Codima autoVoIP™ Traffic Simulator FAQs

Following are some frequently asked questions specifically about autoVoIP™ Traffic Simulator VoIP Testing Software. Click each FAQ to view the answer.

Traffic Simulator Background Information:

1. What is the autoVoIP™ Traffic Simulator? What is the autoVoIP™ Traffic Simulator?

   The Traffic Simulator package is a stand alone system or it can included as an add on for the autoVoIP™ Consultancy Kit. It has two components a Traffic Simulator Host system and a Traffic Simulator Sink system.

   The Traffic Simulator is used to simulate and test VoIP networks. It is used to measure the QoS at different points on the network by simulating synthetic phone traffic. It can be used prior to the VoIP phone deployment to measure the QoS over time and also after deployment allowing you to continue to monitor QoS in situations where the phones may not be in use or where the phones are not capable of providing QoS information (i.e., when they do not send out RTCP RR frames).

   A single Traffic Simulator Host PC and a single Traffic Simulator Sink PC can be used. The responding system (Sink PC), can be moved to different locations to enable the Traffic Simulator user to monitor the QoS for the RTP traffic at different locations on the network. User would just need to change the IP address used in the Simulation to match the Sink PCs IP address at each location. Alternatively the user could have multiple Sink PCs and run multiple Simulations in parallel.

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2. What is the autoVoIP™ Traffic Blaster? What is the autoVoIP™ Traffic Blaster?

   The autoVoIP™ Traffic Blaster is a component of the autoVoIP™ Traffic Simulator. Over time, it monitors the QoS for the simulated RTP traffic. It sends out competitive and non-competitive traffic with the autoVoIP™ Traffic Simulator interface being used to display the impact of this extra traffic on the QoS for the simulated traffic. In effect this allows you to see what the Quality of Service would be for a single user when different levels of VoIP and non VoIP traffic are present.

   The Traffic Blaster is particularly useful at the VoIP deployment stage to determine the network readiness prior to the installation of the VoIP phone system.

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3. What is a Sink system? What is a Sink system?

   The autoVoIP™ Traffic Simulator and autoVoIP™ Traffic Blaster need to send traffic to different destination IP addresses on the network. The Sink Systems provide these destinations. The Traffic Simulator and the Traffic Blaster have separate Sink Systems.

   Traffic Simulator Sink System

   It is the system that responds to the simulated traffic, i.e., sends back RTCP reports. The Sink Systems local operation will be subject to the type of Sink license used, two license options:

   1. Sink licensed to a specific MAC Address with Capture and Review Frames facilities, which allow the user to view the incoming and outgoing frames and save them to frame files for later review.
   2. Sink licensed to operate on any PC, with no local functionality, its sole task being to send back RTCP Reports.

   Note: The Capture Frames Facility will enable the user to capture and review all the frames monitored on the segment the Sink system is attached to, not just those associated with the Traffic Simulation operation.

   The Host PC for the Sink system can be portable, allowing it to be moved to different points on the network. The Traffic Simulator can operate with a single portable Sink System or it can operate with multiple Sink Systems placed at different points on the network, the simulations in that instance could be run in parallel.

   Traffic Blaster Sink System

   The Traffic Blaster has its own Sink System. The Traffic Blaster traffic is addressed to a PC with the Traffic Blaster Sink Software installed.

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4. What type of simulation can I do? What type of simulation can I do?
   The Traffic Simulator simulates RTP frames (i.e., the voice payload) and then has an other system (the Sink System) issue RTCP reports (in the same way a phone would), that way you can measure the QOS you would achieve from various points on your network, prior to deploying your VoIP system.
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5. What type of Traffic is sent out on to the network by the Traffic Blaster? What type of Traffic is sent out on to the network by the Traffic Blaster?
   The traffic will be IP frames containing either VoIP Traffic (RTP - the voice payload) or Non VoIP Traffic, the content and volume of traffic will be user configurable.
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Scope / Applications:

1. What type of Traffic profiles can I produce using Traffic Blaster? What type of Traffic profiles can I produce using Traffic Blaster?
   The Traffic Blaster has a range of Modes it can operate in, the modes let you set up different Traffic Profiles, for example the profile can be to send out traffic from the same number of phones or sent out traffic that varies the phone range from 10 to 100 phones.

   • autoCheck VoIP
     Used to send a varying load and a mixed strea of VoIP and non-VoIP traffic. User defines the lowest and highest number of phones (or frames/sec, or KB/sec). User sets the whether VoIP or non-VoIP traffic is to be sent.
   • Fixed Load
     Used to send a steady stream of RTP traffic based on user defined parameters. User defines the number of phones (or frames/sec or KB/sec).
   • Vary Load
     Used to send varying stream of RTP traffic based on user defined parameters. User defines the lowest and highest number of phones (or frames/sec or KB/sec).
   • Vary Diff Serv
     Used to send mixed stream of VoIP and non-VoIP traffic based on defined parameters. User sets the whether VoIP or non-VoIP traffic is to be sent. User defines the number of phones (or frames/sec or KB/sec).

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2. What Codec support is provided? What Codec support is provided?

   Traffic Simulator supports a number of Codecs and add other Codecs can be added to the system easily. For additional codecs, the R value parameters used in the R value formula are needed.

   autoVoIP™ Traffic Simulator

   • PCMu
   • PCMa
   • G723-8k
   • G726-16
   • G728
   • G729 - 8k

   autoVoIP™ Traffic Simulator/Blaster

   (Phone types that are emulated by Traffic Blaster)

   • G711 - 64k
   • G723 - 6.3k
   • G729 - 8k

   When used by the Traffic Blaster the Codec choice controls the Packet size and rate.

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3. When would I use autoVoIP™ Traffic Simulator? When would I use autoVoIP™ Traffic Simulator?

   The autoVoIP™ Traffic Simulator and Traffic Blaster can be used in the following scenarios.

   PRE-DEPLOYMENT

   Can be used to prevents client dissatisfaction with the start up of the VoIP network.

   • Can be used to check out network readiness prior to the installation of the VoIP Phone system.
   • Multiple Traffic Simulators/Traffic Blaster systems can be used to emulate groups of phones at different locations on the network and monitor the Quality of Service.
   • Distributed loading can be used to match the exact phone deployment together with independent QoS monitoring at each deployment cluster site
   • Can be used to test networks QoS engineering
   • The Traffic Blaster sends out competitive traffic and non competitive traffic - allows you to see what the Quality of Service would be for a single user when different levels of VoIP and non VoIP traffic are present.

   
   PRE- and POST-DEPLOYMENT

   The Traffic Simulator can also be used to enhance ability to obtain QoS information – pre and post deployment.

   • A Traffic Simulator Sink System located near the phones can be used to send back RTCP RR reports to the Traffic Simulator in situations where phones do not have that capability. This method allows the autoVoIP™ Traffic Simulator (and if required a third party) to measure Jitter and Frame loss.
   • The Traffic Simulator provides Quality of Service (QoS) analysis at a glance, user can see if VoIP is within safe limits, marginal or likely to be seriously degraded. A historical QoS measurement is maintained.
   • The Codima Automated Correlation Engine provides an expert system to analyse the QoS graphs.
   • QoS can be measured in parallel for all simulation sites on the network giving a true indication of the behaviour of the whole phone deployment
   • The Traffic Blaster can also be used to measure the effect of adding more Phones to an existing VoIP system

   
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