USER MANUAL

ValkyrieManager
User Manual

This is the User Manual for ValkyrieManager (i.e. 2nd Generation).

ValkyrieManager is the primary software application used to manage and
configure the Valkyrie Layer 2-3 test platform.

The application connects to one or more testers using their IP addresses, and
provides a comprehensive point-and-click user interface for configuring and
running the testers.

Note: In 2015 ValkyrieManager replaced the original XenaManager

application in Xena software releases. The differences between the two
versions are described on this page.

Last updated: 2019-08-05

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Contents
INSTALLATION.................................................................................................................................................... 4
GENERAL INFORMATION ................................................................................................................................... 4
Getting Started with ValkyrieManager.......................................................................................................... 4
Entering Values .............................................................................................................................................. 7
Chassis Management..................................................................................................................................... 8
Testbed Management ................................................................................................................................. 10
Resource Reservation .................................................................................................................................. 12
Ribbon Menus ............................................................................................................................................. 14
General Use Interface Behavior .................................................................................................................. 19
Saving And Restoring Port Configurations .................................................................................................. 21
BASIC FEATURES .............................................................................................................................................. 25
Panel Overview ............................................................................................................................................ 25
Available Resources Panel ........................................................................................................................... 26
Resource Properties (Chassis, Module, Port, Stream) ................................................................................ 28
Port Statistics ............................................................................................................................................... 29
Port And Stream Configuration Grids .......................................................................................................... 33
Global Statistics ........................................................................................................................................... 35
Port Filters ................................................................................................................................................... 40
Port Capture ................................................................................................................................................ 42
Port Histograms ........................................................................................................................................... 44
Port Gauges/Meters .................................................................................................................................... 46
Event Log ..................................................................................................................................................... 48
Communications Trace ................................................................................................................................ 50
ADVANCED FEATURES ..................................................................................................................................... 51
Chassis Time Synchronization ..................................................................................................................... 51
DHCP Client Wizard ..................................................................................................................................... 57
Replay PCAP File .......................................................................................................................................... 59
Stream Wizard ............................................................................................................................................. 60
Stream Scheduler ........................................................................................................................................ 64
Statistics Logging ......................................................................................................................................... 68
Statistics Charting ........................................................................................................................................ 72

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION............................................................................................................................ 75
Chassis Properties........................................................................................................................................ 75
Module Properties ....................................................................................................................................... 77
Basic Port Properties ................................................................................................................................... 79
40/100G Properties ..................................................................................................................................... 84
Transceiver Registers ................................................................................................................................... 87
Advanced PHY Features............................................................................................................................... 89
Stream Properties........................................................................................................................................ 95
Port Statistics Logging................................................................................................................................ 100
Chart Zoom and Pan .................................................................................................................................. 109
Extended Payload Feature......................................................................................................................... 110
Packet Header Definitions ......................................................................................................................... 112
Troubleshooting a Xena Test Application.................................................................................................. 115

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INSTALLATION
ValkyrieManager is a standard Windows application which is supported on Windows XP with Service Pack 3
and higher (Vista, Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10). It requires Microsoft .NET version 4.0.

It is installed as part of the standard Xena software release package which can be obtained here.

After installation you can find a shortcut to the application in the Start -> Programs -> Xena Network menu
and also (if you have selected this during setup) on your desktop.

GENERAL INFORMATION
GETTING STARTED WITH VALKYRIEMANAGER
This short guide will help you get started using ValkyrieManager.

Our first step will be to show you how to set up a simple bi-directional layer-2 Ethernet switching test
scenario.

Configuring Your First Testbed

A testbed is a collection of ports that you currently work with. Several ValkyrieManager panels will only
show information for ports that are in your current testbed. This includes the port and stream configuration
grid panels, and the Global Statistics panel.

1. Press the Add Chassis button located to the left in the ribbonbar at the top of the application.

2. Fill in the IP address or hostname of the chassis, optionally change the portnumber, enter the
password and click OK button. The Available Resources tree view at the left will now populate with
the modules and ports contained in the chassis.

3. A new configuration has been created automatically when you start the application for the first
time. This configuration contains a single default testbed called “Default Testbed”. You can see this
testbed at the top of the resource tree view. You can create any number of testbeds. For now we
will use the default testbed to start with.

4. You can now add ports to your testbed. This is done by clicking the checkbox in the Used column to
the right of the port name in the resource tree. Add two ports to your testbed in this way. Please
ensure that the two ports are connected through a standard layer-2 switch.

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5. If you only want to see the ports included in your testbed you can click the Show Only Used Ports
checkbox in the testbed selection part of the resource tree.

6. To quickly reserve all ports in your testbed click the Reserve Used Ports button next to the Show
Only Used Ports checkbox. Note that ports are not automatically reserved just because you have
included them in your testbed.

7. If you have a number of chassis in the testbed you can change the order in which they are displayed
with the Chassis Sort Order. You can sort by Index (the order the chassis were added), chassis
Description, chassis Name or chassis IP address

Configuring Streams
In this section we will setup a single stream on each testport in your testbed. We will set each stream to
target the other port.

