Atec Agilent-J2300E User Manual

Agilent Technologies

Agilent Advisor - ATM/WAN

Technical Specification

ATM/WAN Tes ting Made Easy......................... page 2

Key ATM Features and Functionality............ page 2

Key WAN Features and Functionality.......... page 3

Key General Features and Functionality.... page 3

LAN over WAN, and LAN (over WAN).......... page 4

over ATM

Aquisition Systems................................................... page 5

Dual Simultaneous Analysis............................... page 6

ATM Testing.................................................................. page 7

WAN Testing................................................................ page 22

Packet over SONET/SDH.................................. page 23

Frame Relay ............................................................. page 24

ISDN...............................................................................page 45

X.25................................................................................. page 51

PPP (Point to Point Protocol)........................... page 51

SMDS (Optional)..................................................... page 52

ATM DXI....................................................................... page 52

V5.1/V5.2 Monitoring.............................................page 52

Async/BiSync Protocol

Measurement......................................................page 53

Physical Layer.......................................................... page 56

BERT (Bit Error Ratio Testing)........................page 57

Module Support................................................ page 60

ATM and WAN Interface Specifications.... page 61

Remote Operation.................................................... page 87

General Specifications.......................................... page 87

Significant New Enhancements

 All BERT applications in one common GUI for the following interfaces:

V-Series, J5457A-High Speed V-Series, J2294D, J2296D, J2298D, J4646A, J4647A, J4648A and J4649A

 E1/T1 Interfaces: J3759A/B (E3/T3), J3762B (HSSI) Includes a new

4000-byte user defined pattern

 Protocol Distribution Application: Network, transport, and application

layer protocol statistics over Frame Relay, HDLC and PPP.

 SLIP: The SLIP application allows Serial Link IP analysis within the

Advisor WAN application architecture. Capture filter, display filter, searching, decodes and stats are supported. All file operations are supported. Supported interfaces are “legacy” Advisor V series interfaces ONLY when a new T1/E1 D series module is installed. It will not work with J5457A High Speed V-Series module.

 AAL5 CRC Statistics: The ATM application counts AAL5 CRC errors.

Errors are counted on a per VP/VC basis

ATM/WAN Testing Made Easy

To install or troubleshoot an ATM or WAN link, it is necessary to test for many things: physical errors, equipment interoperability, ATM cell congestion, and even LAN traffic problems. The Agilent Advisor offers integrated ATM, WAN, and LAN protocol analysis capabilities, along with bit error ratio testing (BERT), stimulus/response measurements, and statistical analysis capability everything required to get a good look at the physical layer, ATM/MAC layer, and all of the upper protocol layers.

In addition, the Agilent Advisor can test ATM quality of service (QoS) with contract conformant traffic and can check live traffic for conformance to a traffic contract (policing). For Frame Relay, the Agilent Advisor can verify that Service Level Agreements are met.

No matter what the traffic level, the Agilent Advisor will capture every cell or frame on full-duplex network connections. It monitors non-intrusively and decodes ATM or WAN data at full line rate. Further, it can simulate traffic from either direction within a connection. In addition, it can process previously captured data from its capture buffers or from a file for retransmission. The analyzer not only captures traffic when the network is working - it provides information when the network is broken - when it is needed the most.

Key ATM Features and Functionality

The Agilent Advisor provides the following powerful ATM features and functions:

 Handles ATM testing rates from 1.5 Mb/s to 622 Mb/s; ATM Interfaces including

T1/E1, J2, E3/T3, STM-1/OC-3, STM-1e/EC-3, STM-4/OC-12, ATM25 (25.6 Mb/s UTP-3/5) and UTP155 are available as plug-in modules or undercradles

 Auto-discovers up to 1024 Virtual Channels on all ATM interfaces except J2

(up to 4096 on the STM-4/OC-12 interface) and gathers statistics on each

 Analyses protocols including full rate capture with capture and display filtering

and searching (e.g. set the capture filter to capture only ATM streams carrying IP traffic with specific IP addresses)

 Monitors, captures data, and decodes upper and lower layer protocols in real

time

 Decodes and logs statistics for LAN encapsulated protocols over ATM,

including Voice over IP decodes: H.323 series, IETF series (SIP, MGCP, SGCP,

MEGACO), ITU-T T.38  Finds Errors in capture file or buffer  Decodes AAL-1, AAL-2, AAL-3/4, AAL-5  AAL-1 5 CRC statistics  Decodes Frame Relay over ATM  Decodes ATM UNI, NNI (B-ISUP, B-ICI) and PNNI signaling  Decodes IMA Control Protocol (ICP) cells  Real-time and post-processing User Assisted LAN over ATM  Emulates ATM UNI signaling  check call set-up procedures  Emulates ELAN Join (LANE)  Generates user-defined cell traffic from a cell table  Retransmits captured traffic which has been copied and pasted to the cell table,

modified (e.g. VPI-VCI and/or embedded IP addresses changed); the HEC and

AAL-5 CRC-32 are automatically recalculated  Generates ATM ICMP Echo (PING)  Generates and analyses OAM cells  Tests ATM QoS performance to the ITU-T O.191 standard  measures cell loss,

cell delay, cell delay variation, cell misinsertion and cell errors  Generates ATM traffic shaped to traffic contracts  Polices ATM traffic to traffic contracts  Tests simultaneously on two different or similar ATM interfaces  Tests simultaneously with other technologies (e.g. Frame Relay, Ethernet)  Tests physical frame layer and cell layer bit error ratios (BER)  Measures optical power  Pulse amplitude measurement on T1, E1, E3, T3 and STM-1e/EC-3 ATM interfaces

Key WAN Features and Functionality

The Agilent Advisor provides the following powerful wide area network (WAN) features and functions:

 WAN testing speeds from 50 b/s to 155 Mb/s  Packet over SONET/SDH (PoS) analysis (IETF and Cisco)  Built-in all major WAN interfaces into the instrument mainframe, including

V.10/V.11, V.24/V.28/RS-232C, V.35, V.36/RS-449/422/423/530, X.21  V-Series interface support up to 8.192 Mb/s  Interfaces, including ISDN Basic Rate Interfaces (BRI) S/T/U and Primary Rate

