Methods and systems for testing communications network components
First Claim
1. A method for testing a system of communications network devices, the method comprising:
- (a) reading a first abstract command language command from a test case, the first abstract command language command comprising a non-device-specific command;
(b) translating the first abstract command language command into a device-specific command compatible with an administrative interface associated with a first device under test (DUT);
(c) communicating the device-specific command to the first DUT;
(d) receiving a reply from the first DUT; and
(e) responsive to the reply from the first DUT, automatically generating a second device-specific command associated with a second DUT.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A communications network test system facilitates autonomous or attendant-free interaction between the administrative interfaces of multiple network devices under test. The test system includes device-specific communication interface packages that map generic commands to device-specific commands. A generic package includes generic procedures that access the device-specific packages to perform common functions, such as startup and cleanup. Test cases can thus be written using the generic commands without requiring the tester to have knowledge of device-specific demands. In addition, multiple devices can be simultaneously tested and monitored using a single test platform.
59 Citations
39 Claims
-
1. A method for testing a system of communications network devices, the method comprising:
-
(a) reading a first abstract command language command from a test case, the first abstract command language command comprising a non-device-specific command; (b) translating the first abstract command language command into a device-specific command compatible with an administrative interface associated with a first device under test (DUT); (c) communicating the device-specific command to the first DUT; (d) receiving a reply from the first DUT; and (e) responsive to the reply from the first DUT, automatically generating a second device-specific command associated with a second DUT. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A method for testing a system of communications network devices, the method comprising:
-
(a) reading a first abstract command language command from a test case, the first abstract command language command comprising a non-device-specific command; (b) translating the first abstract command language command into a device-specific command compatible with an administrative interface associated with a first device under test (DUT); and (c) communicating the device-specific command to the first DUT; wherein translating the abstract command language command into a device-specific command includes translating the abstract command language command into a command line interface (CLI) command compatible with a command-line interface associated with the first DUT.
-
-
14. A method for testing a system of communications network devices, the method comprising:
-
(a) reading a first abstract command language command from a test case, the first abstract command language command comprising a non-device-specific command; (b) translating the first abstract command language command into a device-specific command compatible with an administrative interface associated with a first device under test (DUT); and (c) communicating the device-specific command to the first DUT; wherein communicating the device-specific command to the first DUT includes transmitting the device-specific command via a telnet session.
-
-
15. A method for dynamically testing a system of communications network devices, the method comprising:
-
(a) reading a first abstract command language command associated with an operation involving a first device under test (DUT); (b) translating the first abstract command language command into a first command line interface command; (c) transmitting the first command line interface command to the first DUT; (d) receiving a reply message from the first DUT; (e) dynamically selecting a second abstract command language command based on contents of the reply message; and (f) executing the second abstract command language command. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A system for testing communications network devices, the system comprising:
-
(a) a device specific communication interface package including information for mapping an abstract command language command to a device specific command; (b) an execution manager for translating abstract command language commands to device-specific commands using the device-specific communication interface package, wherein the device-specific commands are command line interface commands; and (c) a user interface for initiating the execution of an abstract-command-language-based test procedure and displaying subsequent test results. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
-
-
32. A system for testing communications network devices, the system comprising:
-
(a) a device specific communication interface package including information for mapping an abstract command language command to a device specific command; (b) an execution manager for translating abstract command language commands to device-specific commands using the device-specific communication interface package; and (c) a user interface for initiating the execution of an abstract-command-language-based test procedure and displaying subsequent test results; wherein the user interface is adapted to simultaneously display related test plan, test case, and test result information.
-
-
33. A system for simultaneously testing a plurality of communications network devices, the system comprising:
-
(a) a test tools server for storing a plurality of device-specific communication interface packages, each device-specific communication interface package including functions for mapping abstract command language commands to device-specific command line interface commands; (b) a test management system client for requesting execution of test cases on the devices under test; and (c) a test controller for receiving the test cases and the communication interface packages, connecting with a plurality of communications network devices, and executing the test cases to test the network communications devices, wherein the test controller is adapted to simultaneously communicate with command line interfaces of the communications network devices in order to execute test cases and record results. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36)
-
-
37. A system for simultaneously testing a plurality of communications network devices, the system comprising:
-
(a) a test tools server for storing a plurality of device-specific communication interface packages, each device-specific communication interface package including functions for mapping abstract command language commands to device-specific command line interface commands; (b) a test management system client for requesting execution of test cases on the devices under test; and (c) a test controller for receiving the test cases and the communication interface packages, connecting with a plurality of communications network devices, and executing the test cases to test the network communications devices; wherein the test tools server stores a generic communication interface package containing common procedures for accessing the device-specific packages and performing device-specific functions during a test case, and the generic communication interface package includes a startup procedure for accessing the device-specific packages to initialize each device involved in a test case.
-
-
38. A system for simultaneously testing a plurality of communications network devices, the system comprising:
-
(a) a test tools server for storing a plurality of device-specific communication interface packages, each device-specific communication interface package including functions for mapping abstract command language commands to device-specific command line interface commands; (b) a test management system client for requesting execution of test cases on the devices under test; and (c) a test controller for receiving the test cases and the communication interface packages, connecting with a plurality of communications network devices, and executing the test cases to test the network communications devices; wherein the test tools server stores a generic communication interface package containing common procedures for accessing the device-specific packages and performing device-specific functions during a test case, and the generic communication interface packages includes a cleanup procedure for accessing the device-specific packages to free resources on each device involved in a test case.
-
-
39. A test script comprising computer executable instructions embodied in a computer-readable medium, the test script comprising:
-
(a) first computer code for incorporating packages containing abstract to device-specific command mappings for a plurality of network elements to be tested; and (b) second computer code including functions provided by the packages to test a plurality of network communication devices, wherein information obtained via communicating with a first tested network communication device is used to test at least one other network communication device.
-
Specification