Mpls L3 VPN Testing: Ixexplorer

TEST PLAN
MPLS L3 VPN Testing

IxExplorer
www.ixiacom.com 915-6651-01, 2004

Contents
Overview ....................................................................................................................................3
1. VRF Isolation and Scalability Test .......................................................................................3
2. Route Reflector PE Scalability Test .....................................................................................7
3. Ingress/Egress Forwarding Performance Test ................................................................ 11
4. VPN Merging Test .............................................................................................................. 14
Copyright © 2004 Ixia. All rights reserved.

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2 Copyright © Ixia, 2004 BGP/L3VPN Conformance and Performance Testing: Sample Test Plans
BGP L3VPN Conformance and Performance Testing: Sample Test Plans
Overview The L3VPN test plans presented here validated and tested against the device or
include functional and performance tests system under test prior to deployment.
designed for network and QA engineers These tests are intended as a baseline for
testing L3VPN/RFC 2547-enabled devices. L3VPN testing with further customization a
RFC 2547 VPNs are a key application for natural step forward.
MPLS technology and must be thoroughly
1. VRF Isolation and Objective Setup

Scalability Test This test verifies a DUT’s capabilities for A minimum of two network connections is
VRF isolation with multiple CEs, each with required from the test tool to the DUT —
similar prefix advertisements. The test one port will emulate multiple CEs with
utilizes an IGP advertising a fixed prefix for each CE part of a different VRF. The
each CE router. The device then forwards second port will match the first port by
traffic to and from a CE pair in the same advertising multiple CEs, each from a
VRF. Verification includes counting different VRF. The DUT is configured with a
received frames and ensuring that no trunk 802.1q VLAN interface with a
cross talk has taken place. Scalability can separate VLAN for each VRF instance.
then be achieved by increasing the
number of CEs.
Ixia emu lated CEs Ixia emula

a ted CEs
VPN-A VPN-A
IGP IGP
172.17.20.0/24 IXIA I XI A 172.16.20.0/24
V PN-B VPN-B
B
IGP IGP
172.17.21.0/24 IXIA PE I XI A 172.16.21.0/24
V PN-C VPN-- C
IGP DUT IGP
172.17.22.0/24 IXIA I XI A 172.16.22.0/24
VP
P N-D VPN
N -D
IGP IGP
172.17.23.0/24 IXIA I XI A 172.16.23.0/24
num
m ber of CEs
mb traffic flows routes increa
ea
ase by
increasess per iteration number of CEEs added
Figure 1. VRF isolation scalability test.
BGP/L3VPN Conformance and Performance Testing: Sample Test Plans Copyright © Ixia, 2004 3
Input parameters
Table 1.VRF isolation scalability test parameters.
Parameters Description
Route Distinguisher Route Distinguishers are used primarily to distinguish routes
(RD) especially in overlapping VPN scenarios. The Route
Distinguisher is made up of two parts, the “Admin part” and
“AS number”.
Route Targets Import/ Route targets are appended to prefixes to establish destination
Export VRFs and for import/export policies. This is applied to VPN
prefixes to allow for import to other receiving VPN instances.
IGP/MPLS protocol IGP is the interior gateway protocol used to distribute the
loopback address, and the MPLS protocol is used for signaling
the LSP to destination loopback.
Methodology 3. The tester sends traffic to each prefix

1. CE tester port 1 brings up an IGP or advertised in the VRF from each
customer speaking protocol emulated CE.
advertising prefixes. The control 4. Adding emulated CEs from the test
plane is established; a peer or tool protocol configuration scales
neighbor is adjacent representing a this test. The configuration is
customer site or VPN acting CE. matched on the DUT. Pairs of CEs are
Figure 2 shows an example added to increase the VPN number
configuration of IGP and MPLS and scale.
protocol. 5. Inject traffic flows to verify that each
2. CE tester port 2 is configured similar route is available as the test is
to step 1 with CE emulation scaled. Increase the number of CEs
advertising a unique set of prefixes in the test until the desired size of
to the DUT. network is successfully achieved.
Figure 2. L3 VPN CE router wizard configuration.
Results shows four CEs — two from one VRF, the
other two from a separate VRF. Each pair
The success of the result depends on the
of CEs advertise identical routes, but from
desired size of the network. A positive
different VPNs. The DUT in this case has
result will be received flows for traffic at
two identical route prefixes but must keep
specified rates or number of frames sent/
them separate. The graph in Figure 3
received. Each CE should receive traffic
shows consistency with frames sent and
based on the prefix it advertises. This can
received. No one CE is receiving more than
be done with verification of total frames
its intended transmitter is sending it.
received or a continuous rate test. Figure 3
Frames sent and received are evenly distributed.
No one CE is receiving more frames
than its intended transmitter is sending it.
Figure 3. VRF isolation scalability test — results confirmation in graph.
2. Route Reflector Objective while test port 1 sends traffic to verify the
PE Scalability Test Confirm the number of configured PEs that
advertised prefixes (Figure 4). During the
test, tester port 2 increases the number of
a DUT can peer with and maintain the
advertised PEs each with new NLRI. Ixia’s
ability to reflect routes.
new L3 VPN wizard utility in software
Setup release IxOS 3.80 can accomplish this
The test requires two tester ports — one to setup with minimal configuration steps.
transmit traffic and one to receive. The Routes can be verified with flows of traffic
transmit direction of traffic is streams from Ixia’s automated traffic
unidirectional. Test port 2 is used to generator utility.
advertise the PE route-reflector clients,
route
reflecto
reflector
fll
clients
PE1
prefix_1
IXI A
t raffic reflected back