Interfaces (PRI), E1/T1 and E3/T3 Cells and Frames, Packet over SONET/SDH

HSSI, DDS 4-wire, and High Speed V-Series (V.35, RS-449 and X.21 to 8.192 Mb/s)

are available as slide-in modules  Full-featured testing capability for all common WAN technologies, including

Frame Relay, PPP (Sync, Async), ISDN, X.25, HDLC, SMDS, SNA, Async,

Bisync, ATM DXI, and more  Monitoring, data capturing, and decoding for upper and lower layer protocols

in real time  Decodes LAN encapsulated protocols over WAN, including Voice over IP

decodes: H.323 series, IETF series (SIP, MGCP, SGCP, MEGACO), ITU-T T.38  Real-time and post-processing User Assisted LAN over Frame Relay and HDLC,

PPP, ATM, DXI capture/display filtering and searching  Find Error in capture file or buffer  Comprehensive bit error ratio testing (BERT)  Asynchronous and Bisynchronous monitor and traffic generation  Frame Relay analysis Voice and Fax over Frame Relay (FRF.11) decodes  Auto LMI detection and decoding for ANSI, ITU-T or original LMI Auto LAN encapsulation over Frame Relay detection for RFC 1490/2427,

Ethertype, FRF3.1, and RFC 2684/1483  Service Level Agreement measurements according to FRF.13  LMI Expert analysis  CIR Measurements in all Frame Relay DLCIs  Tests simultaneously on two WAN interfaces  Tests simultaneously with other technologies (e.g. ATM, Ethernet)  Signal Level measurement on T1, E1, E3, and T3  SLIP Measurement

Key General Features and Functionality

The Agilent Advisor provides the following additional features and functions:

Other technologies covered include 10/100 Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, Token

Ring, FDDI, RTP QoS, VoIP and more

LAN/WAN/ATM/VoIP under one handle Real-time counters and triggers, with logging and CSV export capabilities of

statistics to disk

Line-status monitoring Commentators Absolute, Delta and Relative Time User bytes (skip bytes between layers) Enhanced decode view with HEX to detail correlation True multi-tasking capability with user friendly full 32 bit Microsoft Windows

user interface, so that monitoring, decoding, statistical analysis, and stimulus/

response tests can be executed simultaneously

Context-sensitive on-line Help with measurement and troubleshooting guides,

acronym list, index and glossary

Agilent Software Upgrade Subscription Service to keep users up-to-date on

the latest software enhancements

Highly portable economical package featuring a rugged based PC with full

keyboard, large active color display and pointing device

LAN over WAN, and LAN (over WAN) over ATM

Encapsulated LAN data is automatically extracted and decoded by the Agilent Advisor including complex encapsulated protocols. For unique encapsulation schemes, the user may specify the offset as well. Nearly 300 decodes exist for layer 3 and above; these are common to all underlying technologies (LAN, WAN and ATM).

The Agilent Advisor provides an off-line LAN Expert Analysis tool. The off-line LAN Expert Analysis allows the user to examine Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, ATM or WAN (HDLC or Frame Relay) encapsulated LAN frames on an Agilent Advisor or personal PC without Agilent Advisor hardware.

The comprehensive set of protocol decodes include all of todays popular Protocol Stacks:

 TCP/IP  SUN  AppleTalk  XNS  Banyan  Cisco  DECnet  3Com  IBM/SNA  H.323 series, T.38  Novell  SIP, MGCP,SGCP, MEGACO  ISO  W-CDMA

Commentators

Powerful Commentators follow state-based protocols and can provide warnings and alerts when unusual message sequences are detected.

Real-time Filtering

The Agilent Advisor now offers real-time IP and WAN filtering at rates up to 155Mb/s. This allows the user to isolate and analyze LAN and Frame Relay traffic taking place on an ATM circuit or LAN traffic taking place on a Frame Relay circuit.

The real time filtering function gives users application-level, LAN-centric troubleshooting on their ATM or Frame Relay network, thus allowing them to observe specific traffic types for potential problems on the network. The user can even filter by IP source and/or destination address. IP traffic encapsulated in Frame Relay that is additionally encapsulated over ATM can also be analyzed. This feature maximizes valuable buffer space for optimal data collection of targeted LAN traffic since the filtering takes place before data capture.

In addition to capture filtering performed in hardware, the Agilent Advisor is able to gather counts of events such as cells or frames within the defined criteria of the filters. Powerful display (post-capture) filtering and search functionality allows the user to drill down further for troubleshooting purposes.

For more details concerning these features, refer to the corresponding technical sections within this document.

Enhanced decode view

The decode view is user configurable by right clicking in the summary view. The decode view has a very user-friendly, one-line and multi-line read out in the summary view. Also, the decode view offers hex to detail mapping by highlighting an element in the detailed view, the corresponding hex element is highlighted in color in the Hex section of the decodes. The reverse is also true.

The Agilent Advisor also has powerful, user-configurable 100ns resolution timestamp options as follows:

 Delta  shows the time interval between adjacent cells or displayed filtered

frames.

 Relative  shows the time difference between critical events and other cells in

the traffic flow; for example, if a ping is considered time-zero, cells which arrived before or after will be time-stamped with their relative corresponding arrival time.

 Absolute  displays events with date and time with a resolution of 100

nanoseconds.

Color mapping of the protocol layers in the decode view distinguishes each of the layers in the data flow for easy identification, thus simplifying protocol analysis.

Acquisition Systems

There are two acquisition systems for ATM and WAN: the J2300E Agilent Advisor mainframe and the J2900A High Speed undercradle.

J2300E Agilent Advisor Mainframe

The J2300E mainframe comprises the acquisition system for all ATM and WAN plug-in modules plus the V series interfaces, connectors for which are present on the body of the mainframe. For LAN measurements such as Ethernet 10/100/ 1000, Token Ring and FDDI, LAN undercradles can be attached to the J2300E.

In addition, the mainframe includes a full PC running the Microsoft Windows98® operating system on a 400 MHz processor, 256 MB of RAM, a built in keyboard with pointing device, a Super VGA active color display, dual PCMCIA card slots, stereo speakers and the usual printer and serial ports. The PC is used to control the mainframe acquisition system and the acquisition system in any attached undercradle, and to collect and post process results.

With the new 400MHz PC processor and larger momory, post capture filtering and searches are significantly faster than before, saving valuable troubleshooting time.

