffic generation. IxNetwork VE can emulate protocols for routing and switching, data center ethernet, software-defined networking (SDN), broadband access, and industrial ethernet. It provides a flexible traffic generation and analysis solution to validate physical and virtual devices and networks at scale in 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, and 100 Gbps increments. For data center / cloud computing environments, IxNetwork VE can benchmark the performance of virtualized servers by simulating data center traffic between virtual machines. It enables the ability to deploy virtual test ports inside virtualized network devices, for end-to-end testing of NFV implementations.

The IxNetwork VE subscription model is aligned with enterprise project-based IT OpEx funding requirements. Acquire the tools quickly, scale up and scale down as project needs demand, and deploy anywhere with virtualization speed and simplicity.

Visit www.keysight.com for more information on the IxNetwork VE product.

Highlights

• Test the most critical components of virtual and physical network devices, including conformance, functionality, performance, and scalability.

• Accelerate the time to market by conducting tests earlier in the development lifecycle. Automate the tests to be re-used across the virtual or hardware versions of IxNetwork.

• Identify and isolate data center configuration and performance issues by using flexible test tool deployment, which can be easily moved, changed, or scaled up / down.

• Assess how virtual machine mobility impacts application reliability and scalability. Run the tests during live migration to ensure minimum network downtime.

• Validate next generation 5G / NFV networks by testing within Private Clouds / Telco Clouds powered by OpenStack or VMware vCenter orchestration.

• Understand how network applications are affected by deployment within different Public Clouds such as Amazon AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, or Oracle Cloud.

• Leverage subscription-based licensing that enables the flexibility of pay-as-you-grow OpEx model with different feature tiers available in multiple performance levels (such as 1G / 10G / 100G).

Key Features

• Provides comprehensive protocol coverage across a large set of networking technologies.

• Includes Routing, Switching, MPLS, Broadband Access, Data Center Networking, and SDN.

• Powerful traffic generation capabilities with DPDK Performance Acceleration for L23 Traffic.

• Hundreds of application traffic flows for Stateful L47 Traffic enabled by the AppLibrary engine.

• Powerful statistics engine with high level aggregated views as well as detailed drilldown views.

• Common IxNetwork user interface and experience across both Hardware / Virtual products.

• Easy transition between Hardware / Virtual platforms through common configurations and scripts.

• Enables end-to-end testing from a single pane of glass across virtual and physical environments.

• Comprehensive hypervisor support for standalone hypervisors such as VMware ESXi and KVM.

• Comprehensive orchestration support in Private Clouds based on VMware vCenter / OpenStack.

• Comprehensive support for Public Clouds inside Amazon AWS / Google Cloud / Microsoft Azure.

• Includes Virtual Machines with Virtual Chassis / Virtual Load Module / Virtual Test Appliance roles.

• Provides software optimized for protocol emulation and traffic generation in virtual environments.

• Flexible all-inclusive subscription licensing model reduces startup cost and enables easier growth.

• Common License Server shared among IxLoad VE, IxNetwork VE, BreakingPoint VE, and others.

• Full automation capabilities with REST, TCL, Perl, Python, and Ruby API support.