The SIMULATOR ports are virtual ports used within Abilis CPX in order to generate data traffic. A SIMULATOR port can be considered like a data traffic source with an high throughput at the Connection Oriented Router level.
Beyond supplying data generation, the SIMULATOR port can moreover carry out a comparison between data transmitted and received ones, in order to detect eventual errors. At the end, it provides a segmentation and packets concatenation control, carried out through the use of the M-bit (in case of ports that have different packet size).
The main scope for which the SIMULATOR ports have been introduced is to carry out "stress tests" in order to estimate performances and reliability of Abilis CPX.
As an example, they could be used for one of the following scopes:
To generate a bidirectional data flow at very high frequency between X25 ports on the number of wished logical channels;
To generate a bidirectional data flow at very high frequency between PAD ports in order to carry out verifications on the performances and the mechanism of flow control;
To generate a bidirectional data flow pseudo-casual in order to carry out a control on the compression adapter;
To generate a bidirectional data flow at very high frequency in order to test efficiency and reliability of external but compatible equipment with Abilis CPX.
The simpler use of the SIMULATOR ports is to generate traffic on two X25 ports, externally connected by modem or a "null-modem" cable. The SIMULATOR port is configured to activate a prefixed equal number of bidirectional SVC channels, subdivided in equal parts in "calling" channels and "called" channels.
Calls generated by the "calling" channels on the SIMULATOR ports are re-directed by the Connection Oriented Router through the X25 ports again on the same SIMULATOR port, where they are accepted from the "called" channels. Once the connection is established data exchange can start:
Connections between different SIM ports can be also established on same Abilis CPX or different Abilis CPX: it is sufficient to configure the necessary number of channels BSVC, the number of calls to generate and to use on both ports the same configuration for the parameters regarding the type of data generated, the packet size to send and to receive, the eventual control of sequences concatenated by the M-bit.
The SIMULATOR port is labelled within the Abilis CPX with the acronym "SIM" and it is provided with the parameters described in this section.
Here is an example on how to show the SIM port parameters. Shown values are the default ones.
[15:43:20] ABILIS_CPX: D P PO:920
PO:920 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIM TYPE:USER MCAU:NO ps:2048 bsvc:10 CALL:0
DATA:HEX CMP:NO DLY:0 DT:0 MCHK:YES
IPADD:000.000.000.000 IPFRM:128
IPMIN:001.001.001.001 IPMAX:001.001.001.001
THRPUT:65535 BURST:NO TXBURST:500
To activate changes made on the parameters displayed by low case characters, it is needed to restart the system; on the contrary for activating changes made on high case parameters it is enough to execute the initialization command INIT PO:.
| TYPE: | Port type |
| USER | USER |
This parameter sets how the port behaves if data compression is activated.
The port connected to the X.25 network is defined NETWORK port; the one connected to the user device USER port.
The NETWORK port sends compressed data and expands the received ones; the USER port compresses the received data and sends the expanded ones.
The SIM can be only a USER port.
| MCAU: | Cause code modification in CLEAR packets sent |
| NO | YES, NO |
It affects only X.25 communications.
If MCAU is set to NO, Abilis CPX transports, without any changes, the cause and diagnostic code of the CLEAR packets; it also uses the F0 cause code and the suitable diagnostic one for all the CLEAR packets internally generated.
If MCAU is set to YES, Abilis CPX forces the cause code of the CLEAR packet sent to the value 00 (DTE originated), for the external CLEAR and the internal ones.
The changes made on this parameter are immediately activated, without the need of initialization.
| PS: | Maximum packet size (bytes) |
| 2048 | 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048 |
It sets the maximum size of packet to be sent and received. If frame longer than the fixed value is received, the connection will be closed with the code F1:A0.
| BSVC: | Number of BSVC connections |
| 0 | 0 - 254 |
This parameter set the number of BSVC channels configured.
| CALL: | Number of calls to be placed |
| 0 | 0 - BSVC |
It sets the number of calls to be placed. This value can be modified while the Abilis CPX is working without the need to restart it. To activate the new value it is needed to execute the command INIT PO:. Current calls will be terminate with codes F1:A5 and successively the new specified number of calls will be placed.
| DATA: | Data type sent/received |
| RND | NO, RND, ALPHA, HEX, IP |
It sets the type of data generate by the SIM port.
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| NO | No data are generated, once the connection is established |
| RND | Random sequences of characters (length set in the parameter PS:) are generated |
| ALPHA | Sequences of always the same alphanumeric characters (high case letters from 'A' to 'Z' and digits from '0' to '9') and fixed length (parameter PS:) are generated |
| HEX | Sequences of always the same hexadecimal digits (from 0x00 to 0xFF) and fixed length (parameter PS:) are generated |
| IP | Generation of IP frame datagram (length set in the parameter PS:) |
| CMP: | Comparison between data sent and received |
| NO, YES |
Activation of comparison between data sent and received.
