Unified Communications (UC) Strategies have featured an article on Path Based Network Testing.

Titled, Voice & Video Need Path-Based Network Testing and written John Bartlett, the article d.iscusses techniques for testing network designs

Part of my consulting practice focuses on the network design needed to properly support voice and video conferencing (real-time) traffic on an IP network. One of the big disconnects today is on the testing side. Many enterprises are not using the right kind of test tools to find and fix problems in real-time traffic support.

Path-based testing is a methodology whereby the test tool is able to test the complete network path used by a voice or video stream. These tools often have an appliance or an agent in the device that can generate synthetic traffic, and flow that traffic across the network to another similar device. This flow of traffic across the network can then be tested for the key characteristics necessary to the support of real-time traffic, including packet loss, jitter and latency.

The article can be found at  Voice & Video Need Path-Based Network Testing.

Scalable Network Technologies, Inc. (SNT), the leader in wireless network modeling and simulation, announced that the company has developed a software capability that enables integration of realistic cyber warfare communication effects into a Live Virtual Constructive (LVC) environment. The result is an advanced system that provides more realistic training and improved analysis capabilities to counter the increasing vulnerability of military systems to computer network attacks (CNA).

Although current generation computer-based battlefield simulations deliver experiential realism in force positioning, troop movement, supply routing, enemy force detection/engagement, and damage calculation – next generation net-centric systems open up a new domain of cyber vulnerability that today’s war gaming systems don’t encompass.  Without the inclusion of cyber warfare communications effects, battlefield modeling and simulation can be overly optimistic, risking and/or perpetuating negative training. By integrating high fidelity communication models that incorporate network attack/defense, as well as performance aberrations caused by various environmental factors – the ability to analyze and train for the impact of cyber warfare on mission outcome is dramatically improved.

Integration Into Battlefield Simulation

This new synthetic cyber warfare test bed is capable of realistically representing a network-centric battlespace under cyber attack for testing and training applications. The test bed is achieved by integrating SNT’s EXata™/cyber with COTS Computer Generated Forces (CGF). Cyber warfare models (jammer, eavesdropper, distributed denial of service, network attack) are developed and implemented within EXata/cyber. For the integration, both tools take advantage of an Interface Control Document (ICD) that works via the HLA signal and data interactions to facilitate communications modeling between HLA federates.

Members of SNT’s technical staff will deliver a paper titled “Introducing a Cyber Warfare Communications Effect Model to Synthetic Environments” at I/ITSEC, the world’s largest modeling, simulation & training conference, on Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 5:00 PM in Room S320D. In the presentation the authors describe how they integrated a cyber warfare communications model into a Live Virtual Constructive (LVC) environment, and examine the impact of using the cyber warfare model versus the limitations of simplified communication models in synthetic environments.  The I/ITSEC Conference is being held at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL.

SwiftTest Inc., a developer of powerful and efficient commercial IP network testing tools and solutions, announced that it has joined the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) Cloud Storage Initiative (CSI).

SNIA leads the industry in developing and promoting standards, technologies, and educational programs to empower organizations in the management and protection of information. The SNIA launched the CSI in October 2009 to support industry leaders committed to driving the growth and success of the global cloud storage market.

SwiftTest supplies the storage industry with premiere testing tools that enable functional and performance testing of IP networked storage, storage-aware network devices, and storage services. For testing today’s unified storage systems, SwiftTest is at the forefront with a single test tool capable of generating multi-protocol workloads including file (CIFS/SMB/SMB2 and NFS), block (iSCSI), and HTTP concurrently. Testing storage systems at cloud scale presents unique challenges which SwiftTest addresses head on.

“SwiftTest joins an ever growing list of leading-edge SNIA member companies that are leading the charge to establish data storage as a service, as part of the industry-wide movement to enterprise-class cloud computing services,” said Wayne M. Adams, SNIA Board of Directors Chairman. “SwiftTest’s innovative tools and testing expertise enables solution providers and service providers to deliver robust cloud storage services, as well as will enable SNIA CSI to further educate the market with proven best practices and rapidly implement the SNIA CDMI standard.”

Ixia, who sells converged IP network test products, has unveiled  its next-generation testing architecture that “breaks the terabit traffic generation barrier for testing evolving media-rich networks,” according to company officials.

Title Xcellon, the product family is being billed as combining “the processing power of multi-core CPUs to deliver up to 12 times the per-port performance of the nearest competitor” by Ixia officials. The products let carriers, enterprises and equipment manufacturers “ensure that their networks and devices are ready to handle increasingly complex traffic from millions of mobile and fixed subscribers.”

The Xcellon-Flex product line “breaks the terabyte traffic generation barrier, with full layer 2-7 core network testing,” company officials say, adding that it “simulates four times the connections per second rate currently available, emulating over 80 million video sessions simultaneously.”

JDS Uniphase, a provider of broadband and optical services, has announced three new 10GbE testing tools that will accelerate the development, verification, benchmarking, and interoperability testing of next-generation converged ethernet networks with emerging Data Center Bridging and Fiber Channel over Ethernet technology.

With the Xgig High Density 10GbE Load Tester Solution, JDS Uniphase ( JDSU | PowerRating)builds on the storage area network test portfolio with a new tool for the local area network and converged 10GbE ethernet network environment.

Its benefits include: port density with 32 ports in a single 3U chassis; generations of load testers; support for layer 2-3 testing of 10GbE converged ethernet networks; and automated testing and benchmarking.

