Acceleration of node configuration for TWAMP with a large number of test sessions
The disclosed methods for reducing the port setup time for a large number of TWAMP test sessions for performance measurement testing of telecommunication transport networks include parsing a configuration file to populate an accept-port data structure with proposed receiver ports for communication from a session-sender to session-reflectors; repeatedly and in parallel, from a control client, communicating with receiving servers to set up pairwise test sessions using receiver port allocations from the accept-port data structure, and receiving and checking blocks of Accept-Session messages from the receiving server and handling either case of acceptance of the proposed receiver port or of counter proposal of an alternate-and-available port to be used for the measurement session; and allocating the alternate-and-available port and updating the accept-port data structure by storing the alternate-and-available port received in the particular Accept-Session message; and using the stored ports to initiate TWAMP messages in the pairwise test sessions.
1. A method of reducing setup time of a Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP) control phase of a TWAMP protocol including the TWAMP control phase and a TWAMP test phase, the method including:
communicating, by a control client of a first network host, with receiving servers to set up pairwise test sessions between a session-sender on the first network host and session-reflectors on other hosts using receiver port allocations from an accept-port data structure populated from a parsed configuration file;
receiving and checking blocks of Accept-Session messages from a receiving server at one of the session-reflectors and handling either case of (i) acceptance of a proposed receiver port included in the parsed configuration file or (ii) a counter proposal of an alternate-and-available port returned from the receiving server to be used for a particular two-way (TW) measurement session, instead of the proposed receiver port;
updating the accept-port data structure by storing information identifying the alternate-and-available port received in a particular Accept-Session message; and
using information identifying ports stored in the accept-port data structure to initiate TWAMP messages in the pairwise test sessions.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ports for TW measurement sessions are User Datagram Protocol ports.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein an index for the accept-port data structure is calculated using a hash function.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the parsed configuration file is customized for set up of the receiver port used by the first network host in the pairwise test sessions.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the parsed configuration file is customized by an operator via a user interface to specify the proposed receiver port for communication from the session-sender on the first network host to the session-reflectors on the other hosts.
6. The method of claim 1 , further including an additional network host parsing a configuration file customized to distribute an individualized set of receiver ports to the additional network host to set up the ports to be used in test sessions at the additional network host.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the blocks of Accept-Session messages from the receiving server include a range of fifteen to thirty Accept-Session messages each.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the blocks of Accept-Session messages from the receiving server include a range of thirty to sixty Accept-Session messages each.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first network host is a virtual test platform running a virtual test application.
10. A system including one or more processors coupled to memory, the memory loaded with computer instructions to reduce setup time of a Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP) control phase of a TWAMP protocol including the TWAMP control phase and a TWAMP test phase, the instructions, when executed on the one or more processors, implement actions including:
communicating with receiving servers to set up pairwise test sessions between a session-sender on a first network host and session-reflectors on other hosts using receiver port allocations from an accept-port data structure populated from a parsed configuration file;
receiving and checking blocks of Accept-Session messages from a receiving server at one of the session-reflectors and handling either case of (i) acceptance of a proposed receiver port included in the parsed configuration file or (ii) a counter proposal of an alternate-and-available port returned from the receiving server to be used for a particular two-way (TW) measurement session, instead of the proposed receiver port;
updating the accept-port data structure by storing information identifying the alternate-and-available port received in a particular Accept-Session message; and
using information identifying ports stored in the accept-port data structure to initiate TWAMP messages in the pairwise test sessions.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the ports for TW measurement sessions are User Datagram Protocol ports.
12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the parsed configuration file is customized for set up of the receiver port used by the first network host in the pairwise test sessions.
13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the accept-port data structure is indexed using an index calculated using a hash function.
14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the parsed configuration file is customized by an operator via a user interface to specify the proposed receiver port for communication from the session-sender on the first network host to the session-reflectors on the other hosts.
15. The system of claim 10 , further including an additional network host parser configured to parse a configuration file customized to distribute an individualized set of receiver ports to the additional network host to set up the ports to be used in test sessions at the additional network host.
16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the blocks of Accept-Session messages from the receiving server include a range of fifteen to thirty Accept-Session messages each.
17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the blocks of Accept-Session messages from the receiving server include a range of thirty to sixty Accept-Session messages each.
18. The system of claim 10 , wherein the first network host is a virtual test platform running a virtual test application.
19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium impressed with computer program instructions to reduce setup time of a Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP) control phase of a TWAMP protocol including the TWAMP control phase and a TWAMP test phase, the instructions, when executed on a processor, implement a method comprising:
communicating, by a control client of a first network host, with receiving servers to set up pairwise test sessions between a session-sender on the first network host and session-reflectors on other hosts using receiver port allocations from an accept-port data structure populated from a parsed configuration file;
receiving and checking blocks of Accept-Session messages from a receiving server at one of the session-reflectors and handling either case of (i) acceptance of a proposed receiver port included in the parsed configuration file or (ii) a counter proposal of an alternate-and-available port returned from the receiving server to be used for a particular two-way (TW) measurement session, instead of the proposed receiver port;
updating the accept-port data structure by storing information identifying the alternate-and-available port received in a particular Accept-Session message; and
using information identifying ports stored in the accept-port data structure to initiate TWAMP messages in the pairwise test sessions.
20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the ports for TW measurement sessions are User Datagram Protocol ports.