White Paper

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6)

Conformance and
Performance Testing

sample test plans included

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2 Copyright © 2004, Ixia IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing

 Contents
Abstract .....................................................................................................................................5
Introduction ..............................................................................................................................5
Benefits of IPv6 ........................................................................................................................6
Improved efficiency in routing and packet handling .......................................................6
Support for autoconfiguration and plug and play ...........................................................6
Support for embedded IPSec ...........................................................................................6
Enhanced support for Mobile IP and mobile computing devices ..................................6
Elimination of the need for network address translation (NAT) .....................................7
Support for widely deployed routing protocols. ...............................................................7
Increased number of multicast addresses, and improved support for multicast. ........7
What is IPv6? ...........................................................................................................................7
IPv6 header format ...........................................................................................................7
IPv6 extension headers ....................................................................................................7
IPv6 addressing .................................................................................................................8
IPv6 Operation ...................................................................................................................... 11
Neighbor discovery ......................................................................................................... 11
Router discovery ............................................................................................................. 11
Stateless autoconfiguration and renumbering of IPv6 nodes .................................... 11
Path Maximum Transfer Unit (MTU) ............................................................................. 12
DHCPv6 and Domain Name Server (DNS) .................................................................... 12
IPv6 Deployment ................................................................................................................... 12
Dual-stack backbone ..................................................................................................... 12
IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling ................................................................................................ 12
IPv6 Challenges ..................................................................................................................... 14
Why Test IPv6 Technology? .................................................................................................. 15
Testing to ensure interoperability .................................................................................. 15
Testing to characterize performance bottlenecks ....................................................... 15
Test Solution Requirements ................................................................................................. 16
Optimized hardware platform ........................................................................................ 16
Dual stack routing protocol emulation .......................................................................... 16
Ability to generate and analyze tunneled traffic – dual stack data plane .................. 16
Ixia’s Approach to IPv6 Testing ............................................................................................ 17
IPv6 conformance testing.............................................................................................. 17
IPv6 scalability and performance testing ..................................................................... 17
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 18
Appendix: Sample IPv6 Test Plans ....................................................................................... 19
1. IPv6 Conformance Test ............................................................................................. 19
2. IPv6/IPv4 Forwarding Performance Test ................................................................. 21
3. Tunneling Functional Test ......................................................................................... 23
4. Tunneling Performance Test ..................................................................................... 24
5. IPv6 Routing Performance and Scalability Test ....................................................... 26
Glossary ................................................................................................................................. 28
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... 29

IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing Copyright © 2004, Ixia 3