The Xgig 10GbE Delay Emulator and the Medusa Labs Test Tools (MLTT) Suite version 4.0 further extend JDSU’s 10GbE portfolio. The Delay Emulator measures the impact of long fiber runs on network latency and performance with advanced delay capabilities and configuration.

MLTT 4.0 now offers support for Transmission Control Protocol applications, making MLTT a software-based commercial analysis and benchmarking tool to provide accurate visibility into storage area network, local area network, and converged ethernet network performance while operating at line rate, the company added.

Dave Buse, general manager of storage network test business unit at JDSU, said: “JDSU continues to lead the 10GbE market by providing the most comprehensive suite of test and analysis tools available for ethernet.

By offering advanced products with innovations such as the industry’s highest port density, JDSU simplifies design and test of network equipment and helps manufacturers claim critical early market share of emerging converged ethernet network applications.”

The NetTool Pro Series II Inline Testers, now available through Specialized Products Company, offers network technicians a one-package solution to a myriad of connectivity problems.

Now available for immediate shipment from Specialized Products Company, http://www.specialized.net/Specialized/Content/Fluke-Networks-NetTool-Pro-SeriesII-Inline-Network-Testers.aspx, are the Fluke NetTool Pro NTS2-Pro Inline Network Tester, the Fluke Networks NTS2-NSKIT Service Kit and the Fluke Networks Pro Series II NTS2-VOIP VoIP Inline Network tester.  The NetTool Pro Series II can easily and efficiently provide a one-source system to test cable, network and PC configurations.

Capable of verifying network connectivity and availability quickly, the Fluke NetTool Pro NTS2-Pro Inline Network Tester combines powerful NetProve diagnostics, inline Gigabit vision and VoIP Phone PC configuration in one palm-sized tool.  The NetTool Pro NTS2 comes standard with a rubber boot, USB interface cable, wiremap adapter, four AA batteries, a Getting Started Guide and a resource CD with companion utility software and user manual.

The Networks NTS2-NSKIT Service Kit includes the NetTool 10/100/1000Mbps inline tester, VoIP option, monitoring and authentication option, NetProve diagnostics, IntelliTone toning, IntelliTone Pro 200 Probe, PC software, wiremappers #1-6, batteries, NiMH batter/charger kit, USB to mini-USB cable, Ethernet cable, CD User manuals and guide, TPAK meter hanging kit, and deluxe carrying case.

The NTS2-VOIP VoIP Inline Network Tester provides inline, reporter and PoE voltage testing capabilities.  The tester includes 10/100 Mbps inline, VoIP option, NetTool Blaster PC software, cable identifier, set of 4 AA batteries, serial cable Ethernet cable, Getting Started Guide, CD with user manual and a soft carrying case.

These testers are prominently featured on the Specialized Products Company website, www.specialized.net, showcasing over 10,000 competitively priced installation, field service and repair solutions. Specialized Products Company offers the most comprehensive selection of off-the-shelf tool kit solutions for professional system integrators and installers in the world.

To buy this product click here

The Maja Machine Learning Framework (MMLF) is a general framework for problems in the domain of Reinforcement Learning (RL) written in python. It provides a set of RL related algorithms and a set of benchmark domains. Furthermore it is easily extensible and allows to automate benchmarking of different agents.

Among the RL algorithms are TD(lambda), CMA-ES, EANT, Fitted R-Max, and Monte-Carlo learning. MMLF contains different variants of the maze-world and pole-balancing problem class as well as the mountain-car testbed.

An example of a scenario that MMLF would be used for is a robot that tries to find its way through a maze. In RL, the world is typically decomposed into the “agent(s)” and the “environment”. In the example, the robot would be the agent and the maze would be the environment.

The MMLF adopts this view since it provides a natural modularization, which allows to write general agents capable of learning and to test them in a magnitude of environments. All learning (optimization of behavior) is usually done within an agent while simulation of physics and other kinds of dynamics are performed within an environment.

download from testertools.com click here

Capedit is an Open Source PCAP Based Network Protocol Testing Tool.

Containing a Wireshark Like GUI Interface the app is Developed In C and GTK+ (Currently Supported on Linux only).

Features include:

* Protocol Field Value Modification.
* Packet Deletion.
* Packet Duplication.
* Packet Reordering.
* TCP and UDP Stream based Field Value Modification.
* IP and MAC Address Find And Replace
* Auto CheckSum for IP, ICMP, IGMP, TCP and UDP Protocols.
* Interface Selection For Sending Packets.
* Option for Sending Single Selected Packet.
* Pcap Replay.

Go to TesterTools for more detail.

Git is a free & open source, distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency.

Every Git clone is a full-fledged repository with complete history and full revision tracking capabilities, not dependent on network access or a central server.  Branching and merging are fast and easy to do.

View TesterTools dedicated page for this tool.

Performance Monitoring Across the Enterprise with iTrinegy AppQoSiTrinegy AppQoS provides rapid answers to difficult questions related to networked application performance issues such as:

Why is my application running slow in the network?

Is it actually running slow? Compared to last month, or other users

Is it a network or server problem?

Are competing applications causing the problem?

What are people doing?

Who are my heaviest users?

iTrinegy AppQoS inspects all the traffic going backwards and forwards over a network segment and measures and records actual (rather than simulated) application response times for every transaction made to your key applications. It summarizes all of the network traffic (e.g. Http, Windows Networking, VoIP etc. – please see iTrinegy AppQoS Portable for further information), network users, applications and associated utilization. With only a few clicks, you will be able to rapidly identify what’s really causing poor application response time.

View TesterTools dedicated page for this tool.