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Network reality from a virtual test network

Editorial Type: Opinion     Date: 07-2015    Views: 1558   





Network infrastructures groan under the weight of increasingly complex demands, but the risk of testing applications on a production network must be avoided. Frank Puranik of iTrinegy explains how

The Network is established as the de facto delivery mechanism for just about every application and is in turn a critical business resource. Deploying even modest applications without some testing is too risky, so extensive, virtualised testing is essential to safeguard both application roll-out and business operations. The imperative for contextual network specific testing is so compelling that it's not an option, and irresponsible to ignore.

Network specialists understandably take pride in their networks, but the reality is that they don't control all aspects of network delivery, especially when it comes to network traffic. The harsh truth is that most users don't care about the network; after all it's just infrastructure like the roads they use. There is a clear hierarchy of importance headed by a business process which is supported by business applications, which in turn is delivered using the network infrastructure.

The application developer knows that their application has to operate over a range of infrastructure conditions involving a broad and harsh range of variables. It can feel like a leap into the unknown; a bit like making a journey for the first time, at a time you don't normally travel, and wanting to know when you will arrive. While Google might help, it can't help to understand the applications running on your network, each with a unique profile and highly specific network requirements.

The application developers have questions, and it is to the network specialist that they will first turn:

• Can we use the live network? Yes, if it's the Internet, but not the company's live network
• Crowdsourced testing? Only suitable for certain kinds of app and difficult to debug
• Can we connect from a lift to simulate bad mobile signals? The first sensible thing you've said!
• Let's place a client computer in a different location and remote control it. Maybe not…

These examples are all flawed. They primarily lack any structure, the ability to record and repeat tests and make ad hoc changes to a test scenario in order to find its limits. Actually the two most critical components for successfully testing an application are entirely missing:

Controllability - The developer needs to know the application will run even in the poorest - real world - conditions. Completely understanding the performance edges is critical, and it could help to construct SLA terms and therefore avoid predictable failure. Repeatability - When an application problem is discovered and subsequently resolved, that new version must be tested before deployment. A virtual test network that can quickly and efficiently repeat and vary previous test routines is the only way to know it will work.

Because a live network isn't controllable or repeatable, something else is required - and the virtual test network is the answer. It's a bit like a flight simulator for networks; not a real network, but one that accurately replicates the very best and the very worst possible network conditions (as directed by the network specialist) in a context that makes sense. In this virtual test network you can subject the application to network conditions at will, just like a flight simulator can call up a thunderstorm. For example, you could quickly create a test scenario based on Wired, WAN, cloud, satellite, mobile 3G, 2G, 4G, LTE, Wi-fi network conditions and specific extreme conditions to fully test a network environment.

While the technology is well established and affordable, the Analyst firms have yet to give it a Quadrant. The Network Emulator that can quickly and easily deliver a relevant virtual test network, without being a network guru, is fast becoming the only way to know how your applications will behave across a wide range of network variables. NC

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