k to PEs PE2
prefix_2
IXI A
PE
route reflectorr connect
n to
route refle
ector client
PE3
prefix_3
DUT IXI A
traffic flows to all other prefixes
p
connect to emulated PEs
route reflector single port
PE4
client prefix_4
IXI A
IXIA
PE5
PE0 prefix_5
IXI A
number of PEs
increases per iteration
Figure 4. Route reflector PE scalability test topology.
Input parameters
Table 2.Route reflector PE scalability test parameters.
Parameter Description
Route Reflector If tested the DUT can be configured as reflector to all IBGP peers.
Tunnel Endpoint Ultimate tunnel destination for peering session, usually the device
being tested loopback address.
Figure 5. L3VPN configuration wizard.
Methodology of prefixes to be reflected by the DUT.
1. Tester port 1 emulates a single PE Figure 5 shows the Ixia wizard
and establishes a session with the configuration for PE-specific
DUT PE. This port is also used as the parameters.
traffic generator and for confirming 3. The tester generates traffic streams
reflected routes. sourced from tester port 1 with a
2. The second port will be an 802.1q destination of each PE’s advertised
trunk with a separate VLAN-per-PE prefixes on tester port 2.
relationship. The control plane is 4. The number of PEs on tester port 2 is
established here, and the configured scaled and traffic flows re-run to all
number of PEs is established, each prefixes to include the additional
with an L3 site. Each PE emulated by PEs’ route advertisements.
the test tool is advertising a number
Results indicates the number of routes learned by
tester port 1, and the IxExplorer Statistics
A successful result during any given
and Latency views can be used to verify
iteration is confirmation of the routes
per flow received statistics. This
received on the single PE tester port 1 for
information is useful for determining the
all reflected routes in the VPN. To further
MPLS forwarding capability to each prefix
verify that the DUT is able to forward at a
regardless of PE. Statistics can be filtered
given rate and to test the data plane, the
by the destination MAC, providing an
received flows of traffic destined to each
individual PE received count.
PE’s prefix must be verified. Ixia’s
IxExplorer Learned VPN Routes view
Figure 6. Route reflector PE scalability test — BGP routes received statistics.
Figure 7. Route reflector PE scalability test — frames received per emulated PE.
3. Ingress/Egress Objective Setup
Forwarding Determines the maximum rate at which a This test requires two ports; one to
Performance Test Label Switched Router (LSR) configured as simulate the PE router and another to
a L3 VPN Provider Edge (PE) node can simulate the customer edge (CE) router.
strip/pop or apply/push MPLS labels to Ixia’s IxScriptMate application can be used
and from incoming IP packets. The to execute this test.
resulting throughput of this operation is
then measured to the point of no loss.
IP traffic MPLS traffic
NW stub
OSPF DUT OSPF
IXIA IXIA IXIA
LDP
Customer Provider Provider Provider
Edge (CE) Edge (PE) Core (PC) Edge (PE)
MP-iBGP session over