Note that the PC is not used for real-time processing of measurements  this is all done in the acquisition system and plug-in modules. This allows the PC to handle multiple tasks such as the Dual Simultaneous Analysis feature which involves the simultaneous control of the mainframe acquisition system and attached undercradles, as discussed later.

J2900A High Speed Undercradle

The J2900A undercradle is similar in function to the J2300E mainframe except that it has no built in PC but relies upon the PC contained in the J2300E ATM/ WAN or J3446E LAN mainframes to control it and to collect and post process results. It accepts all ATM and WAN plug-in modules.

Dual Simultaneous Analysis

The Agilent Advisor has the ability to test at two different interfaces and technologies simultaneously, e.g. E1 Frame Relay and E3 ATM, DS3 Frame Relay and 10/100 Mb/s Ethernet, ATM25 and OC-3 ATM, etc. This functionality allows the user to test interworking in mixed technology environments (see the Application Note 1346 for details on this kind of testing).

In order to perform dual simultaneous analysis, combinations of an Agilent Advisor mainframe (J2300E or J3446E) and an undercradle (J3444A or J2900A) is required, the mainframe and undercradle being each supported by an application (LAN, WAN or ATM) running on the PC embedded in the mainframe. Note that the applications do not have to be different so, for example, a J2300E Agilent Advisor mainframe fitted with a J2900A High Speed undercradle could each be fitted with the same type of ATM or WAN interface and run simultaneously  e.g. two J3766A ATM25 interface modules.

The following table shows the combination of supported mainframes, undercradles, interfaces and technologies.

Table 1 Hardware Sup port

Note: The supported operating temperature range for Dual Simultaneous Analysis is 5° C to 30° C (41° F to 86° F).

ATM Testing

The Agilent Advisor supports the following interface types for ATM Testing:

E1* E3* STM-1* STM-1e* STM-4

* These interfaces also support WAN testing (see the WAN Testing section)

The following sub-sections deal with all layers of testing, starting at the upper layers and working down to the physical layer.

T1* T3* OC-3* EC-3* OC-12

ATM25 155UTP J2

Service Layer ATM Testing

Decoding

In addition to the nearly 300 encapsulated LAN decodes common to LAN, WAN

and ATM in the Agilent Advisor, ATM specific protocols decoded include:  LAN over Frame Relay (RFC 2427/1490) over ATM (FRF.5)  LAN over ATM (RFC 2684/1483)  Classical IP and ARP over ATM (RFC 2225/1577)  Ethernet and Token Ring LAN Emulation (ATM Forum LANE 1.0 & 2.0)  MPEG-2  UNI Signaling (ATM Forum UNI 3.0, 3.1, 4.0)  NNI Signaling (B-ISUP (ITU-T Q.2761  Q.2764) and B-ICI)  ILMI (Integrated Local Management Interface)  ATM Forum PNNI 1.0 signaling and routing  IP Switching (Ipsilon):

-IFMP (RFC 1953)

-IFMP-C (RFC 1987)

-GSMP (RFC 1954)  Fore Switch Signaling: SPANS  ATM Forum MPOA  Newbridge VIVID (MPOA)

Simulation

The Agilent Advisor is able to simulate upper layer traffic either by the use of pre-defined messages, e.g. ATM encapsulated ICMP-echo (PING), through the development of user defined cell sequences. Or, more conveniently, by copying and pasting previously captured traffic to the cell table and editing it, as appropriate (see ATM Cell Generation in a later section).

ATM Testing (continued )

ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL)

The Agilent Advisor provides decodes for AAL-1 through AAL-5. Decodes are also included for AAL-2 Common Part Sublayer (AAL-2 CPS to ITU-T I.363.2) and AAL-2 Service Specific Segmentation and Reassembly sublayer (AAL-2 SSSAR to ITU-T I.366.1). Note: AAL-1 & AAL-2 decodes are not currently supported at 622 Mb/s. The Decode screen in figure 1 depicts an AAL-2 sublayer.

AAL  1

Fields decoded:

CSI Sequence number CRC Parity Payload

AAL  2

Errors detected and displayed:

ATM SDU not 48 bytes long Invalid sequence number Invalid parity Invalid CRC-3

Figure 1: CPS (Common Part Sublayer).

CPS (Common Part Sublayer)

Fields decoded:

CPS-PDU start field (STF)

- OSF (Offset field)

- SN (Sequence number)

- P (Parity) CPS-Packet (one or more) CPS- Packet Header (CPS-PH)

- CID Channel identifier

- LI Length Indicator

- UUI (User to user indication)

- HEC CPS-Packet Payload (CPS-PP) CPS-INFO Padding

Errors detected and displayed:

STF Parity error STF Sequence number error Number of octets expected in the CPS packet does not match with the STF field Error in the OSF value (>=48) Error in HEC Length of received packet is incorrect. Errors in reassembly. Invalid value in UUI

ATM Testing (continued)

SSTED (Service Specific Transmission Error Detection) Sublayer

Fields decoded:

SSTED-PDU Payload SSTED-PDU Trailer

- SSTED-UU (User-User indication)

- Reserved

- CI (Congestion Indication)

- LP (Loss Priority)

- Length

- CRC

Note: The AAL-2 Service Specific Segmentation and Reassembly (SSSAR) sublayer has, of course, been implemented below the SSTED sublayer but its decode is not shown explicitly (the SSTED layer decode is sufficient)

Errors detected and displayed:

SSTED-PDU of length 8 or less has been received Incorrect length value of the SSTEDPDU Error in CRC

AAL  3-4

Fields decoded:

Reassembly of segments for upper layer decoding Decode of CPCS layer (CS-PDU) Check for segmentation errors in the

decode, such as Missing BOM or EOM Btag/Etag mismatch Check and flag of CRC-10 errors:

- MID

- BOM

- COM

- EOM

- Btag

- Etag

Errors detected and displayed:

ATM SDU not 48 bytes long Invalid SAR sequence number Invalid SAR length indicator Invalid SAR CRCR protocol simulation CPCS common part indicator = 0 CPCS buffer allocation size is less than the actual data size CPCS begin tag = end tag CPCS length is larger than the buffer allocation size SAR payload length is less than the CPCS header length SAR Payload length is less than CPCS trailer length

AAL  5

Fields decoded:

Re-assembly of segments for upper

layer

Decode of CPCS layer (CS-PDU)

Check and flag of CRC-32 errors

Display filtering on SDU type

Errors detected and displayed:

ATM SDU not 48 bytes long Invalid SAR segment type CPCS CPI=0 AAL-5 CRC-32 AAL-5 CRC statistics Not an AAL-5 PDU

ATM Layer

Up to 1024 virtual channels are auto-detected on all ATM interfaces up to 155

Mb/s, except J2. For each auto-discovered virtual channel, the following

statistics are collected:

Maximum and instantaneous utilization (%)  Total cells and octets (count)  Maximum, instantateous and average throughput (kb/s)  Header (HEC) errors (count)  CLP status (0 or 1)

At the 622 Mb/s ATM interface, up to 4096 VCs are auto-discovered.

