CT521a-1ac-1ax Economy LANforge WiFIRE 802.11a/b/g/n/AC/AX 2 radio WiFi Traffic Generator Supporting 65 Virtual STA Interfaces
The CT521a-1ac-1ax wireless traffic generator is an excellent choice for testing Access Points
and other WiFi networks.
The ath10k (a/b/g/n/ac)
chipset NICs can support up to 64 stations per radio.
The 2x2 /AX (a/b/g/n/ac/AX)
chipset NICs can support a single station or monitor port per radio.
Each of the Virtual Stations has its own IP address, IP port space, MAC address and routing
table. The Virtual Stations can be assigned to communicate to a particular
Access Point, use a particular SSID, and Open or
WPA/WPA2 authentication assigned. More advanced 802.1X authentication is
also included. Each radio can be configured independently of the
other. Transmit power and channel/frequency
is configured on a per-radio basis. Most other settings are configurable per virtual
station.
There are one QCA 3x3 a/b/g/n/AC and one Intel 2x2 a/b/g/n/AC/AX WiFi radios per CT521a-1ac-1ax and multiple LANforge systems can
be clustered together for even more realistic radio interference patterns and increased
traffic generation capability.
All virtual stations on the same radio must be on the same frequency, but as long as the protocol
supports that frequency, the multiple protocols can be used concurrently. For instance,
if the radio is configured for a 2.4Ghz channel, the stations can be /b, /g, /n, or /ax. If
the radio is on a 5Ghz channel, the stations can be /a, /n, ac, or ax. The bandwidth can be
configured for all protocols.
The Virtual Stations may be configured with all of the virtual interfaces on the same
subnet, or different subnets, depending on the testing requirements. When used
with something like VoIP, it allows all of the VoIP calls to use the standard IP
ports (with one call per virtual interface).
The CT521a-1ac-1ax has no fans and is silent. It has 5 antenna.
It will fit into a small travel bag or briefcase for easy portability.
The system should be managed with the LANforge-GUI software installed on
a laptop or PC.
The CT521a-1ac-1ax can also be managed over a serial console
in text mode. Maximum throughput for the CT521a-1ac-1ax is about 350Mbps and is bound
by the relatively weak CPU. For faster systems, consider the CT522, CT523c,
and CT525 chassis.
Performance reports:
UDP Hunt OPEN |
UDP Hunt WPA2 |
WiFi-Capacity Open TCP |
WiFi-Capacity WPA2 TCP |
WiFi-Capacity Open UDP |
WiFi-Capacity WPA2 UDP
Larger Images:
front
side
NOTE: This product may have a different hardware
configuration than the system pictured above. Refer to your official quote for details. |
NOTE: This product may have a different hardware
configuration than the system pictured above. Refer to your official quote for details. |
Candela Technologies Inc., 2417 Main Street, Suite 201, P.O. Box 3285,
Ferndale, WA 98248, USA
www.candelatech.com | sales@candelatech.com | +1 360 380 1618
Example Network Diagram
Candela Technologies Inc., 2417 Main Street, Suite 201, P.O. Box 3285,
Ferndale, WA 98248, USA
www.candelatech.com | sales@candelatech.com | +1 360 380 1618
Quick Start Guide
- Connect Management Ethernet port to Management network or management PC. If
connecting directly to a PC, an Ethernet cross-over cable should be used.
- Connect eth1 wired Ethernet interface to wired Ethernet interface on the AP or
network under test. This usually is considered the 'server' side of the network.
- The Client side of the network will be the Virtual Stations configured on the
CT521a-1ac-1ax WiFi NIC(s).
- Connect power to standard US or European AC power source. If using external
battery pack, then connect to that instead. Click button to power on the unit.
- The CT521a-1ac-1ax should now boot. If DHCP is enabled on the Management network,
the CT521a-1ac-1ax will automatically acquire an IP address. If DHCP is not available,
the IP address will be set to 192.168.1.101.
- Install the LANforge-GUI on a separate management PC or Laptop, or use VNC or remote-desktop
programs to access the LANforge system directly. Windows, MAC-OS and
Linux GUIs are supported: Select the correct one from the web page served from
the LANforge system and install it.
- Start the LANforge-GUI on the management PC and click the 'Discover' button.
It should find the CT521a-1ac-1ax appliance and add the IP address to the drop-down
box in the Connect widget. Press 'Connect' and you will be connected to
the CT521a-1ac-1ax.
- Select the Port Mgr tab in the GUI. Double-click on the device called 'wiphy0'. This
is the Radio device, and should be configured for the correct,
channel, country-code, etc. Next, select one or more of the Virtual Station
interfaces and click 'Modify'. Enter the correct IP address information, SSID and
WPA/WPA2 password (if Enabled).
After applying these changes, the Virtual Station interface should associate with
the AP and be ready to send traffic. You may create up to 65 Virtual Station interfaces
per CT521a-1ac-1ax with the 'Create' button.
- Once the interfaces are configured correctly, you can click on the Layer 3, VOIP/RTP and other
LANforge-FIRE related GUI tabs and configure/modify/start/stop particular traffic patterns
that utilize the virtual stations and wired Ethernet interface. In most cases, you will want
one of the FIRE endpoints to be on the wired interface and the other to be on the WiFi Virtual
Station interface. It is also valid to generate traffic between two Virtual Station interfaces.
The GUI Chamber View window provides some automated test suites.
Contact support if you have suggestions for improvements.
- Any GUI modifications take place immediately after you click 'Submit' or 'OK'.