provider backbone
Figure 8. Ingress/egress forwarding performance test setup.
Input parameters
Table 3. Ingress/egress forwarding performance test input parameters.
OSPF Parameters Area ID and network type, Prefix/Mask information.
BGP parameters AS number, Peer address, Prefix/Mask information.
# Routes per CE Defined amount of routes for each CE to advertise.
Traffic rate Desired rate to send traffic to be popped or pushed.
Figure 9. IxScriptmate ingress/egress forwarding performance test configuration.
Methodology 3. A multi-protocol internal BGP (MP-
1. The port simulating the PE/P router iBGP) session is established with the
establishes an IGP session with the DUT.
DUT and advertises the loopback 4. The port simulating the PE router
address of the simulated PE router. transmits MPLS traffic at the
Traffic engineering parameters are specified rate; if frame loss occurs,
advertised using OSPF-TE, IS-IS-TE, the transmission rate is alternately
or LDP protocols. reduced/increased using a binary
2. Bi-directional LSPs are established search algorithm to determine the
using RSVP-TE or LDP. maximum rate at which the DUT can
forward traffic without loss.
Results popped/pushed, data errors in payload,
and sequence errors. Figure 10 shows
The test results given by Ixia’s IxScriptmate
example test results.
will reflect and produce successful
transmit rate, latency of the MPLS traffic
total frames transmitted and received
Figure 10. IxScriptmate ingress/egress forwarding performance test results.
4. VPN Merging Test Objective Setup
This test determines a PE’s ability to This test requires at least two tester ports.
import different VPNs to a single VPN by Tester port 1 acts as a CE for traffic
running traffic flows and verifying received generation to all VPN routes learned while
statistics for each VRF instance. tester port 2 emulates a group of PE
routers, each from a different VRF/VPN
advertising unique prefixes. The DUT PE
receives all routes and merges them into
one common VPN to distribute to tester
port 1.
AS 500
VRFs are being im m ported PE1

and traffic verified
VRF1
by each PE receiving stats
IXI A
emulation port
VRF2
test port 2
traffic flows
PE2
IXIA
DUT VRF3
IXI A
import
VRF1, VRF2 VRF4
VRF3, VRF4
VRF5, VRF6
PE3
VRF5
IXI A
VRF6
external VRFss traffic flows
advertising to the D UT
Figure 11. L3 VPN merging test topology.

Input parameters
Table 4. L3 VPN merging test parameters.
PE configuration Number of PEs, loopback determination, route reflector
address configuration.
VRF configuration Includes number of VRFs per PE, import/export definitions,
and prefix advertisements.
P router setup Defines the IGP and signal protocol used to build local
adjacency and learn the outer MPLS label.
Methodology one common VPN. This VPN is on the
1. Tester port 1 advertises a CE device tester port 1 VRF, where traffic is
sending traffic to several being sent to each destination.
destinations from the merged VPN. Figure 12 shows Ixia VPN wizard
configuration for VRF setup section.
2. Tester port 2 advertises a configured
Each parameter is configured in the
number of PEs, each with a given
wizard setup pertaining to P, PE, and
amount of VRF sites. These site
VRF specifics.
prefixes should be confirmed in the
DUT’s forwarding table for each VRF 4. Start traffic flows from the tester port
instance. 1 port and confirm the delivery of the
flows on a per PE or VRF basis.
3. The VRF instances are merged to
Figure 12. L3 VPN merging test VRF wizard configuration.
Results shows an example graph of received frame
rates for each VRF being emulated by the
The expected results of this test plan are
Ixia protocol server. The correct result is
confirmation that the desired rates of
each VRF receiving the same amount of
traffic being received on a per VRF basis.
total frames during the test.
The results of this test can be viewed via
the IxExplorer GUI interface. Figure 13
frames received per VRF
Figure 13. L3 VPN merging test results graph.

Mpls L3 VPN Testing: Ixexplorer

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TEST PLAN

MPLS L3 VPN Testing

www.ixiacom.com 915-6651-01, 2004

Copyright © 2004 Ixia. All rights reserved.

1. VRF Isolation and Objective Setup

Ixia emu lated CEs Ixia emula

Figure 1. VRF isolation scalability test.

Table 1.VRF isolation scalability test parameters.

Methodology 3. The tester sends traffic to each prefix

Figure 3. VRF isolation scalability test — results confirmation in graph.

t raffic reflected back

Figure 4. Route reflector PE scalability test topology.

Figure 6. Route reflector PE scalability test — BGP routes received statistics.

IP traffic MPLS traffic

MP-iBGP session over

Figure 8. Ingress/egress forwarding performance test setup.

total frames transmitted and received

Figure 10. IxScriptmate ingress/egress forwarding performance test results.

VRFs are being im m ported PE1

Figure 11. L3 VPN merging test topology.

Figure 12. L3 VPN merging test VRF wizard configuration.

frames received per VRF

Figure 13. L3 VPN merging test results graph.

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