How do I automate the analysis and generation of ethernet packets in TestStand?

[Peter-R]

I am working with a team interested in using TestStand to automate testing of ethernet hardware. I'm looking for COTS hardware and included software APIs that can be called by TestStand.

Specifically, the needs are as follows:

* Ethernet packet generation. Must be able to generate streams at the packet level and have the ability to change all header, control and low level (layer 2 and layer 3) fields within a packet, including VLAN tags. Speed of generated streams also needs to be controlled up to the wire speed of a link. VLAN tags and DSCP QoS values (layer 3 QoS) are two important packet fields that need to be manipulated in packet generation.

* Ethernet packet capture and analysis. Must be able to capture and analyze Ethernet packets down to the layer 2 level. Parsing of header, control and QoS fields is required, along with ability to store and compare values to expected.

*Also interested in calling WinAutomation scripts.

I thought I'd pitch this question to the community in the event a tested solution already exists. Thanks in advance for your help!

[DollaBrillz]

I've included some information that I believe you will find useful. Can you tell me a bit more about the hardware you are using and the language you will be programming in?

http://www.ni.com/white-paper/10369/en/#toc4

I hope this helps!

[Peter-R]

Hello,

I'm familiar with TestStand's capability to call code modules. As I mentioned in the post, I'm looking for methods to analyze and generate ethernet packets. There is no hardware at the moment because that is what is needed. I'm assuming the appropriate hardware to analyze and generate packets would come with a software API (possible a DLL or LabVIEW/C++ drivers) that we could call in TestStand. The development language would likely be LabVIEW, but again the ethernet steps could be based on DLLs.

Thanks.

[Dennis_Knutson]

I used equipment from Spirent. With an older one, we created some wrapper VIs that called their api. A newer box could be programmed with tcl. A general Google search should return other vendors.