Our Layer 2 Testing Services

Operating as an extension to member companies' internal laboratories, our Bridge Functions Testing Service examines interoperability and conformance of Ethernet bridges/switches to IEEE 802.1 protocols. Members gain access to one of the largest, most diverse test beds in the industry. For one annual membership fee, members can test numerous devices as many times per year as scheduling allows. The laboratory's detailed test reports and debugging cut cost and time to market, and eliminate problems before products reach customers.

Membership Benefits

  • Reduced cost and time to market:
    • detailed interoperability and conformance testing results enable companies to quickly isolate protocol bugs, which greatly reduces product development cycles
    • detailed testing and product consultation improves product quality and usability
    • access to well maintained multi-million dollar interoperability test beds allows for extensive test coverage without the financial burden of purchasing and maintaining in-house test beds
    • test equipment from major manufacturers and custom UNH-IOL test tools provide test capabilities unavailable anywhere else.
  • Increased customer confidence:
    • neutral 3rd party testing reports validate products and can be supplied to potential customers
    • product analysis validates supplier reference claims
  • Increased media awareness:
    • Industry supported "Plugfests" raise product visibility
    • Press releases and articles publicize commitment to quality

Digitally Signed Test Reports

To ensure the authenticity and validity of our Test Reports, all reports sent to vendors are digitally signed using Adobe Acrobat. Sample reports for each Test Suite are available on the Test Suites page, or click here to view a digitally signed Test Report for Spanning Tree Operations Testing. To learn about validation of digitally signed Test Reports, please click here.

Layer 2 Protocol Testing Services

Interoperability Tests

  • LLDP (Link Layer Discovery Protocol)
  • LLDP-MED (Link Layer Discovery Protocol - Media Endpoint Discovery)
  • 802.1X (Port-based Security)
  • Spanning Tree (STP, RSTP, MSTP)
    • Topology
    • Repeated Network
    • Network Initialization
    • Topology Change
  • VLAN
    • Traffic Association
    • Link Type Testing (Access, Trunk, Hybrid)
  • Link Aggregation
  • TRILL - Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links

Conformance Tests

  • State Table Operation and Functionality (correct response to stimulus and correct state transition verification)
  • PDU Frame Format (encoding/formatting/validation)
  • Timer Verification (fixed/random)
  • Bridge/Port Parameters (configuration/propagation)
  • Filtering Database
    • Permanent Database
    • Learning Process (database size/overflow behavior)
  • Spanning Tree (.1D-1998, .1D-2004)
  • VLAN
  • 802.1X Supplicant (Port-based Security)
  • 802.1AE (MACSec)

Feature Verification

  • Rate Limiting
    • Verifies egress and ingress rate limiting and granularity; examines effect on frame queuing.
  • Quality of Service (QOS)
    • IEEE 802.1Q and 802.1p QoS/CoS
    • Verifies number of supported queues and examines frame queuing mechanisms
  • Jumbo Frames
    • Verifies device MTUs for standard and VLAN-tagged jumbo frames.