Methods, systems, and computer readable media for impairment testing using an impairment device

A system for impairment testing using an impairment device, the system comprising:

• physical application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) switching resources;
• a network test system comprising the physical ASIC switching resources, wherein the network test system emulates a data center switching fabric comprising virtualized data center switching fabric elements, wherein the network test system is configured for:
• during a test session for testing a system under test (SUT):
• transmitting, to an inline impairment device, a test packet via an egress portion of an external physical port interface associated with the network test system, wherein the inline impairment device is connected via the external physical port interface associated with the network test system;
• receiving, from the inline impairment device, an impaired packet via an ingress portion of the external physical port interface associated with the network test system, wherein the impaired packet is generated when the impairment device applies at least one impairment to the test packet;
• and
• transmitting, using one or more of the virtualized data center switching fabric elements, the impaired packet to the SUT.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions embodied in the non-transitory computer readable medium that when executed by at least one processor of a network test system cause the network test system to perform steps comprising:

• during a test session for testing a system under test (SUT) and at a network test system comprising physical application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) switching resources, wherein the network test system emulates a data center switching fabric comprising virtualized data center switching fabric elements:
• transmitting, to an inline impairment device, a test packet via an egress portion of an external physical port interface associated with the network test system, wherein the inline impairment device is connected via the external physical port interface associated with the network test system;
• receiving, from the inline impairment device, an impaired packet via an ingress portion of the external physical port interface associated with the network test system, wherein the impaired packet is generated when the impairment device applies at least one impairment to the test packet;
• and
• transmitting, using one or more of the virtualized data center switching fabric elements, the impaired packet to the SUT.