CASE STUDY

Calsoft Labs Improves Virtual Network Function (VNF) Throughput

and Scalability with Ixia Test Solutions
Network functions virtualization (NFV) is • Support traffic over IPsec tunnels Calsoft Labs
a new initiative and networking paradigm at line rate (10 Gbps full duplex per
shift that aims to move the running port): test near line rate bi-directional
of network functions like switching, traffic handling at system under test
routing, firewalls, broadband remote • Multi-protocol support: IPsec traffic
access server (BRAS), and others from with various protocols (IP, TCP, UDP)
purpose built specialized hardware to on
commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) server Calsoft Labs’ VNF solutions that are
based on COTS servers are modular and http://sdn.calsoftlabs.com
based platforms. It achieves this through
the virtualization of network functions by efficient; the company needed high-
performance and standards-compliant test Calsoft Labs is a pioneer in
the creation of virtual network functions software defined networking
(VNFs) that run on the COTS hardware. gear to validate throughput and scalability.
(SDN) and NFV solutions,
having delivered some of the
This paradigm shift has become critical industry’s first commercially-
to network equipment manufacturers “In our experience, Ixia deployed NFV solutions and
(NEMs) working to virtualize their product provides high-quality SDN applications.
offering as well as service providers who
products with industry-
are aggressively looking to build services Market
based on virtual appliances. leading testing and test
Networking and infrastructure
automation capabilities in
solutions
the datacom space. As we
NFV Brings New Test are aware that Ixia products Challenges
Challenges could easily meet our testing Validate throughput and
requirements, we selected scalability of VNF solutions
NFV is generating many new test
requirements and companies like Ixia solutions to test our VNF
solutions.” – Narendra Dhara, Solutions
Calsoft Labs need to move through Ixia IxLoad and Xcellon-Ultra
more test cases as they try to optimize Senior VP of Engineering and XTS-40 enabled:
the virtualized platforms for the VNFs CTO, Calsoft Labs
they are looking to run, as well as more • High-performance to
complicated scenarios that involve service validate 1,000+ IPsec
chaining of multiple VNFs together. Calsoft Labs Selects Ixia tunnels per second
Calsoft Labs’ primary testing needs IxLoad and Xcellon-Ultra • Statistics to identify latency
bottlenecks and improve
include: XTS-40 appliance solution performance
• Support a high rate of IPsec tunnel Ixia has been a long-term and trusted • Flexible configuration to
establishment: verify a customer partner for Calsoft Labs, who has used test for varying packet sizes
requirement to support a tunnel Ixia IxNetwork, IxLoad, IxANVL, and of traffic over IPsec tunnels
establishment rate of 1,000+ tunnels IxAutomate to perform functional and • Accelerated ports to verify
per second with the Calsoft Labs performance testing for its products, the desired downlink to
Cloud VPN Gateway solution ranging from enterprise switches to uplink ratio using full duplex
• Support varying packet sizes of traffic metro/core routers. traffic
over IPsec tunnels: ensure Calsoft
• Multi-Protocol testing
Labs solution can support payload Calsoft Labs’ NFV Solution Engineering
generates IPsec traffic with
sizes varying from 64 bytes to 1420 Team selected Ixia IxLoad application
various protocols, including
bytes test solution and Xcellon-Ultra XTS-40
IP, TCP, UDP
appliance to test and improve the VNF

Page 1 www.ixiacom.com 915-0950-01 Rev. A, September 2014

 CASE STUDY

performance (in terms of throughput and scalability) The environment Calsoft Labs needed to test included:
for its Cloud VPN Gateway and Virtual BRAS solutions.
Ixia solutions were used to test functionality in different • Subscribers tunneled through Wi-Fi Home Hubs
configurations, stability during long-duration tests, session terminating at VPN Gateway
establishment rate, and line-rate throughput testing with
• 100K IPsec + IKE VPN Tunnels
different application payloads.
• Tunnel establishment rate of > 1,000 tunnels per
Value brought by Ixia test solutions includes: second
• Upload and download traffic throughput of 20Gbps, full
• Performance Testing: the XTS-40 verified the Calsoft duplex, through SFP+ ports
Labs’ solution could support the high rate of 1,000+
IPsec tunnels per second Validating and Improving VNF and
• Comprehensive Testing: Statistics provided by IxLoad Cloud Infrastructures
software helped to identify the bottlenecks in terms
of latencies and improve Calsoft Labs’ solution Using Ixia Xcellon-Ultra XTS-40 hardware accelerators for
performance. IPsec, Calsoft Labs has the high performance necessary to
• Flexibility: Flexible configuration options to vary the test its IPsec VPN tunnels.
range of packet sizes (minimum and maximum) with
target throughput helped Calsoft Labs to test for Xcellon-Ultra XTS-40 Performance
varying packet sizes of traffic over IPsec tunnels.
Metric XTS-40 Performance
• Availability: the XTS-40 accelerated ports support TCP IPsec Throughput 40 Gbps
based traffic (HTTP) and UDP based traffic (Stateless
peer) over IPsec tunnels, enabling Calsoft Labs to IPsec Tunnel Rate 4,000
verify the system under test for the desired downlink IPsec Tunnel Capacity 1 million
to uplink ratio using full duplex traffic 1 GE Test Ports n/a
• Multi-Protocol Testing: Calsoft Labs were able to test 10 GE Test Ports 4 SFP+
its solution with IPsec traffic with various protocols,
including IP, TCP, UDP By emulating physical routers, the test team can more
easily define the next hop in the DUT by removing the
Test Implementation burden of ARP/Route tables. Additionally, the stability of
Ixia’s firmware over time is an important factor in Calsoft’s
To test its Cloud VPN Gateway solution, Calsoft Labs uses
ability to perform long-duration testing.
Ixia’s IxLoad to emulate the real-time user environment and
Ixia’s Xcellon-Ultra XTS-40 appliance for high-scale IPsec
With IxLoad’s ability to easily configure L2 parameters
performance testing.
(MAC address, VLAN ID, etc...), Calsoft Labs now has a

