The Shenick excels at providing a realistic test environment for triple-play (Data, VoIP, Video) service evaluations. It provides a virtual client/server network, which can be hooked up to the DUT for realistic protocol and application behavior testing. This really beats setting up a complex test bench of real or VM guest nodes to achieve the same environment.
For P2P testing, the Shenick includes two emulation modes:
- Simple file transfer mode, where a pre-registered file is transferred between virtual peers
- A more sophisticated capture/replay mode, where a previously recorded live P2P conversation is played back between virtual peers.
Note: The Shenick shouldn't be confused as a performance testing and scaling tool. While packet blasters such as the Ixia and Smartbits can be used to evaluate DUT performance under increasing traffic loads, the Shenick has no "gas pedal". That is, the traffic generated is a function of the number of virtual client/server conversations. Therefore, the Shenick functions best for evaluating DUT behavior in the midst of realistic protocol exchanges, rather than simply scaling the traffic load up and down.
I wanted to take a moment to comment on your statement reading Spirent SmartBits and emphasize the fact that Spirent offers solutions that have the ability to generate highly realistic, statefull traffic. Spirent SmartBits, and now its successor, Spirent TestCenter™, excel at real world, statefull testing.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, with Spirent TestCenter VQAA module, not only can the user realistically model the Core (BGP, OSPF, MPLS, VPLS) but the Edge (PPPoE, IPSEC) with real-statefull traffic properly encapsulated. On the analysis side, we directly inspect the MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MPEG-2 TS streams of any bit rate and directly measure the perceived quality of video and audio. This can be blended with other statefull traffic like HTTP, FTP and SIP as well as with stateless packets to test real-world bursting scenarios, queue saturation scenarios, etc in the right context of encapsulation. We believe that testing with a data model that is object oriented, supported correct inheritance (single and multiple) is the properly way to test because, simply, it eliminates the difference between what is tested and what is deployed in production.
In summary, Spirent’s core test philosophy is enhanced realism with scale and performance. I will be happy to discuss further Spirent approach to testing next generation converged networks.
Thanks for clarifying Spirent's capabilities. My experience is limited to IXIA / Shenick, so your comments are informative and appreciated.
ReplyDeleteHello Frank,
ReplyDeleteI'm working specifEYE but I can't find detailed examples of setups or an accurate manual for it. Could you give me some hints? I'd appreciate it so much
Sorry, I meant diversifEYE, not specifEYE.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hear from you soon.
Hi Luciana,
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked with diversifEye, full manuals were available from the customer logon portion of the Shenick website. I don't see that capability present on www.shenick.com now, so I suggest you contact your account rep for info on how to obtain the manuals. They do have extensive docs available.