Data within the ATM layer is captured in a cell-based buffer. Capture of ATM

cells occurs at full line speed up to 622 Mb/s into a data buffer. Each cell is

stamped with a 100 ns resolution time stamp and at rates up to 155Mb/s. The

display is user customizable - absolute, relative to a specific event, or delta,

representing the time change from one cell to the next, and a field indicating

whether the HEC was erroneous.

Display filtering of cells can be based on any of the header fields and also on

many common types of embedded protocols. OAM cells can be monitored

exclusively or with other data traffic for detailed analysis. Selective capture

can be done using pre-written quick test scripts or user-defined capture filters.

ATM Testing (continued)

ATM Capturing, Filtering and Searching

Capture Filters and Counters

Hardware counters and filters allow the user to select cells or AAL5 PDUs to

bring into the capture buffer. Even on a lightly loaded network, at ATM speeds

it does not take long to fill a data capture buffer. With data filtering, the user

can zero in on exactly the data the user needs to see. The filters examine every

cell in real time as it appears on the network. Since the filtering is done in the

hardware, nothing is missed, and the performance of the measurements and

user interface are not compromised.

Up to twelve hardware filters and counters can be enabled simultaneously and,

additionally, any two of the filters can be enabled to capture all the cells that

contain AAL5 PDUs. Flexible and user assisted menus can be used to define

specific filters, counters, and triggers based on protocol headers (see figure 2).

Examples include ATM, LAN over ATM (to RFC 2684/1483), Frame Relay

(FRF.5), LAN over Frame Relay over ATM (to RFC 2427/1490 and FRF.5

simultaneously), and Classical IP and ARP over ATM (RFC 2225/1577). Filter and

counter criteria can be used to start/stop the data capture and to center the

data in the buffer, the user can see what led up to an event and what followed

it. Filter criteria may also be used to ignore or store the data.

Figure 2: ATM Filter/Counter Properties.

Filters are also used as counters to specify statistical measurements based upon any part of the ATM header or payload on the line (network) side, the equipment (user) side of the link, or both. The counter and filter results provide the following:

 Number of cells that met the filter criteria  Percentage of cells out of the total busy (assigned) cells on the line  Percentage of bandwidth these cells occupied  Throughput in kb/s of these cells  Throughput in cells per second of these cells

Whatever filters or connectors the user selects or creates, the results are automatically grouped in real time.

ATM Testing (continued)

The following filters are provided, but others are easily created to incorporate several variations. Specific interface configurations and traffic generation cell tables can be saved along with filter configurations:

 IP address filtering  ILMI filtering  OAM filtering  Protocol distribution filtering  VP.VC filtering

Display Filters and Searching

Display filtering and searching lets the user search through collected data to find specific IP addresses, values for protocol fields, or conversations on specific bi-directional virtual connections (by VPI-VCI). The display filters provide the flexibility to select protocol attributes or specific protocols from a checklist, and the power to filter on any bit, byte or characteristic, such as protocol. For example, filtering can be preformed on OAM traffic without having to know any of the protocol specifics.

Post-processing lets the user quickly zoom in on selected criteria, from the traffic passing between specific devices to individual conversations. Post-processing allows the user to:

 Search through the data by record or by time stamp  Search for events or strings  Filter on protocols  Verify event-to-event timing  View protocol errors  Print a range of cells or the entire buffer  Export data in CSV (comma separated variables) format  Analyze statistics based on the buffered data

ATM Cell Generation

An ATM cell editor can build a cell table of up to 255 user defined or previously captured cells that can then be transmitted onto the network. Editing functions include the following:

Add  Edit  Delete  Copy  Insert

Windows keyboard commands are also supported  Ctrl-c, Ctrl-v, Ctrl-x, etc. Sequences of captured cells (e.g. an AAL-5 PDU) can be copied and pasted to the cell table; the resulting cell table contents can be edited/modified (e.g. to change the VPI-VCI or to change embedded IP addresses) and the HEC and AAL-5 CRC recalculated, as appropriate, prior to transmission.

ATM Testing (continued)

During the time that the cell table is not being sent, the Agilent Advisor will send idle or unassigned cells. Send Control allows the contents of cell table to be sent once or repetitively, or for AIS or idle cells to be sent. The peak cell rate (PCR) of the cell table based traffic can be set from zero to the following maximum values, all of which are 100% utilization for that interface. Also, for ease of entry, a percent of utilization can be entered, such as 50% in place of the cells per second value.

 353,207 cells per second for STM-1/OC-3, STM-1e/EC-3 and UTP155  104,268 for DS3 HEC  96,000 cells per second for DS3 PLCP  80,000 for E3 HEC  72,000 for E3 PLCP  59,111 for ATM25 with X8 8kHz timing reference  59,259 for ATM25 without X8 8kHz timing reference  14,491 cells for J2  3,623 cells for DS1  4,528 cells for E1

To generate OAM cells, the user can use quick tests that include F4 and F5 segment or end-to-end cells with user-defined VPI[-VCI] values, they are transmitted from the traffic generator. To generate cell errors, modify the quick tests to add corrupted cells to the cell table.

The fields of the generated ATM cell header can be specified as follows:

 VPI values from 0 to 255 (UNI), or 0 to 4095 (NNI)  VCI values from 0 to 65,535  GFC values from 0 to 15 (UNI only, not applicable in NNI)  PTI values from 0 to 7  CLP values of 0 or 1  HEC can be set to good (automatically calculated), bad, or user defined.

The generated ATM cell payload can be defined in hex, decimal, ASCII, or dont care. Errors can be inserted on any bit within any byte of the payload.

