• LANforge Suite Overview
• LANforge-ICE Network Emulator
• LANforge-FIRE (Network Traffic Generation tool)
  

All LANforge products can be remotely managed and can have multiple users connected at once. LANforge supports a Java GUI application that runs on multiple platforms, including Windows and Linux, and a command line interface (TELNET) that can be accessed from any networked machine. Advanced scripting of LANforge is enabled by perl libraries that connect over the CLI. LANforge is lightly integrated with the superb Wireshark protocol analyzer and packet capture tool. LANforge machines come installed with RedHat's Fedora Core Linux distribution.

LANforge supports most features on Microsoft Windows platforms, including the LANforge-ICE WAN emulator and H.323 VoIP call generation, but LANforge on Linux supports more features, is more powerful and more precise.

LANforge-ICE is able to emulate networks of various latency, throughput, and packet degradation. It is targeted as a full-range product that can emulate networks up to 1Gbps speed. The feature highlights include being able to set the throughput, latency, jitter, packet loss, packet duplication, and packet reordering characteristics. LANforge-ICE can also apply these characteristics to individual source and destination IP addresses (or subnets) and MAC addresses. LANforge-FIRE and LANforge-ICE can be used as a single integrated product and can run on the same machine at the same time. It is easy to add new machines to a LANforge system allowing it to scale to meet your growing needs!

One competitor in this class is Shunra's VE SMB Edition (formerly Shunra\Cloud).

Shunra VE SMB Edition:

• Software-based product that only runs on Microsoft Windows
• Advertised to run at up to 10Mbps (network emulation feature set is similar to LANforge-ICE)
• Has some advanced network congestion algorithms
• Acts as a router (implies changes to the existing network-under-test are required to insert and remove the test equipment)
• Can only work with routed traffic (IP layer and above)

LANforge-ICE:

• Software-based product with Java graphical management application that runs on Linux and Microsoft Windows
• Supports remote management, multiple users, and scriptable command line interface
• Runs at up to 1Gbps with latency and jitter precision of 1 millisecond
• Acts as an ethernet bridge or router (bridge mode allows LANforge-ICE to be inserted and removed from the network-under-test without any routing or configuration changes; routed mode can provide a more efficient utilization of network interfaces in certain configurations)
• Supports any ethernet protocol, including TCP/IP and 802.1Q VLANs
• Supports T1 impairment on Linux, including latency and bit-error injection
• Supports up to 6 emulated WANs (12 ports) per machine (when combined with a VLAN-aware switch, a single LANforge machine can emulate 48 or more distinct networks in bridged or routed mode)
• Candela Technologies will be happy to furnish you with a fully configured LANforge machine tailored to your requirements
• We will beat any competitor's price for a similar product, and our licenses are good forever so your investment will be with you for the life of your project

LANforge-FIRE is a network traffic generator that supports multiple protocols including Ethernet, PPPoE, PPP-over-T1, UDP, TCP, HTTP, HTTPS (SSL), FTP, SIP, RTP, H.323, NFS, SMB (Samba), iSCSI and others. It supports 802.1Q VLANs, and can also emulate up to 250 ethernet interfaces with unique MAC and IP addresses, allowing a single LANforge machine to appear as an entire subnet of machines. It can run all of it's supported protocols at the same time allowing one to generate very realistic network traffic patterns. LANforge-FIRE runs on the Linux and Microsoft Windows operating system, and uses the standard protocol stacks. This ensures standards compliance as well as very realistic traffic generation, including all the subtle latencies and burstiness that a hardware-based solution like SmartBits may not generate. LANforge-FIRE can generate up to 999Mbps UDP traffic rates, and slower speeds for other traffic patterns. LANforge-FIRE supports at least 12 physical interfaces on a single machine, but can emulate many more. Multiple machines can be aggregated together to generate higher traffic loads, and the LANforge software will manage the entire realm as a single entity.

LANforge can calculate various statistics including throughput, latency, jitter, packet-loss, packet corruption, and ethernet level errors. The Java GUI provides real-time graphical and tabular representation of these reports, and the raw numbers can be saved to disk for post-processing with your spread-sheet of choice (or custom scripts as desired).

One competitor in this class is Ixia's IxChariot, which is similar to LANforge in many ways. Both support a wide variety of real-world protocols and both provide scripting (TCL for IxChariot, Perl/TELNET for LANforge) for advanced traffic generation scenarios.

Ixia's IxChariot:

• Does not appear to support multiple interfaces per endpoint, requiring purchase of multiple machines or blades for higher port density
• Requires Windows management console
• Supports up to 500 concurrent connections
• Supports traffic-generating/monitoring endpoints on a wide variety of operating systems
• Feedback from other users indicates that IxChariot does not always do true protocol generation, but often just sends packets that approximate a protocol's characteristics

Agilent's N2X:

• A hardware based solution aimed at high-speed packet generation.
• Does not do true protocol traffic generation, but does allow you to craft any packet and send it over and over again at high speeds.
• Supports 8000 or more 'streams' per interface.
• Supports triggers and other means of isolating network faults as they happen.
• Is more than twice as expensive as LANforge-FIRE.

LANforge-FIRE:

• A software based product that runs on Linux and Microsoft Windows, with a Java graphical management application that runs on Windows, Linux, and others.
• Allows remote management, multiple users, and scriptable command line interface.
• Can generate and receive traffic up to 999Mbps per interface.
• Supports multiple ethernet interfaces in a single chassis, and can emulate up to 250 unique machines (including unique MAC and IP addresses) with a single machine.
• Each LANforge ethernet interface (physical or emulated), can have it's own routing table, and LANforge can even be set up to send traffic from one interface to another on the same machine, allowing a very portable test unit.
• Supports over 2000 simultaneous connections per LANforge machine.
• Candela Technologies will be happy to furnish you with a fully configured machine (or machines) tailored to your requirements.
• We will beat any competitor's price for a similar product, and our licenses are good forever, ensuring that your investment will be with you for the duration of your project.