• To quickly create a stream on your testport you can right-click on the port and select the Add
Stream menu item. Create a stream on both your testports in this way.
• Select the new stream on the first port and ensure that you have selected the Resource Properties
panel. The panel will now display the properties for the stream.
• Scroll down to the Packet Header Definitions section in the stream properties view. Here you will
find a Wireshark-like protocol header editor which allows you to define the protocol headers for
the stream.
• Expand the Ethernet segment to view the fields in the segment. Note that the Src MAC Address
field has been automatically set to the MAC address of the containing port.
• Expand the dropdown-box in the Named Values column for the Dst MAC Address and locate the
other port in your testbed. Note that the Raw Value column is also automatically updated with the
MAC address of the peer port.
• Perform the same operation for the second stream on the other port.

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Viewing Statistics
In this section we will show how to control traffic on your testbed as a whole and also how to monitor
traffic on all ports and streams in the testbed.

Change to the Global Statistics panel. You should now see your two testports in the testbed in a grid view.

Press the Clear Counters button in the toolbar at the top of the panel to ensure that you start with a clean
view.

Press the Start Traffic button to start traffic on all testports in your testbed. You should now see the TX and
RX traffic counters start to increment for both ports.

Press the Stop Traffic button to stop the traffic on both ports.

Note: The Global Statistics view will only show ports and streams that are used by your testbed. If you
require to briefly inspect the statistics counters for another port you can use the single-resource Port
Statistics panel which will show statistics for the currently selected port, regardless of whether it is in your
testbed or not.

ENTERING VALUES

This section explains how values are entered in the ValkyrieManager.

Editable values are initially shown with a normal black font:

When you start to edit a value the value will be shown in green color if the value you enter is valid:

If the value has a wrong syntax or it is out of range it is shown in red color:

When you click away to another field, or press the <TAB> or <ENTER> key, the value is submitted to the
Xena chassis. When validated the new value will be shown with the normal black color.

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CHASSIS MANAGEMENT

Connecting to a Chassis
Chassis definitions are contained in the overall test configuration. You can add a chassis by pressing the
Add Chassis button in the main Edit ribbon menu. You will then see the following dialog window:

1. Fill in the IP address or hostname for the chassis in the Chassis Address field.
2. Optionally change the Chassis Port Number value if you connect to the chassis through a NAT
router that changes the port number. The default port value is 22606. If you have changed the port
value and want to revert to the default value you can press the Reset to Default button.
3. Enter the assigned password for the chassis in the Chassis Password field.
4. Press the OK button.

The next time you open the Add Chassis window it will remember the last values you entered. If you have
changed the port number and need to revert to the default Xena port number just press the Reset to
Default button.

Editing the Chassis Address

If you need to modify the address or password details for a chassis you can select the chassis in the
resource tree view and press the Edit Chassis button in the ribbon menu. You will then see a window
similar to the Add Chassis window where you can change one or more of the values.

Note that the Edit Chassis button will only be enabled if you are not currently connected to the chassis (we
assume that if you are connected to the chassis you have no need for changing the defined address)

This action is also available in the right-click context menu for the chassis item in the tree view.

Reconnecting to a Chassis
If you have lost the connection to a chassis, for instance due to a local network connectivity outage, you
can manually reconnect by selecting the chassis in the resource tree view and press the Reconnect to
Chassis button in the ribbon menu.

This action is also available in the right-click context menu for the chassis item in the tree view.

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Disconnecting from a Chassis

You can forcibly disconnect from a defined chassis without removing the definition from the configuration.
This will also prevent ValkyrieManager from making any attempt to reconnect to the chassis, until you
specifically choose to reconnect to that chassis. You can use this option if you have a chassis defined in your
configuration that you know will be offline for a longer period of time.

Removing a Chassis
If you no longer need a certain chassis in your test configuration simply select the chassis and press the
Remove Chassis button in the ribbon menu.

This action is also available in the right-click context menu for the chassis item in the tree view.

Refresh Chassis
You can also refresh the chassis configuration by selecting an appropriate option in the right-click context
menu:

• Refresh Chassis: This will refresh the chassis instance configuration.

• Refresh All Chassis: This will refresh the chassis and associated resources, i.e. all modules and ports
contained in it.

Troubleshooting

If the password is lost:

The default value of the password is xena, which can be changed from the Chassis Properties panel of
ValkyrieManager.

If the password is forgotten the following method can be used to gain access to the chassis: after power-on
when the test port LEDs start flashing, for the next two minutes the chassis will accept its own serial
number (which is printed on the label at the back of the chassis) as a backup password.

If the IP address is lost:

The extension port is not used in normal operation. It serves as a backup with a known IP address
(172.16.255.200) if the address of the management port is lost.

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TESTBED MANAGEMENT
This section explains how you can manage the various testbeds in a test configuration.

A testbed is a collection of ports that you currently work with. Several ValkyrieManager panels will only
show information for ports that are in your current testbed. This includes the port and stream configuration
grid panels, and the Global Statistics panel.

Configuration Hierarchy
The top-most configuration entity you work with is the test configuration file. This file contains all
information about these items:

• Connected chassis
• Testbeds
• Currently selected testbed

All testbeds thus share the same pool of chassis (and by extension their ports).

In the first generation of the XenaManager the chassis was configured as part of the testbeds. But this has
been changed in ValkyrieManager so that chassis definitions and testbeds are defined orthogonally.

Setting the Current Testbed

You can only have one active testbed at a time. The active
testbed is selected with the Current Testbed control at the
top of the Available Resources panel.

To select a testbed as the current you can either select the

radiobutton in the Select column or you can simply
doubleclick on the testbed entry.

When you change the selected testbed the content of all the
dependent panels (see above) will also change.

