Lite Data Message Flow

General

Transactions

Transaction Rate (trans/s)

Throughput (bits/s)

Tx/Rx Ratio

Start Paused

Total Retries

Connections/5-Tuples:

Message Sequence

Paste Buffers

Import PCAP

Convert To aDMF

Save/Save and Close

• Separate Transaction Rate for Target Network

• Transaction Rate (trans/s)

Transactions

Use the drop-down list to define the number of times a transaction is executed after data traffic begins (when Data Start Delay expires after the MN session is established). A transaction can consist of an entire message flow or a subset of a message flow defined as a transaction loop.

• Learn more about transaction loops

Options:

• Continuous — The transaction continuously executes while the MN session is active.

• Limited # — The transaction is executed for the number of iterations you define in the field provided. (0 indicates continuous transactions)

Default: Continuous

When you use a transaction loop in a message flow with a limited number of transactions, the entire message flow is executed once, and the transaction loop is executed for the number of iterations you define. When you use a transaction loop with continuous transactions, the commands prior to the loop are executed once and the commands in the transaction loop are then continuously executed. Transaction Rate defines the number of times the loop is executed every second.

Related Measurements

• Basic Data Transaction Count

• Command Transaction Count

The timing of the initial execution of the message flow is defined by the Traffic Start and Data Start Delay defined on the Data Traffic tab of the test case. Transaction Rate defines the number of times the test will attempt to execute the transaction every second in each of the MN sessions (see Transactions for the definition of a transaction). A separate timer is kept for every MN session, and if more than one transaction is executed, the message flow is serially executed in each session under the control of that session's timer.

Range: Any value greater than 0. You can enter a fractional value to spread the message flow over a number of seconds: a rate of 0.5, for example, executes the transaction every two seconds.

Default: 1.0

Transaction Timers

Transactions can be timed to 1 millisecond granularity. The maximum consistent rate, therefore, is 1000 transactions/second (1000/1000 = 1 ms). While the test server may be able to handle a faster rate, depending on the resultant total bps and pps for the test considering the number of sessions and the packet size, the transaction timers will not be evenly distributed and the throughput may vary slightly between test intervals.

If you are attempting to configure a Basic Data model that results in a specific bps or pps throughput, your Transaction Rate must result in a transaction interval (the number of milliseconds between transactions) that is divisible by 10 milliseconds in order for the transactions to be timed consistently. You can calculate the transaction interval manually with the following formula: Tinterval = 1000/Trate. Alternatively, you can click the Calculate button to display each MN session's bps rate, calculated from the defined Transaction Rate and Packet Size. The transaction interval is also calculated at that time and if your derived transaction interval is not optimal, you will be notified and prompted to accept an adjusted rate that conforms with the timer granularity.

The bps rate of the payload portion of the data packets as defined by the Transaction Rate is displayed in Throughput when you click the Calculate button.

Define Transaction Rate, and click Calculate to determine the total throughput bits/second.

As of Release 16.8, added Target Network Transaction Rate, Total Target Throughput (bits/s), Target Tx and Target Rx.

Related Measurements

The number of packets, command messages, and bytes sent by the Network Host and received by the MN reported on the Data Traffic and Network Host tabs will increase as this value is increased.

The fields will always show the left most digits after a calculation is done.  Also, the Throughput values (overal, Tx, Rx) are rounded to the nearest .1 bits/s.

Select to start the Lite DMFs in the paused state.

The maximum number of attempts made by the client or server to send a request message after the Data Response Time has expired.

Range: N/A

Default: 5

Select to input a different transaction rate when 4G-5G Dual connectivity is enabled.

Only applicable for Dual Connectivity 4G+5G.

Tcl Parameter: SeparateTgtRate

Available when "Separate Transaction Rate for Target Network" is enabled.

Only applicable for Dual Connectivity 4G+5G.

Enter transaction rate in seconds.

Options: 0 to 1000

Default: 1.0

Tcl Parameter: TgtTransactionRate

First Connection Persistent

Select to indicate connections are persistent and clear selection to indicate that connections are not persistent.

#

Automatically generated when you Add a connection.

Transport

Select the transport protocols to be used.

Options: tcp, udp

Source Port

The port to be used with the source IP address.

You can override this setting at run time and define a different port with the Instances and Assignments settings.

Double click to display Edit Source/Client Port window.

Dest Host

Select the Destination Host ID from the list. The Dest Host is the Target/Requested Dest host.

Dest Port

Enter the Port (used with the destination IP address) to where the traffic is sent.

Default = 80

Initiator

Select to indicate whether the traffic initiator is a Client or a Server.

