Assessing Carrier Ethernet Services
EXFO’s ETS-1000 is a cost-effective handheld Ethernet analyzer enabling service providers to turn-up and install next-generation carrier Ethernet services. Its compact size combined with a complete feature set makes it the perfect tool for field technicians to reliably validate service-level agreements (SLA) of Ethernet-based services running over metro Ethernet networks.
The ETS-1000 has two completely independent test ports that support the following interfaces: 10/100/1000Base-T, 1000Base-SX, 1000Base-LX and 1000Base-ZX. Using this analyzer, technicians can transmit up to layer-4 traffic with fully configurable virtual local area networks (VLAN), multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) and quality of service (QoS) parameters. The ETS-1000 supports all of today’s necessary Ethernet/IP field testing capabilities including the RFC 2544, bit-error-rate testing (BERT), packet jitter as well as multistream generation and analysis.
Key Features
- Throughput, back-to-back, latency and frame loss measurements as per RFC 2544 (asymmetrical results optional)
- Up to 10 traffic stream generation and analysis, perfect for turning-up next-generation Ethernet services
- EtherBERT™ for bit-error-rate testing of 10, 100 and 1000 Mbit/s Ethernet circuits
- MPLS support for carrier Ethernet
- Packet jitter measurement to qualify Ethernet transport networks for transmission of delay-sensitive traffic such as voice-over-IP (VoIP) and video
- Remote control capability
- Dual port capability for simultaneous traffic generation and reception at 100 % wire speed for 10/100/1000Base-T, 1000Base-SX, 1000Base-LX or 1000Base-ZX full-duplex networks at all packet sizes
- Ethernet-in-the-First-Mile 802.3ah testing
- Clear pass/fail test results
- Through mode capability for troubleshooting applications
- TCP/IP network configuration test suite including TCP client, DNS lookup, ARP monitor, ping and traceroute
- Cable diagnostics
Flexible Testing Configurations
With its default two-port configuration, the ETS-1000 offers a variety of testing configurations, providing complete flexibility to the user. The automatic remote loopback also considerably simplifies and accelerates the test setup.
Testing Applications
Ethernet has become the technology of choice to deliver next-generation telecommunications services for business, mobile backhaul and wholesale services. Proper assessment of these services is essential to ensure quality and performance. The ETS-1000 supports all key testing applications enabling field technicians to effectively install and turn-up these services.
RFC 2544
The RFC 2544 is the common standard methodology used to turn-up, install and troubleshoot Ethernet circuits. Four tests are really important to include in the RFC 2544, which are throughput, back-to-back, frame loss and latency. The methodology defines the frame size, duration and number of test iterations. Once performed, these tests provide performance metrics of the Ethernet network under test. The ETS-1000 executes all RFC 2544 tests and provides a quick and easy configuration. The ETS-1000 supports two configurations for the RFC 2544. The first one has a loopback at the remote end, providing round-trip results and the second one offers asymmetrical testing providing separate results for each test direction.
QoS Assessment—Multistream Testing
Ethernet circuits including Ethernet-based mobile backhaul need to support new and more advanced services. Networks now carry a variety of different applications such as voice, e-mail, video on demand and online gaming. Due to the nature of these different services, they will be affected differently by network characteristics such as latency, frame delay variation (packet jitter) and frame loss. To ensure QoS, service providers must properly configure their networks to define how the traffic will be prioritized. The ETS-1000 can assess these new services through its complex traffic capability, which allows simultaneous testing of up to 10 streams representing different applications. Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as throughput, latency and frame loss are measured for each individual streams.
Cable Testing
With the help of the Wiremap test, field technicians can check for continuity problems as well as for MDI and MDIX compatibility. Also, knowing the length, distance to fault, propagation delay and skew further ensures that the physical cabling is within the IEEE 802.3 standard specifications.
MPLS Testing
The MPLS testing option allows the generation of traffic that has up to three MPLS labels. The RFC 2544, multistream and BER tests can be performed with MPLS traffic, enabling field technicians to test within the MPLS network and verify proper label routing and prioritization.
EtherBERT
Ethernet is increasingly carried across a variety of layer 1 media over longer distances. This creates a growing need for Ethernet transport certification on a bit-per-bit basis. This can be done using BERT as it uses a pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) encapsulated into an Ethernet frame. By providing this capability, the ETS-1000 allows to go from a frame-based error measurement to a bit-error-rate measurement.
TCP/IP Network Configuration Test Suite
The ETS-1000 offers a network configuration test suite, which allows technicians to simply verify network connectivity and validate proper configuration. Using these tests, users can detect network configuration problems, verify server availability, verify operability and estimate the load of the link. The network configuration test suite includes the following tests:
- DNS lookup
- ARP monitor: allows to observe ARP replies that are transmitted in the network and to get the IP and MAC addresses they contain
- TCP-client: allows to verify if a tested server responds to HTTP-requests
- Ping/traceroute
Reports, Test Configurations and Remote Control
The ETS-1000 analyzer supports saving complete test results to file. It is also possible to load and view previously saved results and configurations directly on the unit. The user has the capability of taking screen captures of the ETS-1000 user interface. It is also possible to fully remote control the ETS-1000 via the tester’s LAN port.