2.17.2.14. Yardstick Test Case Description: NSB EPC NETWORK SERVICE REQUEST

NSB EPC network service request test case
test case id

tc_epc_network_service_request_landslide

  • initiator: service request initiator side could be UE (ue) or Network (network).
metric All metrics provided by Spirent Landslide traffic generator
test purpose

The Spirent Landslide product provides one box solution which allows to fully emulate all EPC network nodes including mobile users, network host and generate control and data plane traffic.

This test covers case of network initiated service request & allows to check processing capabilities of EPC handling high amount of continuous Downlink Data Notification messages from network to UEs which are in Idle state.

It’s easy to replace emulated node or multiple nodes in test topology with real node or corresponding vEPC VNF as DUT and check it’s processing capabilities under specific test case load conditions.

configuration

The EPC network service request test cases are listed below:

  • tc_epc_network_service_request_landslide.yaml

Test duration:

  • is set as 60sec (specified in test session profile);

Traffic type:

  • UDP;

Packet sizes:

  • 512 bytes;

Traffic transaction rate:

  • 0.1 trans/s.;

Number of mobile subscribers:

  • 20000;

Number of default bearers per subscriber:

  • 1;

Idle entry time (timeout after which UE goes to Idle state):

  • 5s;

Traffic start delay:

  • 1000ms.

The above fields and values are the main options used for the test case. Other configurable options could be found in test session profile yaml file. All these options have default values which can be overwritten in test case file.

test tool

Spirent Landslide

The Spirent Landslide is a tool for functional & performance testing of different types of mobile networks. It emulates real-world control and data traffic of mobile subscribers moving through virtualized EPC network. Detailed description of Spirent Landslide product could be found here: https://www.spirent.com/Products/Landslide

applicability

This EPC NETWORK SERVICE REQUEST test case can be configured with different:

  • packet sizes;
  • traffic transaction rate;
  • number of subscribers sessions;
  • number of default bearers per subscriber;
  • subscribers connection rate;
  • subscribers disconnection rate;
  • timeout after which UE goes to Idle state;
  • Traffic start delay;

Default values exist.

references

ETSI-NFV-TST001

3GPP TS 32.455

pre-test conditions
  • All Spirent Landslide dependencies are installed (detailed installation steps are described in Chapter 13- nsb-installation.rst and 14-nsb-operation.rst file for NSB Spirent Landslide vEPC tests;
  • The pod.yaml file contains all necessary information (TAS VM IP address, NICs, emulated SUTs and Test Nodes parameters (names, types, ip addresses, etc.).
test sequence description and expected result
step 1 Spirent Landslide components are running on the hosts specified in the pod file.
step 2 Yardstick is connected with Spirent Landslide Test Administration Server (TAS) by TCL and REST API. The test will resolve the topology and instantiate all emulated EPC network nodes.
step 3

Test scenarios run, which performs the following steps:

  • Start emulated EPC network nodes;
  • Establish subscribers connections to EPC network (default bearers);
  • Switch UE to Idle state after specified in test case timeout;
  • Send Downlink Data Notification from network to UE, that will return UE to active state. This process is continuous and during whole test run UEs will be going to Idle state and will be switched back to active state after Downlink Data Notification was received;
  • Disconnect subscribers at the end of the test.
step 4 During test run, all the metrics provided by Spirent Landslide are stored in the yardstick dispatcher.
test verdict The test case will create the test session in Spirent Landslide with the test case parameters and store the results in the database for benchmarking purposes. The aim is only to collect all the metrics that are provided by Spirent Landslide product for each test specific scenario.