TOS/DSCP

Enter the ToS/DSCP code with which to mark the packets.

• ToS: Indicates user-defined 2-octet ToS/Traffic class value. Enter an appropriate value between 0 and 65535.
• DSCP: The DSCP (Differentiated Service Code Point) values (used by the MN's) based on the mobile subscriber's profile or network policy, to re-mark packets with appropriate DSCP values.

Enter 0 for Default Forwarding (best effort) or see the IANA DSCP Registry for Class Selection, Assured Forwarding, and Expedited Forwarding pool values.

Segment Size

When you use any protocol, you can define the maximum number of payload bytes in each packet. If the number of bytes in a message is larger than Segment Size, the message will be divided into the number of messages required to meet the threshold.

Range: 128 — 65535

Default: 1000

DNS Query

Double click and Edit DNS Quesry Configuration window displays. Select DNS Query and enter the IP addresses and Domain Name query. You may also select to query only the first DMF transaction or query each DMF transaction.

The delay, measured in milliseconds, from the time the previous packet in the stream was sent. That is, the Delay corresponds to the Send Delay field of a message. Double-click the cell to edit this field.

The first several bytes of data in the packet. Unprintable characters are replaced by a dot (.). You can view/edit the entire packet in the ASCII Editor or HEX Editor.

You can direct the receiving entity to validate the integrity of the message by checking Receiving end should verify message and then specifying the First byte to check and Number of bytes to check.

The Fill/Padding pane allows you to select not to include any filler, include automatic padding, enter a Test Data File or Signed Content. Starting Offset represents the insertion/padding start point and is available for both Automatic Padding and Insert Test Data File.

The Advanced DMFs and Lite DMFs both support new Message Editor with new "Filler" option for "Signed Content".  

For Signed content you can Add a Certificate Test Data File, Private Key Test Data File. Select a File Format (either RSA or EVP) and enter the Number of Entries (range: 0 to <= the total entries of certificate files).

Use Auto-Fills <Signed_Start>/<Signed_End> to define range, <Cert_Insert> is Optional.

All labels and variables have been changed to reflect that we are signing data, not encrypting it.  Moved the Cert Insert and Signed Data Offset Range to be pure Auto-Fills.  No longer set on the "Filler Panel".  Added the URL Encode Auto-Fills, which let you set multiple ranges of URL Encoding.   URL Encoding happens last after all other Auto-Fills occur.  First pass normal Auto-Fills occur, Second pass Signing Data happens, Third pass URL Encoding happens.  

Added new usability improvements:

• Ability to add/set the URL-Encoded and SignedData range by selecting text and right-click option.  You do not have to add Start/End Auto-fill separately, just select the text to Encode/Sign and right-click.  
• Added new options to add Auto-fill by Mouse Click location versus Cursor/Selection location. The prior way was always by Mouse-Click, which auto-updated the Cursor.

You can provision explicit values for each DMF by using a Test Data File.

The Auto-Fill Viewer pane allows you to view the placement of the fields and filler embedded in the content defined on the editing sub-tabs. See the Static and Dynamic content sections for more information on these areas.

• Hex-ASCII Editor
• Text Editor

Whenever your cursor is in a field that specifies a byte offset, a starting byte, or a range of bytes, the applicable byte(s) in the Hex-Ascii and Text Editor sub-tabs are highlighted. The bytes highlighted will dynamically change as you modify parameter values.

The Auto-Fill Viewer pane allows you to view the placement of the fields and filler embedded in the content defined on the editing sub-tabs. See the Static and Dynamic content sections for more information on these areas.

CRLF Viewer

The CRLF Viewer tab allows you to view the generated CRLF characters, highlighted for ease of reference.

For example, the following shows the same message viewed in Auto-Fill Viewer and CRLF Viewer.

Allows you to save a copy of the Lite DMF to an Advanced DMF. You may also convert an imported PCAP file to an Advanced DMF by importing PCAP to Lite DMF, then saving it as an Advanced DMF.

Click Convert To aDMF. A Save Converted Advanced DMF in UserDirectory (your default user directory) window opens. Navigate to the required directory, enter a name, and save the converted file.

Contain traffic for network activity such as VoIP phone calls, Facebook status updates, or movies streamed over the Internet. Use these Scenarios to test how network devices handle specific applications and enforce policies on that traffic.

Contain traffic with vulnerability signatures for known attacks. Use these Scenarios to test how your intrusion detection and/or prevention devices and software applications recognize known exploits—and how well those devices and applications are protecting your network from known attacks.