Chapter 15: IXIA Impairment Load Modules
This chapter provides specification and details of Ethernet Impairment Modules (EIM). This family of load modules consist of the following cards:
- EIM1G4S1G Ethernet LAN Impairment Module
- EIM10G4S10G Ethernet LAN Impairment Module
- EIM40G2Q40G Ethernet LAN Impairment Module
The Impairment load modules have a single-slot form factor and are inserted into a high-density XM2 or XM12 chassis to provide 2 to 12 modules per chassis configuration. The load modules offer 4x1GE, 4x10GE, or 2x40GE Ethernet interfaces that can emulate 64, 32, or 8 unidirectional network clouds respectively.
The high density 1GE, 10GE, and 40GE Impairment test modules are ideal for emulating real-life network impairments. The modules can emulate a WAN environment and simulate network characteristics, such as delay, delay variation, and impairments, such as packet loss, duplication, and re-ordering.
EIMs support the Impairment feature in IxNetwork and IxLoad applications that provides a quick and easy way to set up impairments, across multiple emulated WAN links. Using EIM ports, IxNetwork and IxLoad is capable of generating a number of impairments, for example packet drops, latency, or packet re-ordering, which replicates real-life WAN traversal conditions, whereby packet flows are impaired in different modes when traversing a network.
The EIM40G2Q load module is not supported in IxLoad.
For more information on the Impairment feature, refer to chapter on `Network Impairment' in the IxNetwork Help and IxLoad Help.
The key features of EIM are as follows:
- High density 1GE, 10GE, and 40GE load modules
- Realistic, high-scale WAN emulation
- Hardware-based impairment generation
- Integration with traffic generation, protocol emulation and analysis
- Scale port counts with high port density
- Simulate ultra-high latency: 500ms on each 40GE link, 600ms on each 10GE link and 6 sec. on each 1GE link at line rate traffic
- Leverage a single hardware chassis for traffic load modules
- Use IxNetwork for integrated traffic generation and impairment
- Quickly configure traffic flows and apply impairment
- Automate tests
- Analyze measurements with StatViewer interface
- Achieve 1GE, 10GE and 40GE line-rate impairment on all frame sizes (64 to 9180 byte frames) with no packet loss
The 1/10GE EIM load module is shown in the following figure:
Figure 15-1. ImpairNetTM 1/10GE Load Module
The 40GE EIM load module is shown in the following figure:
Figure 15-2. ImpairNetTM 40GE Load Module
Part Numbers
The part numbers are shown in Table 15-1.
Table 15-1. Part Numbers for Ethernet Impairment Load Module
Model Number
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Part Number
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Description
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EIM1G4S
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944-1081
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ImpairNet EIM1G4S Gigabit Ethernet LAN Impairment module, 1-slot with 4-ports of SFP interfaces.
For XM12-02 (P/N 941-0009) High Performance and XM2-02 (P/N 941-0003) portable chassis, SFP transceivers are required. Options for transceivers include SFP-LX, SFP-SX, and SFP-CU (for RJ45 copper support).
|
EIM10G4S
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944-1082
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ImpairNet EIM10G4S 10 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Impairment module, 1-slot with 4-ports of SFP+ interfaces.
For XM12-02 (P/N 941-0009) High Performance and XM2-02 (P/N 941-0003) portable chassis, SFP+ transceivers are required. Options for transceivers include 10GBASE-SR/SW (948-0013), or 10GBASE-LR/LW (948-0014).
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EIM40G2Q
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944-1083
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ImpairNet EIM40G2Q 40 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Impairment module, 1-slot with 2-ports of QSFP+ interfaces.
For XM12-02 (P/N 941-0009) High Performance and XM2-02 (P/N 941-0003) portable chassis QSFP+ 40GBASE-SR4 transceivers (P/N 948-0028) is required.
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Specifications
The load module specifications are described in the following table:
Table 15-2. Ethernet Impairment Load Module 1/10GE Specifications
Feature
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Specification
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Number of ports per module
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4-ports
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Number of chassis slots per module
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1
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Chassis support
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The EIM load modules are supported on the following XM2 chassis:
- 941-0003-01 Rev. G and later version
- 941-0003-02 Rev. C and later version
- 941-0003-03 Rev. F and later version
- 941-0003-04 Rev. G and later version
- 941-0003-05 Rev. G or later version
- 941-0003-06 Rev. A or later version
Note: Earlier models of XM2 chassis require factory upgrade for compatibility with EIM load modules.