Creating a Testbed
You can create a new testbed definition by clicking the Create Testbed button in the ribbon menu at the
top of the application. You will then be presented with a window where you can provide a unique name for
the new testbed and optionally also provide a longer description.

The description will be shown as a tooltip when you hover with the mouse over the testbed selector.

When you create a new testbed this will automatically be set as the currently selected testbed.

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Adding and Removing Testbed Ports

You can add a port to your currently active testbed by selecting the checkbox in the Used column next to
the port name in the Available Resources tree view. You remove a port from your testbed by deselecting
the checkbox.

You can also select multiple ports in the tree view, right-click and select the Use Ports menu item. This also
works when you want to deselect multiple ports.

You can quickly reserve all ports in your current testbed by clicking the Reserve Used Ports button just
below the testbed selector. Note that your reserved testbed ports will not be automatically released when
you change your current testbed.

Editing a Testbed
You can edit both the testbed name and the description by clicking the Edit Testbed button in the ribbon
menu.

Removing a Testbed
To remove a testbed you need to select the testbed with the testbed selector and then click the Remove
Testbed button in the ribbon menu.

You can select multiple testbeds for removal at the same time using either <Ctrl>- og <Shift>-leftclick.

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RESOURCE RESERVATION
This section explains how chassis resources are reserved.

Chassis Resources
A “chassis resource” can be either the chassis itself, a testmodule on the chassis or a testport on a module.

The Xena testers support multiple simultaneous connections from any mixture of Xena clients, such as the
ValkyrieManager, scripting clients, Valkyrie2544, etc. As soon as a client has successfully established a
connection to the chassis any chassis resource can be inspected. But in order to change the resource
configuration the resource must first be reserved by the client.

Reservation Mechanism
Only one client can reserve a particular resource at a time. The reservation will be active even if the client is
disconnected. If the client re-connects at a later time and identifies itself with the same username any such
“left-over” reservations will automatically be transferred to the new connection.

The reservation belongs to a combination of the connection ID in the chassis and the specified username.
The username is simply used as a tag for the reserved resource, and the chassis have no notion of actual
‘user accounts’. Multiple connections could use the same name, but any resource will only be reserved to
one connection at a time.

The default username for the ValkyrieManager is the Windows username for the current user. You can
change the username for ValkyrieManager in the Options menu. The username can contain up to 8
characters.

Reserving a Resource
To reserve a resource you select the
resource in the tree view and click the
button in the ribbon menu. Alternatively
you can right-click the resource and
select the equivalent menu item. To
reserve a resource you select the
resource in the tree view and click the
button in the ribbon menu.

Alternatively you can right-click the

resource and select the equivalent menu
item.To reserve a resource you select
the resource in the Available Resources
tree view and click the Reserve Resource
button in the ribbon menu. Alternatively
you can right-click the resource and select the equivalent menu item.

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Once you have reserved the resource all configuration options for that resource will now be enabled.

You can quickly reserve all ports in your current testbed by pressing the Reserve Used Ports button located
just below the testbed selector.

Releasing a Resource
To release any resource reserved by yourself you select the resource in the tree view and click the Release
Resource button in the ribbon menu.

Relinquish Resource

To forcibly take away a resource from another user you can select the Relinquish Resource option instead.
You will be prompted to confirm this action before it is executed.

Before relinquishing resources reserved by another user it may be a good idea to check if that user has an
active connection on the chassis. Otherwise you may quickly get rather unpopular among your co-workers.

You can check the active connections on a chassis by selecting the chassis in the Available Resources tree
view and activating the Resource Properties tab. The active connection are listed at the bottom of chassis
properties panel.

Handling Multiple Resources

It is possible to operate on multiple resources in the tree view using the standard Windows [Shift-Click] or
[Ctrl-Click] mouse operations.

Reservation Hierarchy
Reservations are hierarchical exclusive which means that if user Albert has reserved a given testmodule
then user Bertha will be prevented from reserving any port on that module. The same applies to chassis
reservations. However user Albert does not reserve the ports on the testmodule by reserving the
testmodule itself.

In general you do not need to reserve modules and chassis to perform normal traffic generation operations.
You should only reserve ports. Reserving modules and chassis are only necessary when performing system
maintenance, software upgrades or changing the port types on certain modules.

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RIBBON MENUS
This chapter describes the ribbon menus and other application-level menus for the ValkyrieManager
application. The ValkyrieManager features a modern ribbon menu similar to applications like Microsoft
Word. Each of the submenu items are explained below.

Edit Menu
This menu contains the main simple editing functions. Each function is context sensitive and is only enabled
when a suitable selection of resources is selected in the Available Resources tree view.

Each function is explained in another section of this manual and will not be explained further on this
section.

Operations Menu
This menu contains functions that can perform more complex operations on one or more resources.

Release All My Resources

This command will release all resources (chassis, modules and ports) that has been reserved by
you. You can use this to clean up your reservations if you have many chassis, modules and/or ports
and do not want to traverse through the Available Resources tree view to manually release
everything you may have reserved.

Reset Used Ports

This command will reset all used test bed ports, reserved by you, to default.

Relinguish Chassis Resources

This command will relinquish all resources on selected chassis reserved by anyone.

Import XM-1G Testbed

Using this option you can import a legacy XenaManager testbed definition. Simply click the button
and select the testbed file you have previously exported from the legacy XenaManager. A new
ValkyrieManager testbed will be created with the definitions from the legacy definition.

Load Test Case

Enables you to load settings from a ValkyrieManager testcase file.

