IxNetwork IP Multicast Emulation Software

IP Multicast Emulation Software

Ixia's IxNetwork™ IP Multicast Emulation Software offers the most comprehensive tools for testing scalability and performance of multicast routers. Ixia offers emulations for both "hosts" and "queriers" of the Internet group membership protocol (IGMP) versions 1, 2, and 3; multicast listener discovery (MLD) protocol versions 1 and 2; and PIMSM for testing IPv4 and IPv6 and dual-stack routers. Used in conjunction with Ixia's CPU per-port load modules, these emulations offer unparalleled scalability and performance.

The PIM-SM emulations offer great scalability and performance, and support hundreds of PIM neighbors per test port. Any combination of PIM register and join/prune messages can be advertised from a port to simulate traffic from multicast sources and to destinations. Any number of topologies can be simulated to validate a system under test's (SUT) ability to create unidirectional shared trees rooted at a rendezvous point (RP) for each group and shortest-path trees for each source.

Ixia's IP multicast emulations are integrated within IxNetwork's graphical user interface (GUI) software for data and control plane testing. Large and intricate tests can be created quickly and simply with this interface. Configurations can be created or changed on the fly while the state machine is running. Additional attributes are also exposed for those who demand increased protocol control. Once the configurations are completed, IxNetwork's "traffic wizard" can be used to automate the construction of multicast traffic streams to send through the topology.

IGMP/MLD Specifications

Feature	Description
Emulations	IGMP versions 1, 2, and 3; MLD versions 1 and 2; IGMP/MLD querier mode
Messages Types Supported	IGMP Generate "membership reports" (v1, v2, v3) and "leave reports" (v2, v3) Reply to membership queries Emulate querier to test IGMP snooping MLD Generate "multicast listener reports" and "multicast listener done" Reply to "multicast listener queries" Emulate "querier to test MLD snooping"
Host Operational Settings	Enable router alert option (IGMPv2/v3 and MLDv1/v2) Enable response to general query messages (all versions) Enable response to group-specific query messages (IGMPv2/v3 and MLDv1/v2) Enable unsolicited response mode (all versions); report frequency (seconds) Enable suppress reports (all versions); membership reports not transmitted if learned from another host Enable immediate response (all versions) Enable packing for record/frame and source/record (IGMPv3 and MLDv2)
Querier Operational Settings	Version selection; startup query count Enable/disable router alert General query interval (s); general query response interval (ms) Specific query TX count; specific query response interval (ms) Support election; support older version host/querier Querier rate control
Flapping	Enabling a multicast group range will issue a membership report whereas disabling a group range will issue a leave report (IGMPv2/v3 and MLDv1/v2)
Host Statistic	Membership reports TX/RX, leave TX, general queries RX, group-specific queries RX, done TX, total frames TX/RX, invalid packets RX
Querier Statistic	Querier v1 membership rpts Rx; Querier v2 membership rpts Rx V1/V2/V3 general query Tx; V2/V3 group-specific query Tx V3 grp and src specific query Tx; leave Rx; MLDv1 done Rx V3 membership rpt Rx; querier total frames Tx; querier total frames Rx; querier invalid packets Rx; general queries Rx; group-specific queries Rx
Scalability	Thousands of hosts and membership reports with mixed versions, or hundreds of queriers can be emulated per port

IGMP/MLD Specifications

Emulation	PIM-SM version 2, PIM-SMv6, bidirectional PIM, PIM-SSM (source-specific multicast)
Messages Types	Hello, Register, and Join/Prune (*,*,RP), (*,G), (S,G), and (S,G,rpt)
Message Control Rate	Messages per interval and interval (ms). Default: 0 meaning transmit as fast as possible
Learned Join States	For each multicast source senders, the (S,G) Joins received from downstream router can be displayed
Configurable Message Attributes
Hello	Hold time, LAN prune delay, DR priority, bidirectional capable (Bidir_Capable), generation ID (GenID)
Register	Border bit (B) and null-register bit (N) automatically encoded by state machine if set as designated router
Join/Prune	Hold time, unicast upstream neighbor, multicast group, join source, and prune source addresses. State machine will encode the number of groups, joined sources, and pruned sources based on configuration
Operational Behavior
Real-Time Configuration	Emulated routers, interfaces, multicast groups, and sender sources can be created, deleted, or flapped in real-time while the state machine is running
Timed Switching	Auto switch a range of multicast groups from (*,G) to (S,G) based on a delay time (sec) interval
Timed Flapping	Based on a timed interval. Default: 60 seconds
State Refresh	Three modes available: Constant mode keeps GenID fixed until a change is made to a configuration entry Incremental mode increments GenID on every hello message Random mode inserts a random GenID value on every hello message
Packed Groups	When enabled, all multicast groups are added to one Joined/Pruned Message. Otherwise, a Join/Pruned message is created for every multicast group
Register Encapsulation Traffic	For each emulated multicast sender enabled, Ixia will transmit source traffic encapsulated in register message packets until a "RegisterStop" message is received. Native multicast data packets can be configured and generated from the traffic wizard.
Statistics	Hello TX/RX, Register TX/RX, Rtrs. Configured, Rtrs. Running, Neighbor Learned, Register Stop TX/RX, Register Null TX/RX, Join(S,G) TX/RX, Join (*,G) TX/RX, Join(*.*, RP) TX/RX, Join(S,G,RPT) TX/RX, Prune(*,G) TX/RX, Prune(S,G) TX/RX, Prune(*,*,RP) TX/RX, Prune(S,G,RPT) TX/RX
Neighbor Capacity	Up to hundreds of PIM-SM neighbors per port
Message Capacity	Up to millions of multicast destination groups when packing mode is enabled

