Real world traffic

An apparatus for testing real-world performance of a system under test coupled to a communications network, the apparatus comprising

• a chassis
• one or more adapter cards disposed in the chassis, the adapter cards comprising hardware and software, the hardware and software for
• setting up for simulation of a realistic mix of network traffic on the communications network
• simulating the realistic mix of network traffic on the communications network
• setting up for engaging in stateful TCP connections with the system under test
• engaging in stateful TCP connections with the system under test concurrently with simulating the realistic mix of network traffic on the communications network, resulting in additional network traffic on the communications network
• measuring performance of the system under test for the stateful TCP connections under load of the simulated network traffic.

An apparatus for testing real-world performance of a system under test coupled to a communications network, the apparatus comprising:

• a chassis;
• and
• one or more adapter cards disposed in the chassis, each adapter card comprising:
• a hardware programmable stateless packet processor to simulate a realistic mix of network traffic on the communications network, and
• a processor coupled to a memory, the processor executing a TCP stack for
• engaging in stateful TCP connections with the system under test concurrently with simulating the realistic mix of network traffic on the communications network, resulting in additional network traffic on the communications network, and
• measuring performance metrics of the system under test for the stateful TCP connections under load of the simulated realistic mix of network traffic.

An enterprise load system for testing a system under test available on a communications network, the enterprise load system comprising:

• a hardware stateless packet processor for simulating real-world network traffic on the communications network;
• a processor coupled to a memory, the processor executing a TCP stack for
• generating stateful TCP connections across the communications network with the system under test, each stateful TCP connection including receiving at least one packet from the system under test and sending at least one response packet in response to the received packet, and
• measuring performance of the system under test in supporting the stateful TCP connections from the second means in the presence of the simulated traffic on the communication network from the first means;
• and
• a controller coupled to the hardware stateless packet processor, the controller for changing quantity and quality of the network traffic simulated by the hardware stateless packet processor,
• wherein the hardware stateless packet processor, the processor generating stateful TCP connections, and the processor measuring performance of the system under test operate concurrently.

A method of testing a system under test available on a communications network, the method comprising:

• simulating real-world network traffic on the communications network
• generating stateful TCP connections across the communications network with the system under test
• measuring performance metrics of the system under test in supporting the stateful TCP connections in the presence of the simulated real-world network traffic
• changing quantity and quality of the simulated real-world network traffic
• wherein the steps of simulating, generating and measuring are performed concurrently.