Save Test Case

Enables you to save the complete port configurations for all ports in your current testbed.

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Import XI LogCfg

Refer to this page for further information.

Pair Streams

This operation work on two streams defined on different ports. It requires that you select the two
streams in the Available Resources tree view.

When invoked it will ensure that certain fields in the defined packet headers for each of the two
streams point to the other stream.

• Ethernet segment: The DMAC Address field will be set to the MAC address of the peer port.
• IPv4/IPv6 segment: The Dest. IP Address field will be set to the defined IP address for the
peer port.

This should ensure that when the traffic is started the traffic on a port actually reaches the other
port. For IP traffic you may have to resolve the IP gateway MAC address using ARP if the two ports
are located on different IP subnetworks.

Preview Port Traffic

This operation will enable you to preview the actual packets sent on a port before starting a test.
The function require that you select a port stream in the Available Resources tree view.

When invoked the operation will perform the following actions:

• Stop traffic on the port if it is currently active
• Set the port in Tx(off)-to-Rx loopback mode.
• Setup and start capture on the port itself
• Start traffic on the port
• Let the traffic run until the capture buffer runs full. The traffic will also be stopped after 10
seconds if the buffer is still not full.
• Collect the captured packets and save them to a temporary file.
• Restore the saved port and stream settings.
• If Wireshark is installed it will be launched to view the captured packets. Otherwise you will
have to use the Capture panel to inspect the packets.

Preview Stream

This operation will enable you to preview the actual packets sent on a stream before starting a test.
This is especially useful if you have defined one or more modifiers on the stream and wants to
ensure that the result looks correct.

The function require that you select a single stream in the Available Resources tree view.

When invoked the operation will perform the following actions:

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• Stop traffic on the port if it is currently active

• Disable all other streams on the port after saving their initial state
• Set the port in Tx(off)-to-Rx loopback mode.
• Setup and start capture on the port itself
• Start traffic on the port
• Let the traffic run until the capture buffer runs full. The traffic will also be stopped after 10
seconds if the buffer is still not full.
• Collect the captured packets and save them to a temporary file.
• Restore the saved port and stream settings.
• If Wireshark is installed it will be launched to view the captured packets. Otherwise you will
have to use the Capture panel to inspect the packets.

View Menu
This menu contains functions that affect the visual appearance of the application.

Panel Layout

Checking the Freeze Layout checkbox disables the ability to show or hide panels and to drag panels
to other docking positions or to make them float-able. You can use this to protect yourself against
unintended changes.

Pressing the Set Panel Visibility button will open a dialog that allows you to control the visibility for each of
the function panel tabs available in the application. You can also hide any of the panels by selecting it and
then clicking the little “X” to the right of the tab panel header as shown in the adjacent example. To bring
the panel back you can use the above mentioned dialog and click the checkbox next to the name of the
hidden panel.

When you make changes to the layout the new layout will be restored when you startup the application
again. The Reset Layout to Default button will delete the saved layout. The next time you start the
application the original layout will thus be restored.

Resource Labels

If you check the Stream Descr As Label option the stream description label will be used to name
the stream entries in the resource tree view instead of using the default “module/port number”
identification.

Debug settings

This section contains settings intended for advanced users. The Show SW Upgrade Controls will
unlock the manual software upgrade control in the chassis and module properties. This is as
indicated only recommended for advanced users who fully understand what they are doing.

Options Menu
This menu contains various functions that affect the behavior of the application.

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Set Username

The default username for the application is your Windows username. You can change this with this
function.

Open Last Configuration as Start

If this option is checked the configuration file that was active when you closed down the
application the last time will automatically be re-opened on the next application start.

Ask Before Relinquishing Ports

If this option is checked you will be asked to confirm if you really want to relinquish ports reserved
by other users. This is also the recommended setting.

Sync Start in Global Stats

If this option is checked the Start button in the Global Statistics panel will use a synchronized port
start mechanism for the ports if the chassis firmware version supports this feature.

TX Zero CheckTime
This property defines the number of seconds with no traffic on ports after you pressed Start traffic,
before traffic on ports is stopped. Select 0 to disable this function.

Decode Xena TPLD

When this box is checked the ValkyrieManager capture function will attempt to decode and show
the Xena TPLD in captured packets

Save Ethernet FCS

When this box is checked the ValkyrieManager capture function will save Ethernet FCS when
generating PCAP files.

Save Selected Sort Order

Saves the Chassis Sort Order defined for the Available Resources tree. The saved Selected Sort
Order will be used when the ValkyrieManager is re-launched.

Rearrange Chassis Tree Info

When this box is checked the chassis information in the Available Resources tree will be shown,
starting with the selected Chassis Sort Order criteria.

Tools Menu
This menu contains various shortcuts to other tools.

Xena Test Applications

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This section will show an icon for each of the other Xena test applications installed together with
the ValkyrieManager, such as Valkyrie2544, Valkyrie1564, etc. You can launch each of these
application by pressing the icon button.

Support

If you click the Generate Support Archive button the application will create a compressed ZIP
archive containing both the currently loaded configuration file and the content of the Logs and
Settings directories. This file can then be emailed to your support representative. See more details
on the troubleshooting page.

Clicking the Explore Xena Data Directory will open a Windows Explorer in the data directory for the
ValkyrieManager. Here you can find configuration and settings files, log files and any support
archive files you may have created.