4 Copyright © 2004, Ixia IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing
Internet Protocol version 6: Conformance and Performance Testing
Abstract The need for a new Internet Protocol is well
understood and accepted in the
networking industry. Requirements for
more address space, simpler address
design and handling at the IP layer, better
QoS support, greater security, and an
increasing number of media types and
Internet-capable devices have all
contributed to drive the development of
Introduction IPv4, the current version of the Internet
Protocol deployed worldwide, has proven
remarkably robust, easy to implement, and
interoperable with a wide range of
protocols and applications. Though
substantially unchanged since it was first
specified in the early 1980s, IPv4 has
supported the scaling of the Internet to its
current global proportions. However, the
ongoing explosive growth of the Internet
and Internet services has exposed
deficiencies in IPv4 at the Internet’s
current scale and complexity. IPv6 was
developed specifically to address these
deficiencies, enabling further Internet
growth and development.
The most important issue addressed by
IPv6 is the need for increased IP
addresses: IPv4’s 32-bit address space is
nearly exhausted, while the number of
Internet users continues to grow
exponentially. This need is exacerbated by
the continual introduction of address-
hungry Internet services and applications
(Internet-enabled PDAs, home and small
office networks, Internet-connected
vehicles and appliances, IP telephony and
wireless services, etc.). The exhaustion of
IPv4 addresses has been long anticipated,
and various techniques have been
introduced to extend the life of the existing
IPv4 infrastructure, including Network
Address Translation (NAT), Dynamic Host
IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing Copyright © 2004, Ixia
Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). This
paper reviews the basics of IPv6, its
deployment, and strategies for managing
the transition from IPv4 to IPv6. Most
importantly, the paper identifies key areas
for IPv6 testing, and prescribes an
appropriate testing methodology for each
of them.
Configuration Protocol (DHCP), and
Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR).
While these techniques provide a
workaround for the lack of address space,
they fail to meet the requirements of the
Internet’s end-to-end architecture and
peer-to-peer applications. Additionally,
residential broadband Internet requires
always-on, always-contactable global
addresses, which are unsupportable with
current IP address conversion strategies,
pooling, and other temporary allocation
techniques.
The global need for IP addresses has even
added political force to the drive for IPv6
implementation. For latecomers to the
Internet explosion, IPv6 is the only solution
that will accommodate billions of new
users. Many countries, such as China and
Japan, have legislated an implementation
schedule for IPv6 to meet their urgent
deployment needs.
Simply stated, IPv6’s ample (128-bit)
address space provides an adequate
number of globally unique addresses to
support the anticipated growth and
development of the Internet for the
foreseeable future. However, as the
following section illustrates, IPv6 is much
more than just a software fix to provide
more IP addresses.
5
 network prefix
XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX
128 bits
XXXX = 0000 through FFFF
Figure 1. IPv6 address format.
Benefits of IPv6 Aside from the increased address space,
IPv6 offers a number of other key design
improvements over IPv4.
Improved efficiency in routing and packet
handling
IPv6’s very large addressing space and
network prefixes (Figure 1) allow the
allocation of large address blocks to ISPs
and other organizations. This enables an
ISP or enterprise organization to aggregate
the prefixes of all its customers (or internal
users) into a single prefix and announce
this one prefix to the IPv6 Internet.
Within the IPv6 address space, the
implementation of a multi-leveled address
hierarchy provides more efficient and
scalable routing. This hierarchical
addressing structure reduces the size of
the routing tables Internet routers must
store and maintain.
Though the IPv6 header is larger, its format
is simpler than that of the IPv4 header. The
IPv6 header removes the IPv4 fields for
Header Length (IHL), Identification, Flags,
Fragment Offset, Header Checksum, and
Padding, which speeds processing of the
basic IPv6 header. Also, all fields in the
IPv6 header are 64-bit aligned, taking
advantage of the current generation of 64-
bit processors.
Support for autoconfiguration and plug and
play
The need for plug-and-play
autoconfiguration and address
renumbering has become increasingly
6 Copyright © 2004, Ixia
interface ID
XXXX XXXX XXXX
important to accommodate mobile
services (data and voice) and Internet-
capable appliances. IPv6’s built-in address
autoconfiguration feature enables a large
number of IP hosts to easily discover the
network and obtain new, globally unique
IPv6 addresses. This allows plug-and-play
deployment of Internet-enabled devices
such as cell phones, wireless devices, and
home appliances.
The autoconfiguration feature also makes
it simpler and easier to renumber an
existing network. This enables network
operators to manage the transition from
one provider to another more easily.
Support for embedded IPSec
Optional in IPv4, IPSec is a mandatory part
of the IPv6 protocol suite. IPv6 provides
security extension headers, making it
easier to implement encryption,
authentication, and virtual private
networks (VPNs). By providing globally
unique addresses and embedded security,
IPv6 can provide end-to-end security
services such as access control,
confidentiality, and data integrity with less
impact on network performance.
Enhanced support for Mobile IP and mobile
computing devices
Mobile IP, defined in an IETF standard,
allows mobile devices to move around
without breaking their existing connections
— an increasingly important network
feature. Unlike IPv4, IPv6 mobility uses
built-in autoconfiguration to obtain the
Care-Of-Address, eliminating the need for a
IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing
 Foreign Agent. In addition, the binding
process allows the Correspondent Node to
communicate directly with the Mobile
Node, avoiding the overhead of triangular
routing required in IPv4. The result is a
much more efficient Mobile IP architecture
in IPv6.
Elimination of the need for network address
translation (NAT)
NAT was introduced as a mechanism to
share and reuse the same address space
among different network segments. While
it has temporarily eased the problem of
IPv4 address shortage, it has also placed a
burden on network devices and
applications to deal with address
translation. IPv6’s increased address
space eliminates the need for address
What is IPv6? IPv6 header format
The IPv6 header has been streamlined for
efficiency (Figure 2). The new format
introduces the concept of an extension
header, allowing greater flexibility to
support optional features.
Fields in the IPv6 header are:
• Version: 4-bit Internet Protocol version
number, value = 6.
• Traffic Class: 8-bit traffic class field,
similar to type of service in IPv4.
• Flow Label: 20-bit flow label, used to
identify traffic flow for additional
control on quality of service.
• Payload Length: 16-bit unsigned
integer, length of the IPv6 payload.
• Next Header: 8-bit selector, used to
identify the type of header immediately
following the IPv6 header.
• Hop Limit: 8-bit unsigned integer,
decremented by 1 by each node that
forwards the packet. The packet is
IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing Copyright © 2004, Ixia
translation, and with it, the problems and
costs associated with NAT deployment.
Support for widely deployed routing protocols.
IPv6 maintains and extends support for
existing Interior Gateway Protocols (IGPs)
and Exterior Gateway Protocols (EGPs). For
example, OSPFv3, IS-ISv6, RIPng and
MBGP4+ have been well defined to
support IPv6.
Increased number of multicast addresses, and
improved support for multicast.
IPv6 multicast completely replaces IPv4
broadcast functionality, by handling IPv4
broadcast functions such as router
discovery and router solicitation requests.
Multicast saves network bandwidth and
improves network efficiency.
discarded if Hop Limit is decremented
to zero.
• Source Address: 128-bit address of
the originator of the packet.
• Destination Address: 128-bit address
of the intended recipient of the packet.
IPv6 extension headers
The extension header is optional in IPv6. If
present, extension headers immediately
follow the header field. IPv6 extension
headers have the following properties:
• They are 64-bit aligned, with much
lower overhead than IPv4 options.
• They have no size limit as with IPv4.
The only limitation is the size of IPv6
packet.
• They are processed only by destination
node. The only exception is the Hop-by-
Hop header option.
• The Next Header field of the base IPv6
header identifies the extension
header.
7
 IPv4 header
version IHL type of service total length
version
fragment
identification flags
offset
time to live protocol header checksum
source address
destination address
options padding
Figure 2. IPv4 and IPv6 header formats.
When multiple extension headers are
present in a same IPv6 packet, they occur
in this order:
• The Hop-by-Hop header carries
information that needs to be examined
by all the nodes along the delivery
path. When present, the Hop-by-Hop
option always follows immediately
after the basic IPv6 header.
• The Destination header carries
additional information that can be
examined only by the destination node.
• The Routing header is used by the
source node to list all the nodes the
packet needs to traverse on the path
to its destination.
• The Fragmentation header is used by
the source to indicate that the packet
has been fragmented to fit within the
maximum transmission unit (MTU
size). In IPv6, unlike IP4, packet
fragmentation and assembly are done
by the end nodes instead of routers,
which further improves the efficiency
of the IPv6 network.
• The Authentication and Encapsulating
Security Payload headers (AH and
ESP) are used in IPSec to provide
security services to ensure the
authentication, integrity, and
confidentiality of a packet.
8 Copyright © 2004, Ixia
IPv6 header
traffic class flow label
payload length next header hop limit
source address
destination address
IPv6 addressing
The 128-bit IPv6 address is separated into
eight 16-bit hexadecimal numbers divided
by colons (“:”). The preferred format is
xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx,
for example:
2031:0000:1F1F:0000:0000:0100:11A0:ADDF..
The following conventions are also used to
represent IPv6 addresses, including ways
to shorten them and make them easier to
represent:
• Leading zeros can be removed.
• 0000 = 0 (compressed form).
• “::” represents one or more groups of
16 bits zeros, and can only appear
once in an address. For example,
2001:0:13FF:09FF:0:0:0:0001 =
2001:0:13FF:09FF::1
• The lower four 8 bits can use decimal
representation of IPv4 addresses. For
example, an IPv4-compatible IPv6
address is 0:0:0:0:0:0.192.168.0.1.
Unlike an IPv4 node, an IPv6 node allows
more than one type of IP address: unicast,
anycast, and multicast.
Unicast. An address used to identify a
single interface. A packet destined for a
unicast address is delivered to the
interface identified by that address. Based
on the reachability of the packets, unicast
supports the following address types.
IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing
 Global unicast address. An address that
can be reached and identified globally. A
global unicast address consists of a global
routing prefix, a subnet ID, and an
interface ID (Figure 3). The current global
unicast address allocation uses the range
of addresses that start with binary value
001 (2000::/3), one-eighth of the total
IPv6 address space.
Site-local unicast address. An address that
can only be reached and identified within a
customer site, similar to IPv4 private
address 10.0.0.0/8 and 192.168.0.0/16.
the site-local unicast address contains a
FEC0::/10 prefix, subnet ID, and interface
ID (Figure 4).
Link-local unicast address. An address that
can only be reached and identified by
nodes attached to the same local link. A
link-local unicast address uses a FE80::/
10 prefix and an interface ID (Figure 5).