Candela Technologies Inc., 2417 Main Street, Suite 201, P.O. Box 3285,
Ferndale, WA 98248, USA
www.candelatech.com | sales@candelatech.com | +1 360 380 1618
LANforge WiFIRE Related Images
Virtual Station Configuration Screen
Candela Technologies Inc., 2417 Main Street, Suite 201, P.O. Box 3285,
Ferndale, WA 98248, USA
www.candelatech.com | sales@candelatech.com | +1 360 380 1618
Layer 3 (Ethernet, UDP, TCP) Connections
Layer 3 Create/Modify Screen
Software Features
- Supports real-world protocols:
- Layer 2: Raw-Ethernet.
- 802.1Q VLANs.
- PPPoE: Integrated PPPoE support.
- Layer 3: IPv4, IPv6, UDP/IP, IGMP Multicast UDP, TCP/IP.
- Layer 4-7: FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, TFTP, SFTP, SCP
- 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless Station (up to 65 per machine).
- 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wireless Station (up to 65).
- 802.11a/n/ac Wireless Station (up to 64 per machine).
- 802.11a/b/g/n/AX Wireless Station (up to 1 per machine).
- Layer 4-7: TELNET, PING, DNS, SMTP, NMAP (via add-on script).
- File-IO: NFSv3, NFSv4, CIFS, iSCSI.
- Supports up to 1000 concurrent TCP connections with base license package.
- The CT521a-1ac-1ax is able to push up to about 350Mbps through an AP, depending on the protocols
mix, wireless mode and environment, and speed of the network under test.
Supports at least 20 VoIP (SIP, RTP) calls if appropriate
licenses are purchased. This system is CPU limitted, but the affordable price makes it
easier to afford multiple units to spread around the network-under-test for greater
combined throughput. Consider the CT522, CT523c, and CT525 for more powerful systems.
(
Performance results:
UDP Hunt OPEN |
UDP Hunt WPA2 |
WiFi-Capacity Open TCP |
WiFi-Capacity WPA2 TCP |
WiFi-Capacity Open UDP |
WiFi-Capacity WPA2 UDP
)
- Supports real-world compliance with ARP protocol.
- Supports ToS (QoS) settings for TCP/IP and UDP/IP connections.
- Uses publicly available Linux and Windows network stacks for increased standards compliance.
- Utilizes libcurl
for FTP, HTTP and HTTPS (SSL), TFTP and SCP protocols.
- Supports file system test endpoints (NFS, CIFS, and iSCSI file systems, too!).
File system mounts can use the virtual interface feature for advanced testing
of file server applications.
- Supports custom command-line programs, such as telnet, SMTP, and ping.
- Comprehensive traffic reports include: Packet Transmit Rate, Packet Receive Rate,
Packet Drop %, Transmit Bytes, Receive Bytes, Latency, Jitter,
various Ethernet driver level counters, and much more.
- Supports generation of reports that are ready to be imported into your favorite
spread-sheet.
- Allows packet sniffing and network protocol decoding with the integrated
Wireshark protocol sniffer.
- GUI runs as Java application on Linux, MAC and Microsoft Operating
Systems (among others).
- GUI can run remotely, even over low-bandwidth links to accommodate the
needs of the users.
- Central management application can manage multiple units, tests, and
testers simultaneously.
- Includes easy built-in scripting for iterating through rates and packet
sizes, with automated reporting. Also supports scriptable command line interface (telnet)
which can be used to automate test
scenarios. Perl libraries and example scripts are provided!
- Automatic discovery of LANforge data generators simplifies configuration
of LANforge test equipment.
- LANforge traffic generation/management software is supported on
Linux and MS Windows.
Candela Technologies Inc., 2417 Main Street, Suite 201, P.O. Box 3285,
Ferndale, WA 98248, USA
www.candelatech.com | sales@candelatech.com | +1 360 380 1618
Hardware Specification
- Affordable Appliance with no fans.
- Operating System: Fedora Linux with customized 64-bit Linux kernel.
- Three 1Gbps Ethernet ports, room for two wifi NICs
- Atheros/Qualcomm 802.11a/b/g/n/AC 3x3 MIMO wave-1 dual-band radio
with three external antenna each. Radio spec sheet: https://compex.com.sg/shop/wifi-module/802-11ac-wave-1/wle900vx/ Supports up to 64 virtual stations per radio.
- Intel AX200 802.11a/b/g/n/AC/AX 2x2 MU-MIMO dual-band radio
with two external antenna each. Supports OFDMA. Radio spec sheet: https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/product-briefs/wi-fi-6-ax200-module-brief.pdf Supports one station per radio.
- Antenna-to-Radio association: See labels on chassis.
- AMD GX-412TC quad-core 1GHz processor.
- DB9 Serial console (115200 8 N 1) for console management & initial configuration.
- 4 GB RAM.
- 30+ GB Solid State mSata storage Drive.
- Larger storage drives available.
- 12v 2AMP external power supply (brick).
- Weight: 2 lbs
- Dimensions: 7 x 7 x 1 inches Metric: 170 x 170 x 30 mm.
- Operating Temperature: -20 ~ 45°C.
- Certification: CE Emission, FCC Class A, RoHS
List Price: $7,500
List Price with 1 Year support (17%): $8,775
Additional Feature Upgrades
Unless otherwise noted in the product description, these features usually cost extra:
Candela Technologies Inc., 2417 Main Street, Suite 201, P.O. Box 3285,
Ferndale, WA 98248, USA
www.candelatech.com | sales@candelatech.com | +1 360 380 1618
Last modified: Mon Nov 11 13:01:02 PST 2024