Minimizing the Ribbon

The ribbon menu will by default be shown fully expanded. In order to free up screen space you can
minimize it by clicking the arrow next to the Help icon in the menu title line as shown below to the left. You
can also use the little arrow in the Quick Menu strip as shown below to the right.

Additional Features
Application Menu

The application menu can be accessed by clicking the ValkyrieManager icon in the top left corner as
shown below.

Using the functions in the

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Configurations section you can either create a new test configuration, load an existing configuration from
file, or save the current configuration.

The Recent Configurations section in the middle allow you to load any recently loaded or saved
configurations.

Quick Menu Toolbar

The Quick Menu toolbar at the top of the application provides easy shortcuts to the most used application-
level commands.

GENERAL USE INTERFACE BEHAVIOR

This section describes the general layout and intended usage of the user interface elements in the
ValkyrieManager application.

Docking Panels
The ValkyrieManager uses a so-called docking panel framework where each panel can be docked in various
positions. The user can thus customize the layout of the application to some extent.

Docking Positions
Any panel can be docked in several positions. The image below show the three standard positions:

1. Left,
2. Document Center
3. Bottom.

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It is also possible to dock a panel in these positions:

• Right (creating a sidebar similar to the Left position)

• Top (above the Document Center tab)

Docking Panels
To move a panel to a new docking position perform the following actions:

• Grab the tab header with the mouse and drag it to release it from the present location.
• You will now see a “compass rose” with arrows in all four directions, as shown below.
• Hover the mouse over the arrow that represent the position where you want the panel to go and
release the mouse.
• You can also hover over the center in the “compass rose” in which case you will target the
“Document Center” position.

Positioning Panel
You can change the relative position of a panel by grabbing the panel header with the mouse and drag it
left or right within the position tab it is currently located in.

Floating Panels
You can also choose to let a panel float outside the docking framework. Just drag it from the current
position and release it where you want it to be located.

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Hiding Panels
You can control the visibility of the panel as described on this page.

Restoring Default Layout

If your layout gets messed up you can easily revert to the default layout via the View menu and clicking the
Reset Layout to Default button.

SAVING AND RESTORING PORT CONFIGURATIONS

The actual configuration of the testmodules, testports, streams, etc. are not saved as part of the testbed
configuration as this type of configuration generally resides on the testchassis themselves. This has the
advantage that the configuration is then available to all connected users.

The port and module configuration in the test chassis are however not persistent so if you want to
preserve these configuration settings you will have to manually save them to one or more local files on
your PC.

Working With Single Ports

Saving Port Configurations

You can save all configuration parameters

for a port to a single file thus enabling you
to restore them at a later stage. This
includes all port-level parameters such as
filters, histograms and capture setup and
also all stream and modifier configuration
for that port.

To save the configuration for a port you

simply right-click on the port and select
Save Port Configuration as shown in the
image. You will then be asked for a
filename and location for the
configuration file.

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You can also select multiple ports and save their configurations in a single operation.

The port configuration will be saved to a file with extension *.xpc (Xena Port Configuration). Each
*.xpc file will only contain the configuration for a single port. So if you select multiple ports you will
get one configuration file for each port.

If you want to save multiple port configurations to a single file please refer to the following section
regarding testbed configurations.

Note that you do not have to reserve the port in order to save its configuration.

Restoring Port Configurations

You can subsequently restore a port configuration from a saved configuration file. This means that
all existing configuration on that port will be replaced with the saved configuration.

To restore a port configuration for a port you simply right-click on the port and select Restore Port
Configuration. You will then be asked for a filename and location for the configuration file.

You can also select multiple ports and select to restore their configuration form a single file. Please
see the next section for information about issues when restoring a configuration to another port
than it was saved from.

Note that you will have to reserve the port in order to restore its configuration.

Moving a Port Configuration

It is possible to load a port configuration on a different port than the one it was saved from.

If the port type of the new port is the same as the original port the operation is generally trivial. If
the two ports are different certain port parameters may fail to load on the new port but this will
not prevent the remaining parameters to load. The ValkyrieManager will inform you about any
failing parameters.

MAC and IP Address Issues

The port MAC address and IPv4/IPv6 addresses are all saved as part of the port configuration. So if
you load a port configuration from a different port you will thus also assign the MAC and IP
addresses of the old port to the new port. Usually this is not what you want so the ValkyrieManager
will warn you about this and ask you what you want to do. You will then be given the option to
preserve the original addresses of the new port.

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TID Issues

The various streams created on a port is also saved in the port configuration. This also includes the
Test ID (TID) integer value for each stream. In most test scenarios it is important to have a unique
TID value for each stream, at least inside a single testbed. Otherwise you will not be able to
determine the source stream of a packet when it is received on a port.

If you load a port configuration from a different port then all streams from the original port will
thus be recreated on the new port including the TID value assigned to the original streams. This
may not be what you want so the ValkyrieManager will ask you how you want to handle this. You
will be given the option to either use the original value or to assign a new unique value to the new
streams.

IP Address Issues

If the streams defined in the port configuration contain an IP protocol segment the Source IP
Address field in the protocol header will usually be set to the assigned port IP address. The
ValkyrieManager will ask you if you want to modify the protocol header fields to indicate the IP
address of the new port or if you want to retain the original protocol header value.

Working With Testmodules

From Xena software release 65 it is also possible to save and load test module configurations. This can be
useful if the test module configuration affects the test port type and number (as it does for the 100G test
modules) or if you are using the External Clock Sync function to synchronize the date and time across
several test chassis.

