Fabric Emulation Device for Congestion Control Testing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Network operators face challenges in determining appropriate settings for effective network congestion control in various real-world scenarios, requiring significant time and testing resources.
Innovation Solution
The system employs a fabric emulation device to emulate a data center switching fabric with emulated switch queues and congestion control mechanisms, allowing for the execution of test cases that invoke congestion control mechanisms and log performance metrics from emulated switch queues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If network operators test congestion control mechanisms in production environments with various traffic types and amounts, then they can determine appropriate settings for effective network congestion control, but significant time and testing resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the production network environment using a network emulator that replicates production network topology, devices, and traffic patterns. This virtual copy allows testing of congestion control mechanisms without consuming production testing resources, resolving the contradiction between obtaining reliable congestion control settings and minimizing testing time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary testing of congestion control mechanisms in the virtualized production environment before deploying to actual production. By conducting tests in advance in a realistic but isolated environment, the system determines appropriate congestion control settings without consuming production time or resources.
2Adaptability or versatility
If network operators test congestion control mechanisms with various amounts and types of traffic, then they can optimize performance for real-world scenarios, but significant testing resources are required
Solution Approach 1:
The network emulator serves multiple functions: it virtualizes production network topology, generates various traffic types and amounts, monitors congestion control mechanisms, and provides testing infrastructure. This multi-functional system allows comprehensive testing of congestion control adaptability without requiring separate resources for each testing function.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a virtual copy of the production environment that can be configured with various traffic scenarios. This single virtual environment replaces multiple physical testing resources, allowing operators to test congestion control mechanisms under diverse conditions without proportionally increasing resource consumption.
3Reliability
If extensive testing is performed to determine appropriate congestion control settings, then effective network congestion control is achieved, but significant time and resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
By creating a virtualized copy of the production network environment, the system enables extensive testing of congestion control mechanisms without the resource constraints of physical production environments. This virtual copy maintains realistic network behavior while allowing rapid, repeated testing scenarios that improve both reliability assessment and testing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs all necessary congestion control testing in advance within the virtualized environment before production deployment. This preliminary action ensures congestion control reliability is validated while maintaining high productivity, as virtual environment testing is significantly faster and more resource-efficient than production testing.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and computer readable media for testing a system under test (SUT). An example system includes a fabric emulation device configured for emulating a data center switching fabric using emulated switch queues and for emulating one or more congestion control mechanisms for network traffic on the data center switching fabric from the SUT. The system includes a test execution manager configured for: executing a test case causing the fabric emulation device to invoke at least a first congestion control mechanism; logging one or more metrics characterizing the first congestion control mechanism in response to invoking the first congestion control mechanism, wherein logging the one or more metrics comprises logging at least one performance metric from at least one emulated switch queue of the fabric emulation device; and outputting a test report based on logging the one or more metrics.