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.
