Application virtualisation in a cloud environment is a compelling solution with economic, flexibility and capacity benefits for enterprises of all sizes. The shared and distributed nature of cloud computing components, however, makes it extremely difficult to predict requirements and optimise performance. A new, more specialised testing approach is required in order to measure the true capacity and quality of virtualised applications and infrastructures.

Ixia’s IxNetwork and IxANVL solutions will test two important areas of network virtualisation:
• Validating the virtualised infrastructure – the complexity of the infrastructure inherent in next-gen virtualised networks requires comprehensive testing in order to guarantee adequate robustness. Ixia’s demonstration will show:
o IxNetwork validating the performance of data centre infrastructure switching tiers using the new cloud infrastructure Quick Test. This Quick Test provides unique traffic profiles and the ability to create North-South and East-West traffic patterns;
o IxNetwork testing new layer 2 multi-path (L2MP) protocols needed to replace spanning-tree, including TRILL and SPBM; and
o IxNetwork and IxANVL testing OpenFlow for functionality, performance and conformance.
• Enabling testing in the cloud – OpenStack and other cloud operating systems are enabling multi-tenancy data centres by providing a management layer on top of various hypervisors (virtualised servers). These cloud operating systems can be used to deploy VMs and provision the required networking connectivity:
o IxNetwork with IxVM (virtual Ixia ports running on a VM) Ixia will test performance VM to VM, through the vSwitch and out to physical network resources. This provides the unique ability to test IaaS and PaaS to determine performance prior to going live;
o Cloud providers can test multi-tenant virtualised infrastructures from layer 2/3, including vSwitches, through the application layer to ensure they can meet SLAs for enterprise customers once deployed; and
o Enabling Testing-as-a-Service for customers through the customer portal to test services upon spin up, before going live.

Ixia’s unique virtualised test solutions provide the essential tools to ensure that cloud service will perform with high availability and necessary security. Ixia’s IxVM allows enterprises and cloud providers to independently validate:
• Service level agreements (SLAs);
• Layer 2/3 infrastructure (components of the virtual switch, including functionality, conformance to standards and performance); and
• Layer 4-7 functionality (VM migration, NAS/SAN/DCBx system capacity and performance and cloud infrastructure security).

Ixia’s virtual tools isolate portions of the virtual data centre to pinpoint security flaws, performance bottlenecks and operational issues.
 

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