128 bits

provider site host

3 45 bits 16 bits 64 bits

bits

global routing prefix subnet ID interface ID

001

Figure 3. Global unicast address format.

128 bits

64 bits

0 interface ID

1111111011 subnet ID

FECO::/10 16 bits

10 bits

Figure 4. Site-local unicast address format.

128 bits

64 bits

0 interface ID

1111111010

FE8O::/10

10 bits

Figure 5. Link-local unicast address format.

IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing Copyright © 2004, Ixia 9

 Anycast. The anycast address is a global
address that is assigned to a set of
interfaces belonging to different nodes
(Figure 6). A packet destined to an anycast
address is routed to the nearest interface.
The anycast address has the following
restrictions:
• An anycast address must not be used
as source address of IPv6 packet.
• An anycast address must not be
assigned to an IPv6 host. It may be
assigned to an IPv6 router.
Multicast. As in IPv4, a multicast address is
assigned to a set of interfaces belonging to
different nodes. A packet destined to a
multicast address is routed to all
interfaces identified by that address. The
IPv6 multicast address uses the FF00::/8
prefix, 1/256 of the total IPv6 address
space (Figure 7).

128 bits

n bits 128 – n bits

subnet ID 00000000000000000000

Figure 6. Anycast address format.

128 bits

112 bits

group ID

0 if permanent
1111 1111 flag
1 if temporary

F
FECO::/10F flag scope 1 = interface — local
2 = link — local
8 bits 8 bits 3 = subnet — local
scope 4 = admin — local
5 = site — local
8 = organization — local
E = global

Figure 7. Multicast address format.

10 Copyright © 2004, Ixia IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing

 IPv6 Operation Neighbor discovery
The neighbor discovery protocol enables
IPv6 nodes and routers to determine the
link-layer address of a neighbor on the
same network, and to find and track
neighbors. The IPv6 neighbor discovery
process uses IPv6 ICMP (ICMPv6)
messages and solicited-node multicast
addresses to determine the link-layer
address of a neighbor on the same
network, verify the reachability of a
neighbor, and keep track of neighbor
routers.
When a node wants to determine the link-
layer address of another node on the same
local link, a neighbor solicitation message
is sent on the local link, carrying the
sender’s own link-layer address. After
receiving the neighbor solicitation
message, the destination node replies by
sending a neighbor advertisement
message with its own link-layer address on
the local link. After the neighbor
advertisement is received, the source and
destination nodes can communicate.
Neighbor advertisement messages are
also sent when there is a change in the
link-layer address of a node on a local link.
Router discovery
To discover the routers on the local link,
the IPv6 router discovery process uses
router advertisement and solicitation
messages. Router advertisements
messages are sent out periodically on
each configured interface of an IPv6
router, and also in response to router
solicitation messages from IPv6 nodes on
the link. When a host does not have a
configured unicast address, it sends a
router solicitation message, enabling the
host to autoconfigure itself quickly without
having to wait for the next scheduled
router advertisement message.
IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing Copyright © 2004, Ixia
A router advertisement contains or
determines:
• The type of autoconfiguration a node
should use – stateless or stateful.
• The Hop limit value a node should
place in the IPv6 header.
• The network prefix a node should use
to form the unicast address.
• The lifetime information of the
included network prefix.
• The maximum transmission unit (MTU)
size a node should use in sending
packets.
• Whether the originating router should
be used as default router.
Stateless autoconfiguration and renumbering
of IPv6 nodes
Stateless autoconfiguration enables
serverless basic configuration of IPv6
nodes and easy renumbering. Stateless
autoconfiguration uses the network prefix
information in the router advertisement
messages as the /64 of prefix of the node
address. The remaining 64 bits address is
obtained by the MAC address assigned to
the Ethernet interface combined with
additional bits in EUI-64 format. For
instance, a node with Ethernet interface
address 0003B61A2061, combined with
network prefix 2001:0001:1EEF:0000/64
provided by router advertisement, will have
an IPv6 address as
2001:0001:1EEF:0000:0003:B6FF:FE1A:
2061.
Renumbering of IPv6 nodes is possible
through router advertisement messages,
which contain both the old and new prefix.
A decrease in the lifetime value of the old
prefix alerts the nodes to use the new
prefix, while still keeping their current
connections intact with the old prefix.
During this period, nodes have two unicast
addresses in use. When the old prefix is no
longer usable, the router advertisements
will include only the new prefix.
11
 Path Maximum Transfer Unit (MTU)
IPv6 routers do not handle fragmentation
of packets, which is done, when necessary,
by the originating or source node of the
packet. IPv6 uses ICMP error reports to
determine whether the packet size
matches the MTU size along the delivery
path. When a node reports “packet too
big” via an ICMP error report, the source
node will reduce the size of the transmit
packet. The process is repeated until there
is no “packet too big” error along the
delivery path. This allows a node to
dynamically discover and adjust to
differences in the MTU size of every link
along a given data path.
IPv6 Deployment IPv6 provides many benefits over legacy
IPv4 technology; however, all agree that
any successful strategy for IPv6
deployment requires it to coexist with IPv4
for some extended period of time. A
number of strategies have been developed
for managing this complex and prolonged
transition from IPv4 to IPv6. The following
subsections describe several of these
strategies.
Dual-stack backbone
In dual-stack backbone deployment, all
routers in the network maintain both IPv4
and IPv6 protocol stacks. Applications
choose between using IPv4 or IPv6, with
the application selecting the correct
address based on the type of IP traffic and
particular requirements of the
communication.
Today, dual-stack routing is the preferred
deployment strategy for network
infrastructures with a mixture of IPv4 and
IPv6 applications that require both
protocols. This strategy has several
limitations, however: all routers in the
network must be upgraded to IPv6; routers
also require a dual addressing scheme,
dual management of the IPv4 and IPv6
12 Copyright © 2004, Ixia
DHCPv6 and Domain Name Server (DNS)
In addition to stateless autoconfiguration,
IPv6 also supports stateful configuration
with DHCPv6. The IPv6 node has an option
to solicit an address via DHCP server when
a router is not found. The operation of
DHCPv6 is mostly similar to that of
DHCPv4; however, DHCPv6 uses multicast
for many of its messages.
IPv6 also introduces a new record type to
accommodate IPv6 addresses in Domain
Name Servers. The AAAA record, also
known as “quad A”, has been
recommended by the IETF for mapping a
host name to an IPv6 address.
routing protocols and sufficient memory
for both the IPv4 and IPv6 routing tables.
IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling
IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling encapsulates
IPv6 traffic within IPv4 packets, to be sent
over an IPv4 backbone (Figure 8). This
enables “island” IPv6 end systems and
routers to communicate through an
existing IPv4 infrastructure.
A variety of tunneling mechanisms are
available for deploying IPv6 (Figure 9), as
described in the following sections.
Manually configured tunnels. As defined by
RFC 2893, both end points of the tunnel
need to be configured with appropriate
IPv6 and IPv4 addresses. The edge routers
sitting at the end points, usually a dual
stack router, will forward the tunneled
traffic based on the configuration.
GRE (Generic Routing Encapsulation) tunnels.
Defined to transport data over the IPv4
network, GRE allows one network protocol
to be transmitted over another network
protocol, by encapsulating the packets to
be transmitted within GRE packets. GRE is
an ideal mechanism to tunnel IPv6 traffic.
IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing
 Figure 8. IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling.