ATM Quality of Service (QoS) and Policing Tests

The Agilent Advisor has the ability to do various real-time tests and measurements to check the performance of ATM networks. These fall into two main categories  policing and traffic contract shaped test cell generation, really mirror images of each other. In the case of policing, the Agilent Advisor monitors live traffic and measures conformance to the traffic contract. Test cell generation allows test traffic shaped to a traffic contract to measure the networks ability to deliver the promised QoS, i.e. is the network meeting its SLA (service level agreement) obligations?

Policing, traffic shaping and traffic contract measurements

One of the most important premises of the deployment of ATM networks is the ability to maintain a given level of QoS within the public ATM network. ATM networks protect themselves by policing incoming traffic to check its conformance with pre-determined traffic contract parameters. Some cells may have to be discarded or tagged (marked to low priority) in order to protect the traffic of other users of the ATM network.

ATM Testing (continued)

When customer traffic exceeds or violates its contracted peak cell rate (PCR), taking into account its cell delay variation tolerance (CDVT), cells may be discarded or tagged; when it exceeds the sustainable cell rate (SCR) parameters, taking into account its maximum burst size (MBS) allowances, cells may be discarded or tagged (cell loss priority (CLP) bit changed to 1), depending on the type of traffic contract. When congestion occurs in the core network, low priority cells (CLP = 1) are discarded first by core ATM switches before the cells of normal priority (CPL = 0). Policing enables networks to assure a consistent quality of service within the core network, preventing the overall network performance to be degraded by an individual user.

The Agilent Advisors policing measurement feature is a real time measurement that checks a virtual connections conformance to the traffic contract at the ingress to the public network; this could be a virtual channel connection or virtual path connection. The user specifies the traffic contract type (e.g. VBR.3/SBR3) and parameters (PCR, CDVT, SCR and MBS) for the virtual connection and the Agilent Advisor counts the non-conforming test cells and delivers a non-conformance count and non-conformance ratio for active traffic on the network. This measurement would be used typically to check a users traffic either side of the boundary to the public network when quality of service is suspect (the user experiences unexpected levels of cell loss). If the user traffic entering the network does not conform, the network cannot be blamed for the resulting poor QoS.

Traffic Contracts Supported

As shown in figure 3, the user may specify one of the following types of traffic contract to determine how many cells in the virtual connection are conforming or non-conforming:

CBR.1/DBR/UBR.1: GCRA(1/PCR VBR.1/SBR1: GCRA(1/PCR

no tagging

VBR.2/SBR2: GCRA(1/PCR

0+1

, CDVT

0+1

, CDVT

)

0+1

), GCRA(1/SCR

0+1

), GCRA(1/SCR0, BT0),

0+1

, BT

0+1

no tagging

VBR.3/SBR3: GCRA(1/PCR

tagging supported

, CDVT

0+1

), GCRA(1/SCR

0+1

, BT

0+1

(note that in this notation, subscripts 0 and 1 means high and low priority cells respectively, so 0+1 means all cells; note also that BT (burst tolerance) is derived from the MBS, PCR and SCR values)

ATM Testing (continued)

Figure 3: Traffic Configuration.

Shaping of test cell traffic and background traffic

There are two sides to any contract and ATM traffic contracts are no exception.

If the user traffic keeps to its contract obligations then the network should

deliver the quality of service it guarantees in the traffic contract. This is usually

specified in terms of cell loss and added cell delay variation, etc.

The Agilent Advisor is able to measure ATM layer QoS by generating test traffic

shaped to meet the traffic contract in terms of PCR, CDVT, SCR and MBS; it

also allows users to choose the standardized Generic List values for the

parameters. The test traffic comprises test cells which conform to ITU-T

Recommendation O.191 which specifies the test cell and the methodology for

measuring ATM layer QoS parameters specified in ITU-T Recommendations

I.356 and I.357, and the ATM Forums Traffic Management Specification version

4.1. Measurements made by the Agilent Advisor are as follows:

Cell Loss Ratio

Cell Misinsertion Rate

Cell Error Ratio

Cell Delay Variation

Mean Cell Transfer Delay

Minimum Cell Transfer Delay

Maximum Cell Transfer Delay Severely Errored Cell Block Ratio Availability Ratio Transmitted Cells Non-Conforming Cells Tagged Cells

Test traffic can be sent and received by the same Advisor for local testing or it

can be sent by one Advisor and received on the other side of the network by

another. Each Agilent Advisor on either end of a connection, can source test

traffic in the opposite direction on the same bi-directional virtual connection

and, at the same time, analyze traffic from the other; each Advisor is configured

to source traffic conforming to the traffic contract for that direction of the

virtual connection; such connections are often asymmetrical. As conforming

test traffic is entering the network, any cell loss or cell delay variation detected

on the far side of the network must be caused by the network itself; this can be

compared with the SLA requirement to check that the network is complying

with its side of the agreement. The Advisor is also capable of generating same

link background traffic (on other virtual connections).

ATM Testing (continued)

For more details about policing and shaping, see the ATM QoS White Paper.

Test Cells

The ITU-T Recommendation O.191 specifies a test cell and a methodology for

using it to determine ATM QoS measurements, as defined in ITU-T

Recommendation I.356 and I.357. The ATM Forum references I.356 in its Traffic

Management 4.1 specification.

The O.191 test cell has a standard header for any user channel (any VCI above

31 is allowed). The payload has a number of special fields which allow the QoS

measurements to be made: there is a 32 bit sequence number field for

measurements of cell loss (ratio) and cell misinsertion (rate); there is a 32 bit

time stamp (with 10ns granularity in the least significant bit) for cell delay and

cell delay variation measurements, and the entire payload is error checked by a

CRC-16 for measurements of cell error. In addition, the entire payload is

scrambled to ensure that all bits of the payload are exercised so that memory-

based switch fabrics can be tested for stuck bits.

Because the O.191 test cell and the methodology for its use are standardized,

O.191 conformant test equipment from different vendors can inter-operate.

Results should be consistent between equipment from different vendors.

However, proprietary extensions are permitted, and Advisors working together

(one at each end of a virtual circuit) can detect when the network has tagged

(market to low priority, i.e. CLP = 1) a cell, which was sent at normal priority

(CLP = 0); these events are counted.

ATM Signaling and Call Placement

While permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) have dominated the ATM world thus

far, switched virtual circuits (SVCs) are increasing in utilization. Due to this

growth, it is necessary to have confidence in SVCs set up and troubleshooting

when the unexpected happens.