The module configuration will be saved to a file with extension *.xmc (Xena Module Configuration). The
operations are similar to the saving and loading of port configurations as described above.

Working With Testbeds

In the previous section we described how to save and restore individual port and module configurations. In
this section we will describe how you can save a number of configurations to a single file. This file is called a
testcase file and will have either extension *.xtc (old legacy format) or extension *.xtc2 (new format).

This function works in the context of a testbed, i.e. it works for the ports that are included in the testbed
plus the parent testmodules for those ports.

Saving Testbed Configurations

You can save the configuration for all the ports in your testbed by using the Save Testcase menu
item in the Operations menu.

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You will then be asked to enter a filename for the saved configuration. The default name will be the
testbed name.

You can then select the format version for the saved configuration file. You can choose between
these options:

• New format version (*.xtc2) which also support saving of the parent module configurations.
• Old (v1) format (*.xtc) which only support saving the port configurations.

If you choose the new format version you will be asked if you also want to save the parent module
configurations in the testcase. You should choose this if your port configuration requires a certain
module configuration.

Restoring Testbed Configurations

You can restore a full testbed configuration by using the Load Testcase menu item in the Operations menu.

Note that the restore operation expects that all chassis, modules and ports which was involved in the
original configuration save operation are still present. You cannot restore a testbed to a different set of
chassis, module and/or ports.

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BASIC FEATURES
PANEL OVERVIEW
This section contains a brief description of the various panels in the ValkyrieManager application.

General Purpose Panels

Start

This panel is the default visible panel when you start the ValkyrieManager for the first time. It
contains a short Getting Started guide for the application. You can close this panel once you don’t
feel you need it anymore.

Available Resources

This panel displays the resources (modules, ports and streams) for all configured chassis in your
current configuration.

Communication Trace

This panel displays the raw detailed realtime communication with the chassis. It is mainly used for
debugging the communication in case of problems but it can also be used as a help for users who
wants to write automation scripts.

Selected Resource Panels

Resource Properties

This panel will enable you to view and modify properties for the resource currently selected in the
Available Resources tree view (chassis, module, port or stream).

Port Statistics

This panel will display statistics counters for the port currently selected in the Available Resources
tree view, including statistics for all streams on that port.

Filters

This panel will enable you to configure filters for the port currently selected in the Available
Resources tree view.

Capture

This panel will enable you to configure capture settings for the port currently selected in the
Available Resources tree view.

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Histograms

This panel will enable you to configure histograms for the port currently selected in the Available
Resources tree view.

Testbed-Centric Panels
Port Configuration Grid

This panel will enable you to view and modify properties for all ports in your testbed.

Stream Configuration Grid

This panel will enable you to view and modify properties for the streams configured on all ports in
your testbed.

Global Statistics

This panel will display statistics counters for all ports in your testbed and also for all streams on
those ports.

Statistics Counter Charting

This panel will enable you to plot various statistics counters for selected streams.

Statistics Logging

This panel enables you to enable periodic logging of counters form your testbed ports.

Event Log

This panel enables you to monitor logged events for the test ports.

AVAILABLE RESOURCES PANEL

Testbed Selector
The testbed selector is located at the top of the panel.
This functionality is explained in more detail in this
section.

Resource Tree View

All available chassis resources are shown in the
hierarchical tree view below the testbed selector. Each
connected chassis is shown at the top-level with their
contained resources below. The content of certain of the
other panels depend on the selection state of the
Available Resources panel.

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Toolbar Options
The toolbar at the top of the tree view provides quick options for viewing and reserving the resources.

Show Only Used Ports

Toggles between showing all available resources on all connected chassis or only the ports that you
have chosen to include in your testbed.

Reserve Used Ports

Reserve all ports that you have included in your current testbed.

Release All My Resources

Releases all resources (chassis, modules and ports) that you may have reserved. This option may
only be visible when you click the small down-arrow at the right of the toolbar.

Tree View Columns

The tree view contains the following columns:

Column Explanation

Name The unique name of the resource

Used Indicates whether the resource is used by the current testbed. This column is only
valid for testports.

(unnamed) Contains icons representing the current sync (green: SYNC, red: NO SYNC) and
traffic state (grey: traffic OFF, yellow: traffic ON) for a testport.

Owner Username of the current owner of the resource, i.e. the user who has currently
reserved the resource.

Multiple Selections
It is possible to operate on multiple resources in the tree view using the standard Windows [Shift-Click] or
[Ctrl-Click] mouse operations.

Right-click Options
Each resource in the tree view supports a right-click menu, which contains various actions which are valid
for the current resource state and type.

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RESOURCE PROPERTIES (CHASSIS, MODULE, PORT, STREAM)

This section describes the common ValkyrieManager Resource Properties.

Viewing Resource Properties

The Resource Properties section provides a detailed view of all properties for a specific resource (chassis,
module, port or stream). To view the properties for a given resource you must select the resource in the
Available Resorces tree view.

The properties are grouped together according to their functional area relation.

The page can display properties for a single resource at a time. If you want to view multiple ports or
streams at the same time please refer to the Port Grid or the Stream Grid sections.

Editing Properties
In order to change properties for a resource you need to reserve the resource first.

Note that certain properties may be disabled depending on the state of the resource. Most port and stream
properties will for instance be disabled when traffic is active on the port.

Property Tooltip
Each property edit control is prefixed with a descriptive label. If you hover the mouse over the label an
even more descriptive tooltip will be displayed.

