Policy-based traffic generation for IP-based networks

Many testbeds and research projects rely on the generation of artificial network traffic. Such solutions are used for protocol or architecture verification, performance tests, and demonstrations. Even though a huge amount of traffic generators have been developed in the past, many of them still suffer from similar problems, e.g. they are either designed for throughput tests or protocol tests. In this paper, we present npag, a new generation traffic generator for IP-based networks. It features a policy-based configuration and a modular design making it feasible to employ it in many application scenarios ahead of simple throughput tests. For example, it allows the generation of packets with arbitrary header and payload information and to measure detailed quality of service parameters