The Advisor includes UNI signaling emulation, ILMI address registration and

LANE emulation to provide connectivity testing. The signaling and call

placement feature supports ATM Forum UNI 3.0, 3.1 and 4.0. The Advisor can

emulate the user or network side of the UNI. In addition, the user can specify

and edit the information elements (IEs) placed on Call Connect messages that

specify what type of SVC to bring up. Figure 4 shows the configuration for call

signaling while figure 5 displays the results.

ATM Testing (continued)

Figure 4: Signaling Configuration.

Figure 5: Signaling Results.

Physical Layer

Inverse Multiplexing for ATM (IMA)

The Advisor can now decode IMA Control Protocol cells. These ICP cells are sent regularly on each E1 or T1 in an IMA Link Group in order to manage the IMA process. The ability to decode and display these physical layer cells helps troubleshooters identify IMA configuration problems.

ATM Testing (continued)

Bit Error Ratio Testing (BERT)

Often problems on the network can be attributed to the transmission medium.

The Advisor has a powerful, built-in bit error ratio test capability that performs

not only frame-based BERT (SDH/SONET-level), but also cell-based BERT, in

which the bit patterns are carried in the payload of the ATM cell.

 Testing Patterns: 1111, 1010, 1100  PRBS: 2

-1, 220-1, 223-1

 User defined - one octet (8 bits)

Optical Power Measurements

In addition to full ATM analysis, the STM-1/OC-3 ATM interface has a built-in

optical power meter that allows the user to check power levels with an

accuracy of +/- 0.5 dBm. This measurement capability has the ability to be

performed using the same interface on an optical fiber carrying STM-4c/OC-12c,

even though the interface does not otherwise operate at 622Mb/s.

Signal Strength Pulse Amplitude Meter

In addition to full ATM analysis, the Agilent Advisor E1/T1 and E3/T3 cells and

frames interfaces and STM-1e/EC-3 ATM interfaces have a built-in pulse

amplitude signal strength power meter that allows users to check pulse

amplitude levels with a resolution of +/- 1 dBm. The dynamic range is between

+6 dBmV and 40 dBmV.

Line Status

The operation of the physical interface is often critical in determining the cause

of network problems. Therefore, the Advisor also tracks errors at the physical

layer. Counts of error and alarm events are recorded on the display for both

the line (network) and equipment (user) side. The time of the last occurrence

of a particular event is recorded as well. Events are saved in the buffer and can

be logged to disk.

Figure 6: Line Status.

Line status is displayed in real time and is shown in figure 6. All of the events listed below are saved in the buffer and counted in the line status display. These events may be logged to disk. The current status of critical parameters (marked with an asterisk (*)) is also displayed in large green or red boxes in the line status display, for easy, at-a-glance viewing.

ATM Testing (continued)

T1/DS1

Loss of signal (LOS) (*) Loss of frame (LOF) (*) Loss of PLCP sync (LOPS) (*) AIS (*) RAI/Yellow (X-bits) (*) Bi-polar violations ESF CRC errors

Loss of Signal (LOS) (*)

Loss of Frame (LOF) (*)

Line code violations (HDB3)

RAI (FERF) (*)

AIS (*)

Loss of Signal (LOS) (*) Loss of Frame (LOF) (*) Line code violations (HDB3) RAI (FERF) (*)

ATM25

Loss of Signal (*)

Loss of Synchronization (*)

Timing sync frequency

Invalid Symbol

Short Cell

Line code violation (B8ZS) Frame slips Frame bits Ones density Excess zeros Loss of Cell Delineation (*) Pulse Amplitude

CRC-4 errors (if CRC-4 is selected) Frame alignment error Loss of Cell Delineation (*) Pulse Amplitude

Payload AIS (*) CRC-4 errors (if CRC-4 is selected) Loss of Cell Delineation (*) High Bit Error Ratio

Loss of signal (LOS) (*)

Loss of frame (LOF) (*)

BIP-8

Line code violations (HDB3)

Payload type mismatch

T3/DS3

Loss of Signal (LOS) (*)

Loss of Frame (LOF) (*)

RDI (Yellow) (X-bits) (*)

AIS (*)

Line code violations (B8ZS)

REI (FEBE)

Idle (*)

P1/P2 parity errors

C-bit parity errors

PLCP sync loss (*)

PLCP Yellow (*)

PLCP BIP

PLCP FEBE

STM-1/STM-1e/OC-3/EC-3

Loss of Signal (LOS) (*)

Loss of Frame (LOF) (*)

Loss of Pointer (LOP)

B1, B2, B3 BIP errors

Summary BIP error (*)

Label mismatch

MS-REI/REI-L (Line FEBE)

REI/REI-P (Path FEBE)

MS-RDI/RDI-L (Line/FERF)(*)

REI (FEBE) RDI (FERF) AIS (*) Loss of cell sync (LOCS) (*) Pulse Amplitude

FEAC (*) FEAC DS3 line FEAC loss of signal/HBER FEAC loss of frame FEAC AIS FEAC idle FEAC service failure FEAC no service failure FEAC common equipment failure FEAC line loopback activate FEAC line loopback de-activate Pulse Amplitude

MS-AIS/AIS-L (*) RDI/RDI-P (Yellow) AIS/AIS-P Summary Far End (RDI/RDI-P or REI/REI-P) (*) Loss of Cell Delineation (LCD) (*) Remote Optical power (STM-1/OC-3) Pulse Amplitude (STM-1e/EC-3)

ATM Testing (continued)

UTP155

Loss of signal (LOS)(*)

Loss of frame (LOF)(*)

Loss of pointer (LOP)

B1, B2, B3 BIP errors

Summary BIP error (*)

Label mismatch

MS-REI/REI-L (Line FEBE)

REI/REI-P (Path FEBE)

STM-4c/OC-12

Loss of Signal (LOS)

Loss of Frame (LOF)

Loss of Pointer (LOP)

Out of Frame (OOF)

MS-RDI/RDI-L (Line/FERF)

MS-AIS/AIS-L

RDI/ RDI-P (Yellow)

AIS/AIS-P

ATM Network Vitals

Vitals provides real-time statistics of network conditions that provide a

statistical picture of what is happening on the ATM links. Working

simultaneously with decodes, filters, and other measurements, the Vitals

feature interprets data traffic as it occurs. This feature can be used to identify

network problems or to assist the user in optimizing the configuration of

network components and software.