Emulation Flexibility

Generate a large multicast configuration in a single entry by simply incrementing the multicast group address or adding multiple multicast entries to increase granularity. Manipulate the operational behavior of generating membership reports and responding to membership queries.

Scalability

Ixia's load modules, with a CPU per port, offer the highest level of protocol emulation scalability in today's test market. Multicast protocol emulations run locally on the test port's CPU, thereby minimizing chassis system resources. An Ixia chassis system populated with CPU per-port load modules can generate millions of register and join/prune messages and membership reports/queries. In addition, join/prune messages, host responses, and membership can be flapped dynamically, or on a time interval, to assess the performance of a multicast router under adverse network conditions.

Multiprotocol Support

Ixia's family of emulation software can be run simultaneously on one or many ports in conjunction with line-rate traffic to simulate realistic network scenarios. Ixia's IP multicast emulation can be run with any combination of IGP and signaling protocols.

Easy-to-Use GUI

Ixia's IP multicast emulation software is installed as an add-on to IxNetwork's GUI software for data and control plane testing. The IxNetwork GUI exposes many packet parameters so that complex IP unicast, IP multicast, and MPLS packets can be created. In addition, statistical results can be logged and graphed. IxNetwork's GUI utilizes a spreadsheet interface to facilitate the entry of large and complex configurations.

Verify Multicast VPN Networks

IxNetwork provides a highly scalable and complete solution to verify multicast VPN (mVPN) implementations and deployments. The Multicast Emulation Software includes full support for PIM-SM/SSM over GRE, necessary to simulate mVPN Provider (P) and Provider Edge (PE) routers. A dedicated Multicast VPN protocol wizard provides an integrated solution that can simulate large numbers of CE routers, PE routers and mVPN sites with simultaneous PIM and IGP emulation. IxNetwork can completely surround the system under test and provide highly realistic, controllable and accurate testing.

Tcl Support

Automated scripts can be quickly created using the Tcl scripting environment. Alternatively, the IxNetwork GUI can be used to set up a test configuration; Ixia's ScriptGen utility can then be used to translate the GUI settings to Tcl code with minimal commands. Tcl support is available on Windows and UNIX platforms.

Requirements

• IXIA 250, IXIA 400T, IXIA 1600T, Optixia X16, or Optixia XL10 chassis
• At least one Ixia load module: Gigabit TXS, LSM10GE, OC-3/12 POS/ATM, MSM 2.5G (OC-48c), MSM 10G (10GE, OC-192c POS), ALM, ELM

 

IETF Standards

• Host extensions for IP multicasting, specification for IGMP version 1 (IGMPv1), according to RFC 1112
• Internet group management protocol, version 2, according to RFC 2236
• Internet group management protocol, version 3, according to RFC 3376
• Multicast listener discovery (MLD) for IPv6, according, to RFC 2710
• IGMP (verions 1, 2, and 3) and MLD (versions 1 and 2) querier support: IGMPv3 (RFC 3376), MLDv2 (RFC 3810) and snooping switches (RFC 4541)
• Multicast listener discovery version 2 (MLDv2) for IPv6, according to draft-vida-mld-v2-06.txt
• Protocol-independent multicast - sparse mode (PIM-SM): protocol specification (revised), according to draft-ietf-pimsm-v2-new-07
• Bidirectional protocol-independent multicast (BIDIR-PIM), according to draft-ietf-pim-bidir-04
• Multicast in MPLS/BGP IP VPNs, according to draft-rosen-vpn-mcast-08

 

Product Ordering Information

930-2004
IxNetwork, Optional Software, Multicast Emulation includes IGMPv1/v2/v3, MLDv1/v2, PIM-SM/SSMv4/v6, and Multicast VPN support; REQUIRES 930-1999; Includes Media Kit

 

Companion Test Automation Libraries

928-0243
IxAutomate, Optional Software, IP Multicast Test Suite (MCAST) RFC2432

915-1803-01 Rev F - April 2010

This material is for informational purposes only and subject to change without notice. It describes Ixia's present plans to develop and make available to its customers certain products, features and capabilities. Ixia is only obligated to provide those deliverables specifically included in a written agreement between Ixia and the customer.

[ back | top of page | back to products ]