HyperTester: High-performance network testing driven by programmable switches

Abstract

Modern network research and operations are inseparable from network testers to evaluate performance limits of proofs-of-concept, troubleshoot failures, etc. Existing network testers suffer from either constrained flexibility or a low performance-cost ratio. In this paper, we propose a new network tester, HyperTester. The core of HyperTester is to leverage new-generation programmable switches for generating and capturing test traffic with high performance, low cost, and remarkable flexibility. We design a series of efficient mechanisms, including template-based packet generation, false-positive-free counter-based queries, and stateless connections to realize various network testing tasks upon switches with limited programmability and resources. Meanwhile, to facilitate developing testing tasks upon HyperTester, we provide a high-level network testing API. We have implemented HyperTester on the Tofino switch and built dozens of network testing tasks. The evaluations on the hardware testbed show that HyperTester supports line-rate packet generation (400Gbps in the testbed) with highly-accurate rate control, while HyperTester can save $40150 per Tps and 9225W per Tbps when compared with the software network testers.