VIAVI Avalanche running on the CF30 appliance, top view
Avalanche

VIAVI Avalanche Layer 4-7 Application Performance and Load Testing Solution

Layer 4-7 application and load testing software that generates 1 Gbps to over 100 Gbps of stateful traffic for capacity and performance testing.

Available Platforms
CF30 Self-Contained Appliance 1U 8 x 1G/10G; C200 Slim-lined Ultra Performance Appliance 1U 8 x 10G, 16 x 10G, 4 x 25G, 4 x 40G, 4 x 50G, 4 x 100G; CF400 High-Density Carrier Class Performance Appliance 2U, 8 x 40G, 8 x 100G; CyberFlood Virtual ESXi or KVM instances; Amazon AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud (GCP) Deployments
Traffic generation
1Gbps to >100Gbps
Datasheet

Overview

VIAVI Avalanche is a Layer 4-7 testing solution for capacity and performance testing of network devices and solutions, cloud and virtual environments, Web application infrastructures and media services, with the aim of verifying Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE). It generates stateful traffic from 1 Gbps to beyond 100 Gbps through native interfaces, and multiple systems can be combined in a single test.

A flexible load profile lets testers specify connections per second, concurrent connections, transactions per second, new user sessions per second and concurrent users. Real-time statistics are available across all protocols, and an integrated results analyzer generates reports in PDF and HTML. Avalanche offers full client and server HTTP/3 testing support alongside HTTP/2, HTTPS and TLS v1.3.

Test coverage

Avalanche tests firewalls, load balancers, proxies, content filters, SD-WAN, SASE, IDS/IPS, IPSec VPN gateways and OpenConnect-compatible SSL VPNs, and validates application servers such as Web, mail, DHCP, FTP, DNS and streaming services. Media testing covers voice calling, HTTP Adaptive Bitrate streaming and unicast and multicast video. Cryptographic load testing covers IPSec, HTTPS/TLS, DNSSEC, DNS over TLS, SSL VPN, 802.1x, NAC and RADIUS.

Protocol emulation

The Scalable Application Protocol Emulation Engine (SAPEE) imports PCAP captures of TCP or UDP traffic over IPv4 or IPv6 and replays or magnifies them, with control over packet content, ordering and inter-packet timing. It includes a library of preconfigured protocols such as BitTorrent, Gnutella and instant messaging.

Platforms

Avalanche runs on the CF30, C200 and CF400 appliances, on CyberFlood Virtual (ESXi or KVM), and in Amazon AWS, Azure and Google Cloud deployments.

Key Features

  • Stateful Layer 4-7 traffic generation from 1 Gbps to multi 100 Gbps rates via native interfaces
  • Multiple systems can be used in a single test
  • Flexible load profile: connections per second, concurrent connections, transactions per second, new user sessions per second and concurrent users
  • Real-time statistics across all protocols
  • Full client and server HTTP/3 testing support
  • Web application testing with cookie, session ID, dynamic link, automatic follow redirect, content validation, SOAP message and think time support
  • Cryptographic load testing for IPSec, HTTPS/TLS (including TLSv1.3), DNSSEC, DNS over TLS, SSL VPN, 802.1x, NAC and RADIUS
  • SSL VPN tunnel setup and throughput capacity testing over OpenConnect compatible SSL VPN versions
  • Media testing with voice calling, HTTP Adaptive Bitrate streaming and unicast and multicast streaming video
  • Create and play back custom application protocols over TCP/UDP with SAPEE
  • Import custom traffic and replay over TLS-encrypted sessions
  • Modify inter-packet timings, packet ordering and packet content of captured traffic
  • Built-in protocol library of pre-made protocols
  • ABR streaming client emulation for Apple HLS, Microsoft Smooth, Adobe Zeri and DASH
  • Built-in ABR quality scoring with Adaptive Streaming score
  • IPSec testing with IKEv1 and IKEv2, persistent and non-persistent tunnels and re-keying events
  • Over 300 statistics per IP address

