Method and apparatus for emulating network devices

A non-transitory memory storing data, comprising:

• a data structure stored in the memory, comprising:
• a tree data structure emulating, on a network hardware device, a plurality of encapsulated protocol stacks emulating a plurality of network devices communicating with network hardware under test external to the network hardware device via a physical port of the network hardware device, the plurality of encapsulated protocol stacks comprising variable combinations of a plurality of encapsulation protocols, the tree data structure including:
• a plurality of paths between a root node of the tree structure and leaf nodes of the tree data structure, such that paths of the plurality of paths emulate encapsulated protocol stacks of the plurality of encapsulated protocol stacks, and nodes along the plurality of paths emulate encapsulation protocols of the plurality of encapsulated protocol stacks, and said nodes are associated with sets of values specific to packet processing of particular encapsulation protocols of the variable combinations.

A network emulation system, comprising:

• test equipment with a data processor, including program storage storing programs including instructions executable by the data processor, said instructions performing:
• emulating, on the test equipment, a plurality of network devices with a plurality of encapsulated protocol stacks, the plurality of network devices communicating with network hardware under test external to the test equipment via a physical port on the test equipment, the plurality of encapsulated protocol stacks comprising variable combinations of a plurality of encapsulation protocols, the plurality of encapsulated protocol stacks emulated with a tree data structure including a plurality of paths between a root node of the tree structure and leaf nodes of the tree data structure, such that nodes along the plurality of paths emulate encapsulation protocols of the plurality of encapsulated protocol stacks, and said nodes are associated with sets of values specific to packet processing of particular encapsulation protocols of the variable combinations.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing program instructions executed on a computer performing:

• emulating, on a network hardware device, a plurality of network devices with a plurality of encapsulated protocol stacks, the plurality of network devices communicating with network hardware under test external to the network hardware device via a physical port of the network hardware device, the plurality of encapsulated protocol stacks comprising variable combinations of a plurality of encapsulation protocols, the plurality of encapsulated protocol stacks emulated with a tree data structure including a plurality of paths between a root node of the tree structure and leaf nodes of the tree data structure, such that nodes along the plurality of paths emulate encapsulation protocols of the plurality of encapsulated protocol stacks, and said nodes are associated with sets of values specific to packet processing of particular encapsulation protocols of the variable combinations.