Figure 9. IPv6 tunnel mechanisms.

IPv4-compatible tunnels or 6over4 tunnels. As
defined in RFC 2893, these tunnel
mechanisms automatically set up tunnels
based on the IPv4-compatible IPv6
addresses. An IPv4-compatible IPv6
address defines the left-most 96 bits as
zero, followed by an IPv4 address
embedded in the last 32 bits. For example,
0:0:0:0:0:0.64.23.45.21 is an IPv4-
compatible address.
6to4 tunnels. As defined by RFC 3056, 6to4
tunneling uses an IPv4 address embedded
in the IPv6 address to identify the end
point of the tunnel and setup tunnel
automatically (Figure 10).
ISATAP (Intra-Site Automatic Tunnel Addressing
Protocol) tunnels. As defined in draft-ietf-
ngtrans-isatap-16, ISATAP tunneling is very
similar to 6to4 tunneling, but is designed
for use in a local site or campus network.
The ISATAP address contains the 64-bit
network prefix, 0000:5EFE, and an IPv4
address identifying the address of the
tunnel end point (Figure 11).

IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing Copyright © 2004, Ixia 13

 16 16
32 bits
bits bits
2002 IPv4 address subnet
Figure 10. 6to4 tunneling address format.
64 bits 32 bits
subnet prefix 00005EFE
Figure 11. ISATAP tunneling address format.
MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) tunnels.
Using MPLS technology, isolated IPv6
domains can communicate with each
other over a MPLS IPv4 core network.
Because MPLS forwarding is based on
labels rather than the IP header itself, this
implementation requires far fewer
backbone infrastructure upgrades and
IPv6 Challenges Expectations for IPv6 are high: it is
perceived as the protocol of the next
generation Internet, replacing today’s
legacy IPv4-based networks. As described
above, IPv6 deploys a new data plane to fix
various addressing and efficiency
problems with IPv4, and a new routing
control plane to effectively make use of the
new addresses. The impact of the new
data and control planes on today’s
networks is significant. Failures or
interruption are unacceptable in mission-
critical networking environments.
Network operators and service providers
are facing tough questions – when and
how to migrate to IPv6? To answer these
questions with certainty, they need
assurance that in their particular
networks, IPv6 will provide:
• Rapid expansion needed for more
users and devices.
• Smooth transition and coexistence
with IPv4.
• Robust network failure recovery.
14 Copyright © 2004, Ixia
64 bits
interface ID
32 bits
IPv4 address
less reconfiguration of core routers,
providing a very cost-effective way to
deploy IPv6. Additionally, MPLS’s inherent
VPN and traffic engineering services allow
IPv6 networks to be combined into VPNs or
extranets over an infrastructure supporting
IPv4 VPNs and MPLS-TE.
• Deliverable Quality of Service.
• Improved network security.
Network equipment manufacturers (NEMs)
face the challenge of building routers to
support both IPv6 and IPv4 networks, with
two sets of control and data planes. This
can add significant resource requirements
to routers supporting dual stacks,
impacting router performance and
scalability. Additional transition
mechanisms like tunneling and
application/address translation add
complexity to router design.
For end users, IPv6 improves productivity
by enabling network connectivity via a
wider range of media and delivery
mechanisms. But for general acceptance,
the new IPv6 networks must demonstrate
responsiveness at least equal to that of
IPv4. In addition, while several end user
environments and applications like
Windows XP, Linux, and sendmail support
IPv6 today, more applications are needed
to enhance IPv6’s overall acceptance.
IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing
 Why Test IPv6 Testing to ensure interoperability
Technology? Network operators and service providers
need to understand how well new IPv6
equipment will behave in multi-vendor
environments. Most of the roadblocks to
initial IPv6 deployment involve
interoperability among different vendor
equipment as well as between IPv6 and
IPv4 systems. The need for test tools to
identify and isolate problems prior to
deployment is too critical for operators to
ignore. For NEMs, providing interoperable
products is a key element to success with
the introduction of any new technology.
The fear of incompatibility problems
between legacy IPv4 infrastructure and
multiple vendors’ IPv6 systems can only be
dealt with via a thorough test methodology
to ensure interoperability.
IPv6 is defined by over 60 IETF RFCs. The
implementation of very large and complex
RFCs is prone to misunderstanding and
misinterpretation. Conformance testing,
with a comprehensive and rigorous test
methodology, increases product quality
and customer confidence. Conformance
testing also saves time and money, by
allowing vendors to verify a product’s
design throughout the entire product life
cycle. Problems can be identified earlier in
development, reducing costly last-minute
rework and post-deployment problems.
Testing to characterize performance
bottlenecks
Once the IPv6 network is up and running,
the next major concern is how well it will
perform. IPv6 introduces new control and
data planes, along with transitional
technologies like tunneling and dual-stack
support. A precise understanding of
performance inefficiencies and limitations
is essential for networks planners and
operators in designing their networks.
NEMs are always under pressure to deliver
more performance and scalability per
dollar from their equipment. Both NEMs
and network operators can benefit from a
IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing Copyright © 2004, Ixia
test methodology that can characterize
data plane performance, including such
metrics as:
• Throughput.
• Packet loss.
• Latency.
• Jitter.
and control plane performance metrics
such as:
• Size of forwarding information base.
• Routing scalability.
• Route convergence.
• Routing stability.
Initial IPv6 development will focus
primarily on the software level, to prove
functionality. As the technology matures
enough to mainstream deployment,
implementation will move down to the
hardware level for the ultimate level of
performance. The new IPv6 routing
protocols — like OSPFv3, RIPng, ISISv6 and
MBGP+ — will need to process larger
addresses and routes to achieve scalability
similar to that of existing IPv4 networks.
NEMs, service providers, and network
operators must properly characterize
scalability in order to understand the
