Network traffic generation and monitoring systems and methods for their use in testing frameworks for determining suitability of a network for target applications

A method comprising:

• providing a network element load monitoring unit;
• using the network element load monitoring unit to determine load on all network devices on a call oath including a layer-2 portion and a layer-3 portion at a time;
• determining utilization and error statistics on all network devices on the call path at the time;
• determining number of calls going over the path at the time;
• and
• determining end-to-end quality incurred by all calls going over the path at the time.

A method for determining information pertaining to a call traveling through a network at a given time, comprising:

• providing a topology discovery unit;
• using the topology discovery unit for determining a network path the call traverses at the given time;
• providing a network element load monitoring unit;
• using the network element load monitoring unit to determine load, utilization, and error statistics on all network devices on the call path at the given time;
• determining end-to-end quality of the call at the given time;
• wherein said step of determining the quality of a call includes:
• injecting synthetic calls into the network with various parameters to reflect different types of traffic;
• time stamping each synthetic call when injected;
• measuring metrics indicative of quality of injected calls;
• and
• storing said metrics and a time of measurement in a data store;
• determining all network paths traversed by calls during the given time interval;
• determining load, utilization, and error statistics on all devices in the network during a given time interval;
• determining the quality of all calls during the given time interval;
• storing such information in a data store organized to handle significant volumes of data;
• and
• integrating on a common time scale simultaneous call path, call quality, network path utilization measurements.

A system for measuring call quality over a network comprising:

• an apparatus for injecting synthesized calls having characteristics of actual calls into the network;
• an apparatus for coordinating the injection of synthesized calls to reflect different types of configurations;
• an apparatus for computing metrics indicative of call quality pertaining to each call;
• and
• an apparatus for storing said computed metrics in a data store.

A method for use in assessing the quality of service (QoS) in a network with respect to target applications comprising:

• providing a network element load monitoring unit;
• providing a topology discovery unit;
• collecting simultaneous network measurements consisting of network paths, traffic on network devices, and QoS measurements across network paths using the load monitoring unit to collect the measurements of traffic on the network devices;
• graphically relating said simultaneous measurements to each other on a given time scale;
• determining layer-3 paths between network devices based on topological discovery;
• determining multi-layer paths between network devices based on topological discovery;
• and
• determining paths between network devices and collecting trace route information and storing such information along with the time of measurement in a data store.

A method for use in assessing the quality of service (QoS) in a network with respect to target applications comprising:

• providing a topology discovery unit;
• collecting simultaneous network measurements consisting of network paths, using the topology discovery unit, traffic on network devices, and QoS measurements across network paths;
• and
• relating the simultaneous measurements on the same time scale, wherein determining the QoS across network paths includes:
• injecting synthetic traffic into the network at regular intervals between endpoints placed throughout the network;
• synthesizing the injected traffic with various parameters to reflect different types of traffic characteristics;
• time stamping the injected traffic;
• measuring metrics indicative of QoS received by injected traffic;
• and
• storing said metrics along with the time of measurement in a data store.

A method for use in assessing the quality of service (QoS) in a network with respect to target applications comprising:

• providing a topology discovery unit;
• collecting simultaneous network measurements consisting of network paths, using the topology discovery unit, traffic on network devices, and QoS measurements across network paths;
• and
• relating the simultaneous measurements on the same time scale, wherein said step of relating simultaneous measurements consisting of network paths, traffic on network devices, and QoS across network paths comprises:
• determining all network paths traversed by injected traffic at a given time using a data store;
• determining the load, utilization, and error statistics on all network devices at a given time using the data store;
• determining the end-to-end QoS incurred by synthetic traffic at a given time using the data store;
• and
• integrating the said simultaneous information on the same time scale.

A system for collecting simultaneous network measurements consisting of network paths, traffic on network devices, and QoS measurements across network paths;

• and integrating the said simultaneous measurements on the same time scale, comprising:
• an apparatus for conducting topological discovery;
• an apparatus for collecting trace route information;
• an apparatus for sending and receiving device polling requests at regular intervals;
• an apparatus for storing the collected load, utilization, and error statistics for network devices in a data store;
• an apparatus for injecting synthetic traffic;
• an apparatus for coordinating the injection of traffic to reflect different types of network configurations and traffic parameters;
• an apparatus for computing metrics indicative of the QoS received by the synthetic traffic;
• an apparatus for storing the said collected information in the data store;
• an apparatus for accessing data store, and
• an apparatus for relating simultaneous network measurements in the data store on the same timescale.