Advanced Ethernet and IP Test Platform up to 100 Gbps

Welcome to the latest issue of GL's Newsletter, offering insight into our comprehensive Ethernet and IP testing solution - PacketExpert™ 100G. Designed for testing Ethernet and IP at speeds up to 100 Gbps, PacketExpert™ 100G is ideal for evaluating high-speed backhaul networks and data center interconnects.

PacketExpert™ 100G

Overview

GL’s PacketExpert™ 100G is a hardware platform designed for wire-speed Ethernet and IP testing up to 100 Gbps. Unlike previous version of the PacketExpert™, the PacketExpert™ 100G is a full-fledged PC with specialized Network Interface Cards, GL’s proprietary PacketExpert™ software, optimized RAM, storage, processing, and cooling. The Ethernet ports support speeds of 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 25 Gbps, 40 Gbps, 50 Gbps and 100 Gbps.

User-Friendly Interface and Automated Testing

Available in both portable and rack-mount configurations, it can accommodate up to six 100 Gbps ports in a single appliance. The intuitive web-based user interface supports multi-user and multi-location access, allowing users to configure test parameters, start and stop tests, view real-time graphs, and export results to PDF and CSV. Furthermore, users can run Python scripts to automate complex testing scenarios.

Versatile Ports and Scalable Testing

The PacketExpert™ 100G hardware platform includes two high-speed 100 Gbps QSFP ports (Port 1 and Port 2). These versatile QSFP ports support 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 25 Gbps, 40 Gbps and 50 Gbps optical connections by utilizing QSFP+ adapters with respective SFP modules. This flexibility enables the platform to provide two optical ports for comprehensive Ethernet testing. GL can also provide up to eight ports in a single appliance.

Comprehensive Testing Capabilities

PacketExpert™ 100G can perform Bit Error Rate Testing (BERT), Loopback Testing, RFC 2544 Testing (throughput, packet loss, and latency measurements), and ITU-T Y.1564 methodologies. Each 100G port provides independent Ethernet/VLAN/MPLS/IP/UDP layer-wise testing at wire speed. BERT, RFC 2544, and Loopback applications are implemented on all transport layers, including Layer 2 (Ethernet), Layer 2.5 (VLAN/MPLS), Layer 3 (IPv4/IPv6), and Layer 4 (UDP). ITU-T Y.1564 is a standard carrier ethernet Service Activation Test (SAT) methodology that allows for complete validation of ethernet Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) in a single test.


Key Features

  • Portable PCIe based hardware supports 2 x 100G ports
  • Upgradeable to six ports in two ports increments
  • Supports 1G, 10G, 25G, 40G, 50G and 100G speeds on the same ports with suitable adapters and breakout cables
  • Supports QSFP28 form factor
  • The web-based interface, accessible through all standard web browsers across different operating systems, enables access to multiple servers across the LAN and supports multiple connected device
  • Simultaneously generate and receive Ethernet traffic at 100% wire-speed (bidirectional 100 Gbps rate)
  • Enhances communication reliability by supporting Forward Error Correction (FEC) techniques that add extra data to detect and fix errors across MAC, SFP Host, and SFP Media types
  • Support for frame lengths from 64 bytes to Jumbo frames (up to 16000 bytes)
  • Test at Ethernet (Layer 2), VLAN/Stacked MPLS (Layer 2.5), IP (Layer 3 including IPv4 and Ipv6) and UDP (Layer 4)
  • BERT supports industry standard PRBS patterns including 29-1, 211-1, 215-1, 220-1, 223-1, 229-1, and 231-1, as well as user defined patterns
  • BERT can be tested at Ethernet (Layer 2), up to 3 Stacked VLAN (Q-in-Q), up to 3 Stacked MPLS (Layer 2.5), IP (Layer 3) and UDP (Layer 4)
  • Capable of handling full wire speed BERT, in both directions Electrical/Optical ports
  • Real-time graphical representation of the combined Throughput, Bit Error rate, and Sync loss count can be plotted over time for BERT testing
  • RFC 2544 can be tested on Ethernet, VLAN, MPLS, IPv4/IPv6 and UDP layers and supports Throughput, Latency, Frame Loss, and Back-to-Back performance tests
  • Supports smart loopback with auto layer detection, and allows swapping source and destination addresses at MAC, IP, and UDP layers
  • Enables multi-device support for wire-speed BERT and simultaneous BERT/Loopback applications, increasing parallel BERT tests, multiple RFC 2544 tests, and all port loopback applications for maximizing simultaneous Loopback ports
  • Displays graphs and statistics for all the RFC 2544 tests
  • Complete validation of SLAs in a single test
  • Capability to generate traffic at throughput of CIR (guaranteed traffic), EIR (best effort bandwidth) and Traffic Policing rates (dropped bandwidth) ensuring Key Performance Indicators (KPI) validation
  • Displays KPIs such as Information Rate (IR) or Throughput, Frame Loss Ratio (FLR), Frame Transfer Delay (FTD) or Latency, and Frame Delay Variation (FDV) or Jitter simultaneously for multiple streams, and declares a Pass/Fail verdict
  • Python application programming interfaces enable scripting and automation

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