Mobility manager destructive testing
A mobility manager of a cellular communication network is tested using a test network. The test network has a mobility manager, multiple actual and simulated base stations, and multiple actual and simulated communication devices. To test one aspect of the mobility manager, the number of simulated base stations is increased to nearly the rated capacity of the mobility manager. In addition, simulated communication sessions are established, again so that the number of communication sessions is near the rated capacity of the mobility manager. Communications are then interrupted between the base stations and the mobility manager. Behavior of the mobility manager is monitored after the interruption to determine, among other things, how many communications sessions are lost as a result of the interruption.
1. A test environment for testing a network core of a cellular communications network, the test environment comprising:
a network router that provides communications through a transport communication network;
a mobility manager configured to communicate through the network router over the transport communication network, wherein the mobility manager comprises a Mobility Management Entity (MME) of an Evolved Packet Core (EPC);
multiple base stations configured to communicate with the mobility manager through the transport communication network, wherein the base stations comprise Evolved Node Bs (eNodeBs) and communications between the eNodeBs and the MME use an S1 communication protocol;
multiple communication devices configured to (a) communicate with the mobility manager through the base stations and (b) establish multiple communication sessions that use the mobility manager; and
a test manager configured to (a) apply a setting in the network router that interrupts communications between the base stations and the mobility manager and (b) identify how many of the multiple communication sessions are dropped after applying the setting,
wherein applying the setting comprises applying an Access Control List (ACL) rule, the ACL rule blocking communications through a logical port used by the S1 communications protocol.
2. The test environment of claim 1 , the actions further comprising:
detecting one or more events occurring within the cellular communications network after applying the setting, wherein the one or more events include one or more of:
a restart of the mobility manager;
a loss of communications between internal functions of the mobility manager; or
loss of communications between the mobility manager and components other than the base stations.
3. The test environment of claim 1 , wherein the multiple base stations include at least 90% of the number of base stations that the mobility manager is rated to support.
4. The test environment of claim 1 , wherein the multiple communication sessions are of a number that is at least 90% of the number of communication sessions that the mobility manager is rated to support.
5. The test environment of claim 1 , wherein the multiple communication devices comprise multiple simulated communication devices.
6. A method of testing a cellular communications network, the method comprising:
configuring a Mobility Management Entity (MME) of an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) to communicate through a transport communication network;
configuring multiple Evolved Node Bs (eNodeBs) to communicate with the MME through the transport communication network using an S1 communication protocol;
configuring multiple communication devices to (a) access the MME through the multiple eNodeBs and (b) establish multiple communication sessions using the MME;
applying a setting in a network router of the transport communication network that interrupts communications between the eNodeBs and the MME, wherein applying the setting comprises applying an Access Control List (ACL) rule, the ACL rule blocking communications through a logical port used by the S1 communications protocol; and
determining how many of the multiple communication sessions are dropped after applying the setting.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising determining whether the MME restarts after interrupting the communications.
8. A method of testing a cellular communications network, the method comprising:
configuring one or more components of the cellular communications network to communicate through a transport communication network;
configuring a radio access network of the cellular communications network to communicate with the one or more components through the transport communication network;
configuring multiple communication devices to (a) access the one or more components through the radio access network and (b) establish multiple communication sessions using the one or more components;
applying a setting in a network router of the transport communication network that interrupts communications between the radio access network and the one or more components; and
detecting one or more events occurring within the cellular communications network after applying the setting,
wherein the radio access network comprises multiple Evolved Node Bs (eNodeBs) and the one or more components comprise a Mobility Management Entity (MME) of an Evolved Packet Core (EPC),
wherein communications between the eNodeBs and the MME use an S1 communication protocol, and
wherein applying the setting comprises applying an Access Control List (ACL) rule, the ACL rule blocking communications through a logical port used by the S1 communications protocol.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein detecting the one or more events comprises determining whether one or more of the communication sessions are dropped after applying the setting.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the events comprise one or more of:
a loss of a communication session of the multiple communication sessions;
a restart of a mobility manager; or
a loss of communications between internal functions of the mobility manager.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the multiple communication devices include multiple simulated communication devices.