If the property only accepts values from a specific value range the tooltip will also show this information.

Type-Specific Properties
Please find detailed property descriptions for the specific resource types in the appendix.

• Chassis Properties
• Module Properties

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• Port Properties
• Basic Port Properties
• 40/100G Properties
• Transceiver Registers
• Advanced PHY Features
• Stream Properties

PORT STATISTICS

This section describes the ValkyrieManager port statistics page. The page displays statistics information for
the currently selected port and all streams defined on that port.

The page will only display data for a single port at a time. If you want to monitor statistics data for multiple
ports at a time please refer to the Global Statistics section.

Port Transmit Statistics

This area contains statistics for all data transmitted by the port.

Commands in TX Toolbar

The area contains a toolbar with the following commands:

Command Explanation

Clear TX
Clear the current TX statistics counters for this port.
Counters

If checked the TX statistics counters for this port will be affected

(checkbox) when the Clear Statistics command is executed in the Global
Statistics panel.

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Set the font color of the current counter values to gray. Any counter
Mark value that changes afterwards will revert to blue. This makes it easy
to check if a value changes over time.

Save Allow you to save the current counters to a CSV text file.

Main Transmit Statistics

Statistics Type Explanation

This row show statistics counters for all traffic transmitted on the port
Total Traffic
regardless of type. This is the sum of the traffic sent without test
for Port
payload and the traffic sent for each active stream.

Without Test This row show statistics counters for the part of the transmitted traffic
Payload that is sent without test payload.

This branch contains a row for each stream currently active on the
Stream Traffic
port.

Error Injection

This section show the number of errors manually injected by the user for each possible error type.

Miscellaneous Control

This section show the number of transmitted ARP/NDP and PING requests and replies, MAC
training packets and IGMP Joins.

Rort Receive Statistics

This area contains statistics for all data received by the port.

Commands in RX Toolbar

The area contains a toolbar with the following commands:

Command Explanation

Clear RX
Clear the current RX statistics counters for this port.
Counters

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If checked the RX statistics counters for this port will be affected

(checkbox) when the Clear Statistics command is executed in the Global
Statistics panel.

Set the font color of the current counter values to gray. Any
Mark counter value that changes afterwards will revert to blue. This
makes it easy to check if a value changes over time.

Save Allow you to save the current counters to a CSV text file.

Calibrate When pressed the current average latency value will be saved as
Latency the calibrated latency offset.

Normally a port is only polled for statistics counters when it is

visible in a statistics panel, such as this panel or the Global
Poll Always Statistics panel. But if you want the port to be polled always you
can check this box. This function can be useful if you want to
monitor the state of the port over a long period of time.

Main Receive Statistics

Statistics Type Explanation

This row show statistics counters for all traffic received on the
Total Traffic
port regardless of type. This is the sum of the traffic received
for Port
without test payload and the traffic received for each TID.

Without Test This row show statistics counters for the part of the received
Payload traffic that is sent without test payload.

Filter Traffic This branch contains a row for each active filter on the port.

Test Payload
This branch contains a row for each TID received on the port.
Traffic

Test Payload Specific Counters

A number of sections show counters received for each TID:

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Counter Type Explanation

Test Payload This section contain a row for the payload errors received for
Errors each TID on the port.

Test Payload This section contain a row for the payload latency measured for
Latency each TID on the port.

Test Payload This section contain a row for the payload jitter measured for
Jitter each TID on the port.

Misc. Counters

This section show statistics for various other counter types.

Counter Type Explanation

Arp Req. Received ARP/NDP requests

Arp Repl. Received ARP/NDP replies

Ping Req. Received PING requests

Ping Repl. Received PING replies

FCS Errors Received packets with FCS errors

PAUSE Received PAUSE frames

Gap Count Number of gap counts detected

Gap Dur. Current detected gap duration

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PORT AND STREAM CONFIGURATION GRIDS

This section explains how to use the port and stream configuration grids.

Overview
The port and stream configuration grid pages are somewhat similar in their function and they are thus
described together in this section.

Port Configuration Grid

The Port Configuration Grid show all ports currently in your testbed. It does not show any other
ports, not even if they have been reserved by you.

For a more detailed description of each port property please refer to the Port Properties page.

Stream Configuration Grid

The Stream Configuration Grid show all streams for ports that meet the Stream Source selection
criteria. It does not show streams for any other ports, not even if they have been reserved by you.

The default criteria is All Ports In Testbed which is the same criteria as is used for the Port
Configuration Grid. You can however change the criteria using the dropdown box in the local
toolbar to Currently Selected Port(s). This will only show streams for the ports you have selected in
the Available Resources tree view.

For a more detailed description of each stream property please refer to the Stream Properties
page.

Accessing the Packet Header Editor

It would be unrealistic to display all possible protocol segment fields in the grid. We have chosen to
display a few commonly used fields. For the rest you can access the Packet Header Editor
described on this page by clicking on the “plus” sign at the start of the row. The Packet Header
Editor will then expand below the grid rows as shown in the image below.

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Common operations
Column Filtering

Each grid contains a lot of columns which may slow down the loading of the grid and/or may
“overload” your visibility. This section explains how you can limit the number of displayed columns
and select which columns you want to be shown.

Show Read-Only Columns

The toolbar contains a checkbox which toggles the visibility of the read-only columns. This
is useful if you only want to show columns that actually allow you to configure something.