Emulated Emulated
Client 1 Gateway 1 Router Router
Upload IPsec IKE IPsec NAT
Tunnel IPsec Tunnel
download
Server
11.11.11.1 12.12.12.2 70.0.0.1
41.0.0.1 51.0.0.1 11.11.11.2 VPN Server 12.12.12.1

IPsec Tunnel
Upload
Server Network
download
41.1.134.160 51.1.134.160
Client Network
Client 100K Gateway 100K

IPsec Test Setup

Page 2 www.ixiacom.com 915-0950-01 Rev. A, September 2014

 CASE STUDY

simplified /controllable test environment. The reporting Our breakthrough Visibility Architecture provides
functions allow Calsoft Labs to generate detailed statistics continuous monitoring of VNFs as VMs move around,
such as latency, throughput, and error to help them analyze which is critical to restoring critical audit trails, hardening
and identify bugs/issues in the DUT. security, and ensuring compliance. And we continue to
innovate. Our solutions for testing and maintaining visibility
Using the IxLoad application and Xcellon-Ultra XTS-40 into the newly virtualized environment include:
appliance, Calsoft Labs has the high-performance and
standards-compliant test gear it needs to validate and • RackSim virtualized data center simulation emulates
improve the throughput and scalability of its innovative VNF large numbers of virtualized hosts running multiple
and cloud solutions. hypervisors. RackSim is used to provision VMs with
diverse profiles and to generate events such as start,
stop, deploy, destroy, and migrate. RackSim models
“Lab to Live” Solutions for testing migration at scale, and lowers CAPEX and OPEX for
and deploying NFV from Ixia large data centers over time.
• AppLibrary delivers a simplified framework for
With the IxVM Virtual Editions of Ixia’s market leading emulating realistic traffic mixes using pre-defined
IxLoad and IxNetwork test applications, virtualized test application flows. Used across multiple Ixia test
ports are inserted at the hypervisor level. IxVM acts as an applications, this specialized library validates scale and
emulated VNF(s) on the same or a different server as the performance in content-aware networks and devices,
VNFs under test, and executes the same set of tests as a generating traffic at line-rate 10G and 40G speeds.
physical tester to isolate and verify performance.
• Phantom vTaps deliver 100% visibility into virtualized
Both traditional testing with physical test ports and testing environments, including the inter-VM east-west traffic
with virtual test ports measure the same Key Performance on shared servers. Software based and vSwitch-
Indicators (KPIs), along with unique aspects of the virtual agnostic, vTaps installed at the new hypervisor
environment such as VNF and VM performance, and virtual layer eliminate blind spots to optimize performance,
appliance or service chaining. Ixia also delivers physical capacity, throughput, and utilization of resources.
and virtual visibility solutions that efficiently monitor wired,
wireless, and cloud-based networks at scale.

Ixia Worldwide Headquarters Ixia European Headquarters Ixia Asia Pacific Headquarters
26601 Agoura Rd. Ixia Technologies Europe Ltd 21 Serangoon North Avenue 5
Calabasas, CA 91302 Clarion House, Norreys Drive #04-01
Maidenhead SL6 4FL Singapore 554864
(Toll Free North America)
United Kingdom
1.877.367.4942 Sales +65.6332.0125
(Outside North America) Sales +44 1628 408750 Fax +65.6332.0127
+1.818.871.1800 (Fax) +44 1628 639916
(Fax) 818.871.1805
www.ixiacom.com

Page 3 www.ixiacom.com 915-0950-01 Rev. A, September 2014