FAULT LOCATION AND PERFORMANCE TESTING OF COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

摘要

A method and apparatus for testing a network having a plurality of nodes (24 ). The method includes sending commands to one or more traffic agents (60) connected to the network (20) and to at least one network management agent (70) coupled to a respective node (24) of the network (20), transmitting data from at least one of the traffic agen ts (60) over the network responsive to the commands, determining network information at the at least one network management agent (70) responsive to the commands and to transmission of the data through the respective node, and receiving and evaluating the network information to assess a state of the network.