impact of the new IPv6 design and to
prevent bottlenecks. Tunneling will be a
key technology to interconnect IPv6 islands
during the early stage of IPv6 deployment.
The scalability and performance of a
tunneling mechanism depends on the
number of tunnels a device can handle;
this metric must be monitored and
measured.
To characterize the performance
bottlenecks of a new IPv6 design properly
requires a test bed that can overrun the
performance and scalability limitations of
a device or system under test. Creating
such a test bed from hundreds of routers
or switches is prohibitively expensive and
difficult to manage. NEMs and service
providers need test tools that can simulate
real-world network conditions affordably
15
 and manageably. To stress test both the
control and data planes adequately, the
test tool is required to emulate hundreds
Test Solution IPv6 test tools must be able to perform a
Requirements wide variety of functions to adequately test
and validate IPv6 devices and systems. For
conformance testing, the test solution
must be able to fully exercise the control
plane of the device or system under test.
For performance and scalability testing,
the test solution must be able emulate
IPv6-capable routers at the control plane
level and scale up for large capacity
testing. The solution must also be able to
drive wire-speed traffic through the system
at the data plane level to fully stress the
device being tested.
Optimized hardware platform
While simple router emulation can be run
on PCs or workstations, an optimized test
system is needed to provide complete
testing capabilities and high levels of
scalability. For example, to emulate a large
network, a network interface on a test tool
must support hundreds or even thousands
of IP interfaces and MAC addresses —
requirements that standard off-the-shelf
hardware cannot support. Purpose-built
test hardware is required to provide the
flexibility and scalability needed to test
IPv6 systems adequately.
Dual stack routing protocol emulation
The IPv6 test tools must be able to
emulate the full range of routing protocols
16 Copyright © 2004, Ixia
of routers and also generate wire-speed
traffic.
used in today’s IPv4 and transitional IPv6
networks, including OSPFv2, OSPFv3, IS-
IS, IS-ISv6, RIP, RIPng, BGP and MBGP+.
These routing protocols are used to
advertise the underlying network
topologies over which the IPv6 network is
established.
Ability to generate and analyze tunneled traffic
– dual stack data plane
IPv6 test tools must be able to fully stress
the dual-stack data planes of dual stack
routers in addition to IPv6-only scenarios.
The test tool must:
• Generate and analyze IPv4 and IPv6
packets at wire-speed.
• Allow composing and editing of IPv6
and IPv6 over IPv4 tunnel packets.
• Measure data throughput, data
integrity, packet latency, and jitter on
all packet types.
• Be sufficiently flexible in packet
encapsulation and decapsulation to
support various tunneling schemes,
such as GRE, MPLS, 6to4, 6over4, and
ISATAP.
• Integrate with the control plane
emulation of the test tool and be able
to target traffic to the IPv4 and IPv6
routes advertised by the routing
emulation.
IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing
 Ixia’s Approach to IPv6 conformance testing
IPv6 Testing Ixia has addressed the challenges of
protocol conformance testing by
developing IxANVL (Ixia Automated
Network Validation Library), the industry
standard conformance test suite. For
protocol conformance testing, IxANVL
supports over 30 protocols overall, and the
IPv6 conformance test suite contains over
500 test cases to validate routers and
hosts. IxANVL provides positive as well as
negative test cases against the RFCs that
specify these standards. Negative tests
help validate device response to “killer
packets.”
IxANVL performs its tests as a dialog: it
sends packets to the router being tested,
receives the packets sent in response, and
then analyzes the response to determine
the next action to take. This allows IxANVL
to test complicated situations or reactions
in a much more intelligent and flexible way
than can be done by simple packet
generation and capture devices.
IxANVL can run on standalone
workstations or via Ixia’s optimized test
platforms. IxANVL can be completely
automated using a scripting interface, and
IxANVL source code is also available to
users for customization, allowing a great
degree of testing flexibility.
IPv6 scalability and performance testing
The general methodology employed by Ixia
for testing the scalability and performance
of IPv6 routers involves first surrounding
the device or system under test (DUT/SUT)
with Ixia hardware test interfaces. The Ixia
system then emulates everything else
needed to test the device, including other
IPv6/IPv4 dual stack routers, IP route
IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing Copyright © 2004, Ixia
injection, IPv6 routing protocols, and traffic
transmission. In this way, large and
complex topologies can be simulated to
test the DUT/SUT in realistic system
environments, with a minimum of
hardware requirements. For example, in
Figure 12, four Ixia test interfaces are
connected to the DUT with numerous
routers being emulated per interface.
Ixia has developed two primary
applications for IPv6 performance testing,
IxExplorer and IxScriptMate, each with a
distinct testing focus.
IxExplorer. IxExplorer provides a high level
of flexibility and functionality in protocol
emulation, traffic generation, and analysis.
IxExplorer is the primary controlling
application for Ixia’s purpose-built
hardware test platform, allowing detailed
configuration of protocols and analysis of
test results.
Within IxExplorer, a comprehensive set of
IPv6 routing protocols is supported,
including OSPFv3, IS-ISv6, RIPng, and
MBGP+ as well as multicast protocol MLD.
IxExplorer controls the protocols’ operation
on Ixia’s test hardware architecture, which
supports a CPU running Linux on each test
port. This dedicated emulation
environment allows hundreds of dual-stack
routers to be emulated on each network
interface. Hundreds of thousands of routes
can be advertised from each interface,
and line rate traffic can be generated over
the established connections. Alternatively,
Ixia’s IxChariot product can be used to
transmit emulated enterprise application
traffic over the IPv6 routers or network
being tested to measure end-to-end
application response times.
17
 Ixia port Ixia port