If the comparison is not successful the connection will be closed with the codes F1:A3.
| DLY: | Delay between a call and its successive one |
| 0 | 0 - 255 seconds |
It sets the time delay between a call and its successive one.
Value "0" stands for "no delay" between the calls.
| DT: | Disconnection Time-out |
| 0 | 0 - 65535 seconds |
It sets how long a connection can be up, after this time interval it will be teared down.
Value "0" stands for indefinite period, that is connection is never teared down.
This time-out is the same for all the connections.
Connection are teared down, after the time-out elapses, with codes F1:A4.
| MCHK: | M-bit control |
| YES | NO, YES |
It permits to activate the control on the sequences of the packets linked by M-bit.
If a too long sequence of the packets linked by M-bit is received, connection are teared down with codes F1:A4.
If a too short sequence of the packets linked by M-bit is received, connection are teared down with codes F1:A2.
| IPADD: | SIM port IP address |
| 0.0.0.0 | 0 - 255.255.255.255 |
It sets the SIM port IP address.
| IPMIN: | Lowest IP address to generate |
| 1.1.1.1 | 0 - 255.255.255.255 |
It sets the lowest IP address to generate.
| IPMAX: | Highest IP address to generate |
| 1.1.1.1 | 0 - 255.255.255.255 |
It sets the highest IP address to generate.
| IPFRM: | Maximum length (in bytes) of the IP frame |
| 128 | 20 - 155 |
It sets the maximum length (in bytes) of the IP frame to manage.
| THRPUT: | Requested throughput for each channel |
| 65535 | 1 - 65535 packets per second |
It sets the traffic throughput ( packets per second) to generate on each channel. If the requested throughput exceeds the actual transmission capacity, the effective throughput will be the maximum value actually allowed.
| BURST: | Burst activation |
| NO | NO, YES |
It activates the burst generation on channels.
If it is set to "NO", traffic is homogeneously generated during the whole connection.
If the parameter is set to "YES", traffic generation will be maximally concentrated on the time interval specified by the parameter TXBURST: and it will be suspended in order to not exceed the requested throughput (parameter BURST:).
| TXBURST: | BURST duration |
| 500 | 100 - 65535 (in milliseconds) |
It sets the burst duration. This parameter is used only if the parameter BURST: is set to "YES".
How to check the state and statistics of the SIM ports by the command D S.
[15:43:20] ABILIS_CPX: D S PO:920
PO:920 STATE:UP
SIM -----------|---INPUT---|--OUTPUT---|-----------|---INPUT---|--OUTPUT---|
SEG |0 |0 |CHAR |0 |0 |
PCK |0 |0 |PPS |0 |0 |
CPS |0 |0 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The PLINKE ports has not extended statistics so that the execution of the command D SE will display again the not extended statistics by the following format:
[15:43:20] ABILIS_CPX: D SE PO:920
PO:920 --- Cleared 000:05:01:38 ago, at 20/05/1999 18:20:45 -------------------
SIM -----------|---INPUT---|--OUTPUT---|-----------|---INPUT---|--OUTPUT---|
SEG |0 |0 |CHAR |0 |0 |
PCK |0 |0 |PPS |0 |0 |
CPS |0 |0 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information "Cleared DDD:HH:MM:SS ago, at DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM:SS", referred by the extended statistics, shows the time interval elapsed from the last reset of statistics (by the format "days:hours:minutes:seconds") and date, time of its execution (by the format "day:month:year" and "hours:minutes:seconds").
| STATE: | Current state of the SIM ports |
| UP |
It shows the current state of the SIM port driver.
| Driver | States | Meaning | Value shown in: | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System Log | Debug Log | Display LCD | |||
| SIM | UP | The port is active. By being a virtual port, it is always active | UP | ||
| SEG: | Number of received/sent segments |
| 0 - 4.294.967.295 |
The counter SEG (INPUT) is incremented every time the SIM port receives data. The counter SEG (OUTPUT) is incremented every time data are sent.
Segments are obtained dividing the number of bytes by 64.
| CHAR: | Number of received/sent characters |
| 0 - 4.294.967.295 |
The counter CHAR (INPUT) is incremented every time data are received by the SIM port. The counter CHAR (OUTPUT) is incremented every time data are sent.
| PCK: | Number of received/sent packets |
| 0 - 4.294.967.295 |
The counter PCK (INPUT) is incremented every time a data packet is received by the SIM port. The counter PCK (OUTPUT) is incremented every time a data packet is sent.
| PPS: | Number of packets received/sent per second |
| 0 - 4.294.967.295 |
The counter PPS (INPUT) shows the number of packets received during the last 5 seconds of activity. The counter PPS (OUTPUT) shows the number of packets sent during the last 5 seconds of activity.
The shown value is an integer: it is always rounded down.
| CPS: | Number of characters received/sent per second |
| 0 - 4.294.967.295 |
The counter CPS (INPUT) shows the number of characters received during the last 5 seconds of activity. The counter CPS (OUTPUT) shows the number of characters during the last 5 seconds of activity.
The shown value is an integer: it is always rounded down.
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