Specifications

Platforms
Available Platforms CF30 Self-Contained Appliance 1U 8 x 1G/10G; C200 Slim-lined Ultra Performance Appliance 1U 8 x 10G, 16 x 10G, 4 x 25G, 4 x 40G, 4 x 50G, 4 x 100G; CF400 High-Density Carrier Class Performance Appliance 2U, 8 x 40G, 8 x 100G; CyberFlood Virtual ESXi or KVM instances; Amazon AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud (GCP) Deployments
Traffic generation 1Gbps to >100Gbps
Protocols
Network Access Protocol DHCP, PPPoE, PPTP, IPSec (IKEv1 and IKEv2), SSL VPN for Cisco and Palo Alto Networks Global Protect
Network Realism Line speed limitation, network latency, packet loss and fragmentation
IP Version Supported IPv4 and IPv6 (including DSLITE)
Encapsulation Protocol 802.1Q and 802.1 Q-in-Q
Transport TCP, UDP, SSLv2, SSLv3, TLS v1.0, TLS v1.2, TLS v1.3, QUIC
Data Protocol HTTP, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, HTTPS, FTP (Active/Passive), DNS, DNSSEC, DNS over TLS, DNS over HTTPS, TELNET, SMTP, POP3, IMAP4, EMAIL over SSL, RADIUS, MM4, ICMP, CIFS and Capture/Replay
Extended Protocols BitTorrent, Gnutella, MSN, Yahoo, SKYPE, SQL, MYSQL, Oracle, SMB, NFS, Remote Desktop, Exchange, LDAP
Authentication 802.1x, Network Access Control (NAC), Radius
Voice Protocol SIP over TCP/UDP
Voice Codec Supported G.711A, G.711U, G.723.1, G.726-32, G.728 and G.729AB
File Access Protocol CIFS and NFS
Video Protocol HTTP Adaptive bit rate streaming for Apple, Adobe, Microsoft and DASH, ABR over SSL, Unicast Streaming Quicktime RTSP/RTP, Unicast Streaming Real Network RTSP/RTP, Unicast Streaming Microsoft MMS, Multicast Streaming IGMPv2, IGMPv3 and MLDv2, and Flash Media Streaming using RTMP/RTMPT
Video Codec Supported MPEG-1, H.261, MPEG-2. H.262, MPEG-4. H.264
Reporting and Automation
Reporting Integrated CSV test results analyzer fully customizable with report generation in PDF and HTML; also provides over 300 statistics per IP address
Automation GUI to Tcl API
SAPEE Protocol Emulation
Supported Modules & Platforms
CMP-ASW-SAPEE
CF30 Appliances, CFv, C200 Appliances, CF400 Appliances
Transports
CMP-ASW-SAPEE
TCP or UDP transports on top of IPv4 or IPv6
Replay rate
CMP-ASW-SAPEE
up to multi 10Gbps
Custom traffic flows at line rate
IPSec Testing
IPSec Protocols
CMP-ASW-IPSEC
AH+ESP, Tunnel Mode
IPSec Modes
CMP-ASW-IPSEC
Main Mode and Aggressive Mode
Authentication
CMP-ASW-IPSEC
Pre-Shared Keys, X.509 Certificates, RSA Digital Signatures/Certificates
Extended Authentication (XAuth)
CMP-ASW-IPSEC
ModeConfig address assignment, Generic (username and password), RemoteVPN, Nortel Contivity, Checkpoint Hybrid
IKE Phase 2
CMP-ASW-IPSEC
Quick Mode, Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS), Dead Peer Detection
IKEv1 Encryption Support
CMP-ASW-IPSEC
DES, 3DES, ESPNULL, AES-128, AES-192, AES-256, AES-128-GCM-8, AES-256-GCM-8, AES-128-GCM-12, AES-256-GCM-12, AES-128-GCM-16, AES-256-GCM-16, AES-128-GMAC, AES-192-GMAC, AES-256-GMAC, HASH: HMAC-MD5 and HMAC SHA -1 Diffe-Hellman Groups: 1, 2, 5, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, and 24
IKEv2 Encryption Support
CMP-ASW-IPSEC
DES, 3DES, ESPNULL, AES-128, AES-192, AES-256, AES-128-GCM-8, AES-256-GCM-8, AES-128-GCM-12, AES-256-GCM-12, AES-128-GCM-16, AES-256-GCM-16, AES-128-GMAC, AES-192-GMAC, AES-256-GMAC, HASH: HMAC-MD5, HMAC SHA -1, AES-XBCB-MAC, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512 Diffe-Hellman Groups: 1, 2, 5, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, and 24
Tunnel scale
CMP-ASW-IPSEC
Supports thousands of site-to-site tunnels per-test
Re-Keying
CMP-ASW-IPSEC
Phase 1 Reconnect, Phase 2 Re-Key with old key timer, SA Lifetimes
SSL VPN Testing
SSL VPN Security Protocols TLS, DTLS
Validated gateways Cisco AnyConnect Gateway v9.x and later; Palo Alto GlobalProtect Gateway v8.x and later
TLS v1.2 ciphers ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384, ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384, AES256-GCM-SHA384, DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384, ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256, ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256, AES128-SHA256, AES128-CCM8, DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256, ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
Supports full suite of TLS v1.2 Elliptical Curve, DHE, RSA, AES ciphers including those listed
HTTP ABR Video
ABR clients
CMP-ASW-ABR
Adobe Zeri VOD client; Apple HTTP live streaming (client and server support); Apple HLS VOD (client and server support); Apple HLS encrypted client; Microsoft Smooth live client; Microsoft Smooth VOD client; DASH VOD client; DASH live-streaming client
Technical Specifications
CMP-ASW-ABR
Adobe Flash Video Specification 10.1; Microsoft IIS Smooth streaming client 1.1; HTTP Live Streaming draft-pantos-http-live-streaming-06