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Module support
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Up to 12 modules per XM12 Chassis
Up to 2 modules per XM2 Chassis
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SFP+ transceiver support
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Available with 1GE SFP, Electrical SFP RJ45 1GE Transceiver, and 10GE SFP+ Ethernet interface options
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Traffic Selection and Impairment Configuration
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- 16 traffic classifiers per link, total of 64 unidirectional classifiers per module for granular traffic classification
- 16 impairment profiles per link, total of 64 profiles per module for granular service class emulation
- Emulate 32 unidirectional or 16 bidirectional network clouds per port pair
- Emulate 64 unidirectional or 32 bidirectional network clouds per module
- Easy-to-use, packet-analyzer-based selection interface
- Traffic classifier support for numerous protocols and applications like bridging, routing, carrier Ethernet, broadband, MPLS, IPv6, and miscellaneous application-layer protocols
- Multiple service/traffic class emulation through independent and unique impairments per profile
- Emulate network cloud aggregation using mask and match support for packet classifiers
- Support for 8x16 bit frame matchers for each traffic classifier
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Supported Impairments
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- Delay up to 600ms at 10GE, and up to 1.2s per module by cascading ports
- Delay up to 6s at 1GE, and up to 12s per module by cascading ports
- Packet Delay Variation using a selection of probability distributions
- Delay resolution of 1µs
- Emulate SLA validation by using normal/Gaussian, exponential, uniform, and custom probability distribution for delay variations
- Packet drop at rates of up to 100% in clusters up to 65535 packets
- Reorder packets at rates of up to 50% in clusters up to 255 packets
- Packet duplication at a rate up to 100% in clusters up to 65535 packets by creating up to 31 copies of each packet
- Emulation of network/transmission/processing error conditions through bit error insertion for L2-L7 protocols
- WAN forwarding error emulation
- Ethernet FCS correction
- Emulation of DS3, OC3, DS1, DS0, E1, E3, and cable modem link speeds using rate limiting
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Multi-core processor technology
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Yes
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Operating temperature range
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41°F to 86°F (5°C to 30°C), ambient air
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Minimum Delay
|
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Table 15-3. EIM Load Module 40GE Specification
Feature
|
Specification
|
Interface Options
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QSFP+
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Ports/Module
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1 port pair per module
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Module/Chassis
|
|
Traffic Selection and Impairment Configuration
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- 16 traffic classifiers per up/down link, total of 32 unidirectional classifiers per module for granular traffic classification
- 4 impairment profiles per link, total of 8 profiles per module for granular service class emulation
- Emulates 32 unidirectional or 16 bidirectional network clouds per port pair
- Emulate 64 unidirectional or 32 bidirectional network clouds per module
- Easy to use packet analyzer based selection interface
- Traffic classifier support for numerous protocols and applications like bridging, Routing, Carrier Ethernet, Broadband, MPLS, IPv6, and miscellaneous application-layer protocols
- Multiple service/traffic class emulation through independent and unique impairments per profile
- Emulate network cloud aggregation using mask and match support for packet classifiers
- Real-time preview of classifier match on live traffic
- Support for 8x16 bit frame matchers for each traffic classifier
|
Supported Impairments
|
- Delay up to 500ms at 40GE, and up to 1s per module by cascading ports
- Delay resolution of 1µs
- Emulate SLA validation by using normal/Gaussian, exponential, uniform, and custom probability distribution for delay variations
- Packet drop at rates of up to 100% in clusters up to 65535 packets
- Reorder packets at rates of up to 50% in clusters up to 255 packets
- Packet duplication at a rate up to 100% in clusters up to 65535 packets by creating up to 31 copies of each packet
- WAN forwarding error emulation
- Ethernet FCS correction
- Emulation of DS3, OC3, DS1, DS0, E1, E3, and cable modem link speeds using rate limiting.
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