MS-RDI/RDI-L (Line FERF) (*) MS-AIS/AIS-L (*) RDI/RDI-P (Yellow) AIS/AIS-P Summary Far End (*) Loss of Cell Delineation (LCD) (*) Remote

MS-REI/REI-L (Line FEBE) and counts REI/REI-P (Path FEBE) and counts Label mismatch Loss of Cell Delineation (LCD) B1, B2, B3 BIP error counts BIP error indication Optical power (Using STM-1/OC-3 module)

Values in the Vitals display are presented in tabular form and are cumulative

from the start of a test. An exception is instantaneous utilization, which is also

displayed in graphical format for a quick look at overall usage of the network.

Vitals data are provided for both the network and the subscriber sides of the

connection.

T1/DS1

Average utilization in %

Instantaneous utilization in %

Maximum utilization %

Total cells received

Idle cells received

Busy cells received

HEC errors received

Average utilization in %

Instantaneous utilization in %

Maximum utilization %

Total cells received

Idle cells received

Busy cells received

Average utilization in %

Instantaneous utilization in %

Maximum utilization %

Total cells received

Idle cells received

Busy cells received

Bi-polar violations ESF CRC errors Frame slips Frame bits Ones density Excess zeros

HEC errors Code violations CRC-4 errors Frame alignment errors

HEC errors Line code violations CRC-45 errors

ATM Testing (continued)

ATM25

Average utilization in % Instantaneous utilization in % Maximum utilization % Total cells received Idle/unassigned cells received Busy (assigned) cells received Header (HEC) errors

Average utilization in %

Instantaneous utilization in %

Maximum utilization %

Total cells received

Idle/unassigned cells received

Busy (assigned) cells received

Header (HEC) errors received

T3/DS3

Average utilization in %

Instantaneous utilization in %

Maximum utilization %

Total cells received

Idle cells received

Busy cells received

HEC errors received

Code violations REI (FEBE) RDI (FERF) BIP-8 Label mismatches

Line code violations DS3 FEBE P1/P2 parity C-bit parity PLCP BIP8 PLCP FEBE

STM-1/STM-1e/OC-3/EC-3

Average utilization in %

Instantaneous utilization in %

Maximum utilization %

Total cells received

Idle/unassigned cells received

Busy (assigned) cells received

Header (HEC) errors received

UTP155

Average utilization in %

Instantaneous utilization in %

Maximum utilization %

Total cells

Idle/unassigned cells

Busy (assigned) cells

Header (HEC) errors

STM-4/OC-12

Auto-discovery of up to 4,095 VCs

Instantaneous utilization in % per VC

Peak % of total bandwidth per VC

Total cells received per VC

Header (HEC) errors received

Line code violations MS-REI/REI-L (Line FEBE) REI/REI-P (Path FEBE) MS-AIS/AIS-L AIS/AIS-P Loss of Cell Delineation (LCD)

WAN Testing

All major WAN interfaces, including V.10/V.11, V.24/V.28/RS-232C, V.35 and

V.36/ RS-449/422/423 are already built into the instrument mainframe; X.21

(with J2277A external cable  V.36/RS-449 to DB15) and RS-530 (with external

cable J2278A  V.36/RS-449 to DB25) are also available. A separate High Speed

V-Series module with V.35, RS-449 and X.21 interfaces are available to supports

speeds up to 8.192 Mb/s. Other WAN interfaces, including ISDN basic rate

interfaces (BRI) S/T/U and primary rate interfaces (PRI), E3/DS3, E1/T1, OC-3/

STM-1, STM-1e/EC-3, HSSI, DDS 4-wire, are available as slide-in modules or as

undercradles.

 Monitoring of LAN data over WAN and ATM is a standard feature. Real-time

monitoring of network conditions is a powerful testing capability to dig deeply

into the data if necessary.  The Agilent Advisor is a multitasking instrument; therefore users can perform

any of the active stimulus/response tests while the analyzer simultaneously

monitors their effect on the network.  Another powerful tool of the Advisor is traffic generation; it allows the

transmission of virtually any type of message or frame onto the network. To provide statistical information about the data on the network, the Agilent

Advisor analyzes every frame and count user definable events. A number of

counters have been pre-defined.  The Advisor is equipped with standard Bit Error Ratio Testing (BERT) and is

capable of generating BERT patterns onto V-series, T1, E1, E3, or DS3 WAN

links.

It does not matter if testing needs are for Frame Relay at E3/DS3 or HSSI

speeds or for low speed links, such as Async and Bisync, the Advisor provides

all of this functionality under one single handle solution.

Unmatched WAN Solutions

WAN testing solutions are provided from the easy-to-use main Windows® user

interface:  Network Line Vitals  Packet over SONET/SDH Statistics  Frame Relay DLCI Statistics  Frame Relay SLA Measurement  Frame Relay CIR Policing  Frame Relay LMI Expert  LAN over Frame Relay, HDLC and PPP Protocol Distribution  Top Talker Statistics  Ping Generation  X.25 LCN Statistics  Decode View  Filters/Counters Statistics  Full bandwidth traffic generation  Line Status  Simulation for retransmission of captured data and user defined simulation  ISDN B-channel call tracking Expert  SLIP Measurement

WAN Analysis Capabilities

The Advisor provides real-time and post-processing Layer 2 and Layer 3 analysis

capabilities for:

 Packet over Sonet/SDH  Frame Relay  PPP (Sync, Async)  ISDN  X.25  HDLC

 ATM DXI  SMDS (optional)  SNA  V5.1/V5.2  Async and Bisync

Packet over SONET/SDH

As well as being a core network technology, Packet over SONET/SDH (PoS), also sometimes known as HDLC over SONET/SDH, is becoming an access technology at 155 Mb/s, used as an alternative to ATM.