Specifications are taken from the manufacturer's documentation. See the datasheet for complete and current values.

Applications

  • Network performance testing
  • Web application testing
  • HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 application testing
  • High-capacity HTTPS cryptographic load testing
  • Media testing
  • Cloud and virtual network testing
  • SSL VPN and IPSec testing
  • Firewall, load balancer and proxy performance testing
  • Application server performance testing
  • OTT streaming video server testing
  • Custom and proprietary traffic replay

Options & Accessories

Option Description
CMP-ASW-ABR Avalanche ABR Video Streaming Client Server — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-APP Avalanche Application Testing Client Sever — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-CIFS Avalanche CIFS Client Server — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-DHCP Avalanche DHCP Client Server — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-DSLITE Avalanche DS-LITE Client Server — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-EMAIL-SSL Avalanche Email Over SSL-SMTP, POP3, IMAP — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-GTP Avalanche GTP SGSN-GGSN — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-HTTP2 Avalanche HTTP/2 Protocol Support — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-IPSEC Avalanche IPSEC Client — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-IPV6 Avalanche IPV6 Client Server — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-MAIL Avalanche SMTP POP3 IMAP4 Client Server — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-MM4 Avalanche Multimedia Messaging SVC MM4 Client SVR — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-NAC Avalanche 802.1X NAC — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-NFS Avalanche NFS Client — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-PILOT Avalanche PPTP Protocol Pilot Packet — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-PPP Avalanche PPP Over Ethernet Client Server — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-PPTP Avalanche PPTP Protocol — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-QUIC Avalanche HTTP/3 and QUIC Protocol — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-RAD Avalanche Radius Client — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-RTMP Avalanche RTMP Client — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-SAPEE Avalanche SAPEE Protocol Emulation Environment — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-SIP Avalanche SIP Client Server — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-SSL Avalanche SSL Client Server — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-UNICAST Avalanche Video Streaming Unicast — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASW-VOD Avalanche Video on Demand Multicast Client Server — For C100/C200 Appliances
CMP-ASWB-EPK-CF50 Avalanche Expansion Pack License for the CF50 Appliance
CMP-ASWB-EPK-CF400 Avalanche Expansion Pack License for the CF400 Appliance
CMP-ASWB-EPK-CF1000 Avalanche Expansion Pack License for the CF1000 Appliance

Documents & Resources