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IX IA

IX IA IX I A IX IA IX IA IX I A

IX IA
IX IA IX IA IX I A

DUT

IX IA

IX IA IX I A IX IA

IX IA Ixia port Ixia port IXIA

= emulated router

Figure 12. Ixia router simulation.

IxScriptMate. IxScriptMate provides a
framework for running automated test
scenarios. Numerous test suites have
been developed within the IxScriptMate
environment for testing IPv6 and IPv4
traffic throughput performance, latency,
tunneling and routing performance, and
scalability. IxScriptMate simplifies the
configuration process by defining a
configuration for the test and displaying
the relevant parameters for user input.
Tests then run automatically, and the
results are presented to the user.

Conclusion Though the benefits of IPv6 are well and strategies will be used to ease the
understood, the cost of overhauling the pains and minimize investment into IPv6
existing IPv4 infrastructure is prohibitive deployment.
for many network operators and service
The need for better test tools and
providers. The current attitude toward IPv6
methodology is essential for the success of
in the US market could be characterized as
IPv6. Both NEMs and network operators
“IPv4 is working. Why change?” The real
rely on test tools to identify design flaws
driving force for IPv6 will come from
and interoperability issues. Ixia’s expertise
countries and regions whose only choice
in testing has been a large contributor to
for global competitiveness in the next
the success of the IPv4 Internet, and Ixia’s
decade is to change to larger address
comprehensive test tools provide the
space. The path to complete global IPv6
power and flexibility to manage the
connectivity will be lengthy and full of
transition to IPv6.
challenges. Many transitional schemes

18 Copyright © 2004, Ixia IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing

 Appendix: Sample Several sample test plans are presented in
IPv6 Test Plans this appendix, showing how Ixia’s solutions
address the challenges of IPv6 testing.
1. IPv6 Conformance Test
Objective: Verify the DUT’s compliance with
the following features defined in various
RFCs:
• IPv6 (RFC 2460).
• Transmission of IPv6 Packets over
Ethernet Networks (RFC 2464).
• IPv6 over PPP (RFC 2474).
• ICMPv6 (RFC 2463).
• Stateless Address Autoconfiguration
(RFC 2462).
• Path MTU Discovery (RFC 1981).
• Neighbor Discovery Protocol (RFC
2461).
• Multicast Listener Discovery (RFC
2710).
• Tunneling (RFC 2529, RFC 2893, and
RFC 3056).
Additional test suites are available for
legacy IPv4 and IPv6 routing. Both IPv6
and IPv4 should be tested in a dual stack
implementation.
Test setup: An IxANVL Linux workstation
connects directly to the DUT, or via Ixia test
Linux
workstation
Figure 13. IPv6 conformance test setup.
IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing Copyright © 2004, Ixia
hardware, with one or two test interfaces
(see Figure 13). The Ixia test platform will
emulate either hosts or routers in IPv6 and
IPv4 mode, depending on the
configuration of each test case.
Methodology:
IxANVL runs a number of test cases
against the DUT based on the direct
interpretation of various IPv6 RFCs.
1. Configure each IxANVL network
interface with the appropriate
network parameters, including those
of the DUT such as IP address, MAC
address, gateway, etc.
2. Specify configuration of the DUT,
typically via command scripts such
as Expect scripts. IxANVL is able to
automatically execute the scripts to
configure the DUT before, during or
after the test.
3. Select a set of test cases to run in
IxANVL (Figure 14).
4. Run IxANVL in a batch mode with the
command scripts, reconfiguring the
DUT as required between test cases
to match the IxANVL test setup.
Result: Number of tests passed/failed,
including reasons for failed cases (see
Figure 15).
DUT
19
 Figure 14. IxANVL conformance test cases.

Figure 15. IxANVL test results.