The Agilent Advisor supports analysis of the two main variants of PoS:

· IETF PPP in HDLC-like frames over SONET/SDH (both the current and obsolete versions with version auto-detect and manual over-ride)

· Cisco HDLC over SONET/SDH

These are supported in the standard Agilent Advisor PPP and HDLC applications which also support other interfaces. Full rate capture of frames down to 7 bytes in length is provided, and full higher-layer decodes are available, including those for 3G and Mobile-IP. These and other decodes are also available over ATM and Ethernet, providing the Advisor with the most extensive 3G analysis capability under one handle

Additionally, the Advisor allows the user to measure:

· Physical Layer Statistics (see figure 7)

-optical power / electrical pulse amplitude

-SONET/SDH alarms

· Link Layer

- Avg Util (%)

- Inst Util (%)

- Max Util (%)

- Min Util (%)

- Total Frames (count)

- Total Octets (count)

- Avg Thru (kbps)

- Inst Thru (kbps)

- Max Thru (kbps)

- Min Thru (kbps)

- Abort frames (count)

- Short Frames (count)

- FCS Errors (count)

Figure 7: Line Status Measurement.

Frame Relay

No matter how complex the testing needs are, the Agilent Advisor with interfaces such as the T1, E1, E3/T3, or the HSSI lets the user test and troubleshoot complex WAN environments to solve WAN access and internetworking problems quickly.

The Agilent Advisor provides extensive real-time and post-processing test capabilities for the Frame Relay protocol according to the following recommendations:

 ITU-T Q.933 Annex A  ANSI T1.617 Annex D  Original Frame Relay consortium

The Advisor with its extensive Frame Relay testing capabilities allows the user to test:

 Physical Interface  Physical Layer  Link Layer  LMI Signaling  LMI/PING Responses  DLCI Assignments  CIR  Data Transfer  Protocol Distribution SLA

These basic verification techniques are general approaches to WAN analysis and troubleshooting that are accepted in the industry because of their systematic appeal and proven effectiveness.

Committed Information Rate (CIR) Measurement

CIR is one of the most important features for Frame Relay Management. CIR is a contract between the Service Provider and a User. This contract allows both parties to exchange information under controlled traffic conditions. CIR is the rate expressed in bits per second (bit/s) where the network agrees to transfer information under normal conditions. This rate is measured over the measurement interval Tc. The default value of Tc is 1 second. Figure 8 depicts a typical CIR measurement.

Figure 8: CIR Measurement.

Frame Relay (continued)

 The Agilent Advisor performs CIR monitoring for Frame Relay activity in real

time. The analyzer provides useful customer information such as:

 Statistical traffic activity per DLCI in graphical and tabular form

comparison of real traffic activity per DLCI against a fixed CIR value CIR

 Statistics in bits, frames and percentage per DLCI for:

-Non discardable traffic DE=0

-Below the Bc (Committed Burst).

-Discard Eligible traffic DE=1

-EIR (Excess Information Rate) Statistics in bits per second, frames per second, and percentage per DLCI for:

-Traffic below Bc (CIR)

-Traffic above the Bc, but below the sum of Bc+Be.

-Traffic above the sum of Bc+Be.

 Ability to modify the Bc and Be parameters in post processing mode to play

different CIR scenarios.

Store statistics for further analysis in the Agilent Reporter.

Service Level Agreement (SLA) Measurement

Another aspect of the Frame Relay service that often needs to be tested is provisioning as defined by the CIR (Committed Information Rate). Figure 9 depicts a typical SLA measurement.

Note: This measurement is sometimes called Service Level Agreement (SLA) testing or Service Level Definitions (see the Frame Relay Forum FRF.13 implementation agreement).

Figure 9: SLA Measurement.

Frame Relay (continued)

The Advisor transmits controlled packets into the network according to an established traffic contract between the user and the network, defined by the Frame Relay Forum FRF.13. This application characterizes the reliability of the Frame Relay Network by simulating user traffic and optional background traffic.

There are three possible configurations:

Transmission of traffic between two advisors connected from end to end Physical network loopback utilizing only one Agilent Advisor Generation of IP-ICMP requests from the Agilent Advisor to a network device

This test runs with LMI emulation off or on for the following options:  UNI-User (CPE) Emulation UNI-Network (Switch) Emulation  NNI Emulation (bi-directional polling)

The following FRF.13 statistics are provided:

 All Frames delivered  Bc Frames delivered  Be Frames delivered  All Data delivered  Bc Data delivered  Be Data delivered Min, Mean, and Max Transfer Delay  Availability

The following T1.606 statistics are provided:

 Total Frames  Total Data  Total Lost Frames  Misdelivered Frames  DE=1 CIR Frames. Frames marked for possible discard by switch  DE=0 EIR Frames. Frames that should have been marked for discard but

werent.

Frame Relay (continued)

Frame Relay LMI Expert

Frame Relay LMI Expert is an application that automatically detects Frame

Relay conditions in the network. A typical display for the LMI Frame Relay LMI

Expert is depicted in figure 10. The application automatically identifies which

standard (ANSI, ITU-T or Original LMI) the network is running.

 The following LMI statistics are provided to perform a practical Frame Relay

troubleshooting, based on ANSI T1.617, ANSI T1.618, ITU-T Q922 and Q933:  Monitor Frame Relay Sequence Numbers and report missed sequences Monitor FULL Status (N391) Polling Cycles Monitor Status Enquiry messages (T391) counters  Monitor PVC Full Status messages and maintain Full Status summary

Tables for:

- Active / Inactive PVCs

- Present / New PVCs

- Deleted / Not deleted PVCs

- Monitor error conditions according to Q.933 Annex A, paragraph A.5

- T392 timers and thresholds

- N392 and N393 counters and thresholds

Figu re 10: LMI Exper t Sta tistics.

Frame Relay (continued)

DLCI Statistics

The Agilent Advisor captures all the Frame Relay frames on the link and

performs an automatic study of all the possible DLCIs (1024). This application

tracks the most relevant information of each of the virtual channels in the

network. A complete network condition analysis is performed on all the PVCs

present on the link.

The DLCI Measurement displays both the CPE and the Network statistics:

 Throughput in kb/s  Frame Distribution  Byte Distribution

The following values are provided for both the Line (Network) side and the

Equipment (User) side:

 Max. and inst. utilization (%)  Max., inst. and avg. throughput in kb/s Total octets (bytes)  Total frames/packets  Short frames/packets  DE  FECN BECN

Figure 11: DLCI Statistics Table.

DLCI Statistics allows graphing the throughput of a particular PVC in the

network to visually determine traffic patterns as seen in figure 11, 12a and 12b.

With this application, the user can isolate the traffic of a specific PVC from the

rest of the link traffic.

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