[dpdk-users] a packet generator with traffic flow support

[Wiles, Keith]

> On Feb 20, 2017, at 12:53 PM, Alex Kiselev <kiselev99 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi!
> 
> I am working on some stress tests for my packet forwarding engine
> and trying to figure out which packet generator tool can help me
> to accomplish my tasks with minimum efforts from me. What I need is something
> like PktGen but with a kind of traffic flow/session support.
> The flow/session in my case is a traffic flow with the following properties:
> - QinQ vids, src ip, dst ip etc
> - time to live
> 
> In addition, it would ideal if a tool could support defining pps rate of each
> flow or just a total pps of all flows.
> 
> So, a packet generator should be able to start in parallel some number
> of flows, then it should replace completed sessions whose ttl is
> expired with new
> ones until the goal (the given number of sessions or the given number
> of packets)
> is complete.
> 
> Maybe Warp17 is more close to the kind of tool that I need in terms of
> flow support, but I don't need tcp/udp flows and I need a way to
> define L2 packet headers.
> 
> Is it possible to code the flow logic that I need using PktGen
> scripting language?

The tool pktgen-dpdk does some of the items you want, but not all. Have you looked a the different modes pktgen-dpdk can handle like pcap or range support?

Also T-Rex traffic generator may have some of the features you are looking as it is a bit more programable using Python. Pktgen Lua scripting is really used to control Pktgen and not generate packets on the fly. Pktgen has a number of modes single, range, random, PCAP, sequence, which could be used with an external switch to merge the different TX options to a single target. I assume using an external switch maybe not work very well here.

> 
> I would appreciate any ideas. Thanks.
> 
> -- 
> --
> Kiselev Alexander

Regards,
Keith