Configure gateway parameters

When you use NV Network Editor to create an NV profile, you can specify gateway parameters, as described in this section, and WAN parameters, as described in Configure the WAN parameters.

Overview

When network virtualization is applied, gateway parameters are used to emulate the behavior of access gateways on the real networks. For example, in the NV profile, you can specify the bandwidth or queue limitation that a specific gateway imposes on the actual network.

Note:

  • Entering gateway parameters is optional when you configure an NV profile.
  • The definitions of the gateway parameters are the same for both the client and the server gateways.

The gateway parameters can be configured separately for incoming and outgoing traffic.

Click the Client Gateway and Server Gateway tabs to configure the gateway parameter settings.

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Bandwidth Settings

Bandwidth values can be either defined or imported from a pre-recorded file.

You can specify different bandwidth values for upstream network traffic and downstream network traffic.

Note: The following procedures are valid for both the upstream and downstream settings.

Define Bandwidth Settings

You can select pre-defined bandwidth settings, or specify custom bandwidth settings.

  1. In the Client Gateway or the Server Gateway tab, select one of the following options:

    1. Predefined: Select one of the available values. (The available values correspond to common bandwidth settings, such as T1, etc.)
    2. Custom: Specify a specific bandwidth. (Valid values are between 2.4 and 10,000,000 Kbps.)
  2. Click OK.

Import Recorded Bandwidth Settings

You can import the bandwidth values from a recorded file. Use Network Capture or Network Capture Express to record the bandwidth of a network over a period of time. Network Capture and Network Capture Express measure and record the bandwidth, and save the values to an .ntx file.

Note:  

  • Importing recorded bandwidth settings is supported only for Vuser groups that share the specified bandwidths – not by Vuser groups that allocate the specified bandwidth to each Vuser. For details, see Allocate bandwidth to Vusers.
  • You can import recorded parameters from a .ntx file directly into a virtual location, as described in Import virtual location parameters from an NV profile. Import the recorded parameters into an NV profile (using NV Network Editor) only if you want to edit the recorded parameters, before importing them into a virtual location.
  1. In the Client Gateway or the Server Gateway tab, click Recorded then click Choose File.
  2. Locate and select the required file, and then click Open.

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Queue Settings

The Queue settings define the queue limitations and packet overhead that you want to use in your emulations.

Enable Queue Limitation

This group contains parameters that emulate limitations imposed on the maximum size of IP packet queues at the gateway NIC. If you specify a queue size, NV emulates network behavior by dropping data packets when the queue is full.

  1. In the Client Gateway or the Server Gateway tab, select Queue Limitation.
  2. Select from the following parameters:

    Parameter Description
    Queue Size Select the amount of memory (KB) that NV allocates to the queue [16 to 4,096 MB].
    Drop Mode
    • Drop Tail
    Select this option for NV to drop newer data packets when the queue is full.
    • Random Early Detection (RED)

    This option provides a more sophisticated queue management method. The RED algorithm keeps track of the average increase in queue occupancy. If it detects an increase, it signals to the packet source that the queue may soon be full, by randomly dropping very small amounts of data packets.

    Keep Queue size between:

    Indicate the minimum and maximum average occupancy. The system issues signals (by dropping data packets) when the average occupancy fluctuates between the two values. It drops all packets if the average occupancy exceeds the maximum threshold.

    Fill mode
    • Use the fixed size: 1,500 bytes for each packet.
    • Use the actual packet size.

Enable Packet Overhead

If your gateway adds overhead bytes to the IP data that flows through the gateway NIC, use this parameter to specify the number of additional bytes, in order to emulate the bandwidth consumption they impose on the network.

  1. Select Packet Overhead.
  2. Select either Ethernet (adds 18 bytes to each packet) or PPP (adds 9 bytes to each packet).

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