20 Copyright © 2004, Ixia IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing

 2. IPv6/IPv4 Forwarding Performance Test
Objective: Characterize the performance of
the data plane in forwarding IPv6 and IPv4
traffic. IETF RFC2544 defines how to
characterize data plane performance. Ixia
has implemented the RFC2544 test in
IxScriptMate. Four tests have been
developed to support RFC2544:
• The back-to-back test determines how
the DUT responds to different
quantities of frames with the minimum
gap allowed by the protocol
specification.
• The frame loss test determines how
the DUT responds to streams with
different loading.
• The throughput test finds the highest
rate at which the DUT can forward
frames.
• The latency test reveals how much
processing overhead the DUT requires
to forward frames.
Test setup: A minimum of two Ixia ports will
be used for this test, in conjunction with
the IxScriptMate RFC2544 test (see Figure
16).
Methodology: This test will involve several
test ports to match the DUT’s port density.
Ideally, the test should flood traffic to every
input port of the DUT. A number of Ixia load
modules will be connected to the DUT.
Ixia’s IxScriptMate is used to perform the
RFC 2544 benchmark test.
IPv4 packets
IPv6 packets
Figure 16. Packet forwarding performance test setup.
IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing Copyright © 2004, Ixia
1. Connect appropriate Ixia load
modules with the DUT. Try to match
the DUT’s port density.
2. Run IxScriptMate on the client
console. Select RFC2544 test.
3. Configure appropriate port and
traffic parameters for each one of
RFC2544 tests. Set the protocol type
as IPv6 under Traffic Setup menu
(Figure 17).
4. Execute all four tests to characterize
IPv6 performance.
Mixed traffic with IPv4. Testers can run
another instance of IxScriptMate on the
same console. The second IxScriptMate
will run the same RFC2544 test with
additional ports assigned to generate and
measure IPv4 performance. Users can
adjust the number of ports running IPv6
traffic (with the first instance of
IxScriptMate), and the number of ports
running IPv4 traffic (with the second
instance of IxScriptMate). The goal is to
generate a mixed IPv6 and IPv4 traffic to
stress a dual-stack DUT.
Test inputs:
• Packet length.
• Offered load.
• IPv6 and IPv4 mixed ratio.
Results:
• Throughput.
• Latency.
• Packet loss.
IPv4 packets
DUT
dual stack router IPv6 packets
21
 Figure 17. Configuring port and traffic parameters.

22 Copyright © 2004, Ixia IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing

 3. Tunneling Functional Test
Objective: Verify correct encapsulation and
decapsulation between IPv6 and IPv4.
Test setup: Two Ixia ports will be connected
to the DUT for this test – one to generate
IPv6 traffic and a second one to monitor
IPv6 over IPv4 tunnels (see Figure 18). The
IxExplorer application will be used to
generate and analyze IP packets. Various
tunneling schemes will be exercised.
Methodology:
1. Configure the DUT to support the
tunneling scheme under test.
3. Set up the IPv6 traffic stream, with
the proper data integrity signature.
4. Set up the receiving port to measure
the tunnel traffic. Set up a capture
buffer to analyze tunneled packets.
Test inputs:
• Offered load.
• Packet length.
• Packet headers and payload.
• Address range.
Results (see Figure 19):
• Header and payload integrity check.

2. Set up one Ixia port to generate IPv6 • Packet loss.

traffic with IPv6 addresses properly • Address translation – verify the IPv4
configured to match the tunneling addresses.
schemes supported by the DUT.

IPv6 dual stack router IPv6 / IPv4

packets packets

DUT

IPv6 transport IPv4 IPv6 transport

data data
header header header header header

Figure 18. Tunneling functional test setup.

frame loss observed

data integrity check

Figure 19. Tunneling functional test results.

IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing Copyright © 2004, Ixia 23

 4. Tunneling Performance Test
Objectives: Characterize the DUT’s
performance in encapsulating and
decapsulating IPv6 tunneled traffic.
IxScriptMate supports three tests for
tunneling performance:
• The Tunnel Capacity Test finds how
many frames the DUT loses with
various numbers of tunnels.
• The Tunnel Frame Loss Test finds how
many frames the DUT loses at various
frame rates.
• The Tunnel Throughput Test searches
for the maximum rate at which the
DUT receives and forwards frames
with no frame loss.
Test setup: A minimum of two Ixia ports will
be used in this test, in conjunction with the
IxScriptMate IPv6 Tunneling Test. It uses
IPv6 tunnels with pairs of ports with one-
to-one traffic mapping; one port transmits
to one receive port. Users can specify
multiple pairs of test ports to increase the
loading. The transmit ports generate IPv6
packets and the receive ports expect IPv6
over IPv4 tunnel traffic. See Figure 20.
Methodology:
1. Configure the DUT to support the
tunneling scheme under test.
IxScriptMate currently supports
Figure 20. Tunneling performance test setup.
24 Copyright © 2004, Ixia
manually configured tunnels, IPv4-
compatible tunnels, 6to4 tunnels,
and ISATAP tunnels.
2. Set up the appropriate test
parameters under IxScriptMate.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for different
tunneling schemes supported by the
DUT.
4. Execute all three tests to
characterize performance.
Test Inputs (see Figure 21):
• Tunnel end points — IPv6 and IPv4
addresses.
• Tunneling methods — Manually
configured, IPv4-compatible, 6to4, and
ISATAP.
• The number of tunnels (required for
tunnel capacity test).
• Maximum transmit rate.
• Loss tolerance.
• Frame sizes.
Results (see Figure 22):
• Frame loss.
• Tunnel throughput.
• Latency.
• Packet integrity error.
• Packet sequence error.
IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing
 Figure 21. Tunneling performance test parameters.

Figure 22. Tunneling performance test results.

IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing Copyright © 2004, Ixia 25

 5. IPv6 Routing Performance and Scalability
Test
Objectives: Characterize the performance
and the scalability of the IPv6 control
plane. The IPv6 routing protocols, such as
MBGP4+, will be tested and characterized.
The Ixia test tool emulates many peers/
adjacencies and routes behind each test
port; therefore, many complicated test
scenarios can be done with only a few test
ports. The typical tests in this category are:
• Forwarding Information Base.
• Routing Scalability.
• Route Convergence.
• Routing Stability.
Test setup: IxExplorer will be used to
emulate multiple BGP peers and routes
behind each physical port. A minimum of
two Ixia test ports will be connected to the
DUT for this test. Users can add more Ixia
ports to match the DUT’s capacity. See
Figure 23.
Methodology:
1. Configure a number of IPv6
addresses that will be emulated by
an Ixia port under the Protocol
Interfaces folder.
2. Configure a number of BGP peers
under the BGP protocol folder. The
user can easily increase the number
of peers in a spreadsheet setting.
3. Configure a number of routes for
each BGP peer (see Figure 24).
Again, the user has complete control
IX IA IX IA
IXIA
IX IA IX IA
DUT
dual stack
router
IX I A
Figure 23. Routing performance and scalability test.
26 Copyright © 2004, Ixia
over how the routes will be set up,
including the mandatory and
optional BGP attributes for each
route.
4. Start up the BGP emulation; observe
all the routes that are registered and
propagated by the DUT.
5. Set up automatic traffic streams to
target all the advertised routes. Verify
that the DUT can deliver traffic to the
proper destination based on the
emulated topologies.
6. Flap the emulated routes to simulate
Internet instability (see Figure 24).
7. Repeat the test procedure for
OSPFv3, IS-ISv6 and RIPng.
Test inputs: The size of the emulated
topology can be adjusted to meet different
test scenarios by varying:
• The number of emulated routers.
• The number of peers/adjacencies.
• The number of routes or LSA/LSP.
• The routes or links attributes.
• The duration and frequency of route
flapping.
Results: The key measurement goal is to
determine the DUT’s capability to forward
traffic correctly under heavy loading and
with dynamic fluctuation in the control
plane. Typical measurements are:
• Packet loss.
• Packet sequence error.
• Misdirected packets.
IX IA IX IA
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IX IA IX IA
I X IA
IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing
 emulated routers

emulated peers

Figure 24. Ixia emulates multiple BGP peers with advertised routes

Figure 25. Emulated routes can be flapped to simulate Internet instability.

IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing Copyright © 2004, Ixia 27

 Glossary
Care-Of-Address (COA) A temporary IP address for a mobile device, the COA
enables message delivery when the device is
connecting from outside its home network. The care-of
address identifies the device’s current point of
attachment to the Internet and makes it possible to
connect from a different location without changing the
device's permanent IP address: messages sent to the
known permanent address are rerouted to the care-of
address while the recipient can be reached there.

Classless Inter-Domain Routing
(CIDR)
CIDR allocates and specifies the Internet addresses
used in inter-domain routing more flexibly than was
possible with the original system of IPv4 address
classes. As a result, the number of available Internet
addresses has been greatly increased.

Correspondent Node A peer node with which a mobile node is

communicating. The correspondent node may be
either mobile or stationary.

Dynamic Host Configuration A communications protocol. DHCP automates the

Protocol (DHCP) assignment of IP addresses in an organization's
network. DHCP lets a network administrator supervise
and distribute IP addresses from a central point and
automatically sends a new IP address when a
computer is plugged into a different place in the
network.

Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP) A protocol that distributes routing information to the
routers that connect networks.

Foreign Agent (FA) (In Mobile IP,) a router serving as a mobility agent for a
mobile node. A foreign agent works in conjunction with
another type of mobility agent known as a home agent
to support Internet traffic forwarding for a device
connecting to the Internet from outside its home
network.

Generic Routing Encapsulation A protocol that allows one network protocol to be

(GRE) transmitted over another network protocol, by
encapsulating the packets to be transmitted within
GRE packets.

Intermediate System to An OSI/IP routing protocol, IS-ISv6 is the new version

Intermediate System (IS-ISv6) that supports IPv6 addressing. MPLS traffic
engineering parameters can be distributed with IS-IS
using extensions to the protocol (IS-IS-TE).

28 Copyright © 2004, Ixia IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing

 Internet Control Message
Protocol v6 (ICMPv6)
Internet Gateway Protocol (IGP)
Intra-Site Automatic Tunnel
Addressing Protocol (ISATAP)
Maximum Transfer Unit (MTU)
Mobile Node
Multi-Protocol Border Gateway
Protocol Plus (MBGP+)
Network Address Translation
(NAT)
Open Shortest Path First
(OSPF)v3
Routing Information Protocol
next generation (RIPng)
Acknowledgements Authors: Dean Lee, Elliott Stewart
IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing
An extension to IP that allows for the generation of
error messages, test packets, and informational
messages related to IP.
Protocol that distributes routing information to the
routers within a network. The term “gateway” is
historical; “router” is currently the preferred term.
Example IGPs are OSPF, IS-IS and RIP.
An IPv6 transition mechanism, ISATAP allows IPv6-in-
IPv4 tunnels to be created automatically within a site.
To obtain address and routing information, each host
queries an ISATAP router within the site.
The largest size packet or frame that can be sent in a
packet- or frame-based network such as the Internet.
If the MTU size is too large, the packet may encounter
a router that can't handle the packet, resulting in
retransmission. Too small an MTU size means
relatively more header overhead and more
acknowledgements that have to be sent and handled.
A node that can change its point of attachment from
one link to another, while still being reachable via its
home address.
MBGP+ enhances BGP to support more types of
advertised routes, including IPv6 routes.
The translation of an Internet Protocol address used
within one network to a different IP address known
within another network. This allows duplicate IP
addresses to be used within an organization and
unique addresses outside.
A link-state routing protocol used by IP routers located
within a single Autonomous System (AS) to determine
routing paths. OSPFv3 is the version supports IPv6
addresses.
An Internet routing protocol that uses hop count as a
routing metric. RIP is the most common IGP used in
the Internet. RIPng is the new version that supports
IPv6 addresses.
Copyright © 2004, Ixia 29
30 Copyright © 2004, Ixia IPv6: Conformance and Performance Testing