Architecture for an open source network tester
Muhammad Mateen Shahbaz, Gianni Antichi, Yilong Geng, Noa Zilberman, Adam Covington, Marc Bruyere, Nick Feamster, Nick McKeown, Bob Felderman, Michaela Blott, Andrew William Moore, Philippe Owezarski · Architectures for Networking and Communications Systems · 2013
To make networks more reliable, enormous resources are poured into all phases of the network-equipment lifecycle. The process starts early in the design phase when simulation is used to verify the correctness of a design, and continues through manufacturing and perhaps months of rigorously trials. With over 7,000 Internet RFCs and hundreds of IEEE standards, a typical piece of networking equipment undergoes hundreds of conformance tests before being deployed. Finally, when deployed in a production network, the equipment is tested regularly. Throughout the process, a relentless battery of tests and measurement help ensure the correct operation of the equipment.