Set Column Filters

If you want more control over the displayed columns you can press the Set Column Filters
button in the toolbar. This will allow you to filter the columns either based on their group
or individually. The filter selections will be remembered the next time you start up the
ValkyrieManager.

Frozen Columns

The first set of columns that uniquely identifies the entity in each row will be “frozen” which means
that they will not scroll out of view even if you scroll the columns all the way to the right.

Right-click Operations

Each cell in the grid may support one or more of the right-click actions described below.

Use Value for All

If this action is selected the value for this cell will be used for all the other rows.

Use Value for All w.Increment

If this action is selected the value for this cell will be used as a template value for all the
other rows, but it will be incremented for each row. The increment will be performed
based on the value type. A rate value of e.g. 11.4 will be incremented to 12.4. An IP address
of 10.0.0.4 will be incremented to 10.0.0.5.

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GLOBAL STATISTICS
This section describes the ValkyrieManager Global Statistics panel.

Overview
The Global Statistics panel show all ports and streams currently in your testbed. It does not show any other
ports (or streams on these ports), not even if they have been reserved by you.

Statistics Tabs
The panel is divided into two tabs. The first tab show testbed-global Port Statistics and the other show
testbed-global Stream Statistics.

Port Statistics

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Stream Statistics

Common Toolbar Functions

The two statistics tabs share a common toolbar with the following functions:

Function Explanation

Start traffic on all ports in your testbed. Ports that are already transmitting are not
affected.

Start Traffic

This command may also affect any capture and histograms defined for the ports if
you have enabled it.

Stop traffic on all ports in your testbed. Ports that are not transmitting are not
affected.

Stop Traffic

This command may also affect any capture and histograms defined for the ports if
you have enabled it.

Show the amount of time that has elapsed since you performed a Start Traffic
Running
command in this panel. If an individual port had been started before this point in
Time
time this is not reflected in the Running Time value.

Allow you to specify a time limit for the port transmission. When the Running
Stop At
Time exceeds this value the port traffic will be automatically stopped.

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Errors Display the total number of errors on all ports in your testbed.

Clear
Clear the current statistics counters for all streams on all ports.
Counters

Set the font color of the current counter values to gray. Any counter value that
Mark changes afterwards will revert to blue. This makes it easy to check if a value
changes over time.

Save Allow you to save the current counters to a CSV text file.

Common Column Header Functions

The two statistics tabs also share a common functionality w.r.t. the grid column headers.

You can reorder the columns in the grid by dragging a column header to a new location. The new
order will be remembered the next time you start ValkyrieManager.

The following options are available when right-clicking on the grid column headers:

Function Explanation

Hide the selected column from view. This selection will be remembered
Hide Column:
the next time you start ValkyrieManager.

Resets any custom column order you may have configured to the default
Reset Column Order:
order.

View All Columns: Show all columns you may have hidden previously.

Port Statistics

The Port Statistics tab show statistics counters for all ports in your testbed. In general each port is
represented by a single row which contain both Tx and Rx counters for that port.

Port Summary

The Port Summary section provides a brief overview of the main port state properties for the
testbed ports.

Traffic Statistics Counters

The available statistics counters for each port are the same as for the individual port statistics page
described here.

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Stream Statistics

The Stream Statistics tab show statistics counters for all streams on all ports in your testbed. Each
counter type is explained in the individual port statistics page described here.

TID Matching

The counters are shown in a grid view where each row represent both ends of a stream. The
stream “ends” are matched together using the Test Payload ID (TID) which is configured on the
stream at the transmit end and transferred to the received end within the Xena test payload inside
each packet.

To enable an accurate matching of Tx and Rx stream ends it is imperative that the used TID values
are unique within the testbed. Otherwise it will be impossible to determine which stream on which
port was the sender of a given packet.

Aggregated Stream Statistics

This section show the aggregated counter values for all streams in the view.

Stream Traffic Statistics

This section show the main stream traffic counters for each stream.

Each row in the grid represents a test-stream end-to-end. The stream entity is identified by the TID
value. The Tx counter values are read from the transmitting port and the Rx counter values are read
form the receiving port.

TID Conflicts

If two or more streams in your testbed use the same TID value the Stream Statistics grid will not be
able to accurately determine where the various TID contributions originate from on the receiving
side. The grid will show this situation as a single parent row representing all receive-side
contributions from the given TID value. The transmit-side contributions will be shown as N/A.The
source port will be shown as Multiple (see example below).

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Each transmit-side contribution will be listed as a child row. You can expand the child rows by
clicking the expander icon to the left of the row.

Stream Errors

The Stream Errors section show the errors detected for each end-to-end stream entity. The
mechanism for showing TID conflicts explained above is also used here.

The following error counters are shown:

The difference between the sent packets for the stream on the transmitting port and
the received packets on the matching TID entry on the receiving port.
(TX-RX)
This value is not accurate while the traffic is running as it is not possible to accurately
read TX and RX counters on different ports at the exact same time. So this value is
only shown when traffic is stopped.

The calculated loss based on the embedded sequence number in the test payload
section in the received packets.

Lost Packets This value is somewhat accurate while the traffic is running. It is especially good at
detecting on-going loss. But it cannot detect lost packets at the very start or at the
very end of the packet stream since the receiver cannot know how many packets was
sent before the first packet it receives or how many packets are actually lost after the
last packet it receives.

The number of misordered packets detected, i.e. packets arriving out of sequence
Misordered compared to the embedded sequence number in the test payload section. The same
uncertainly regarding packets at the very start or at the very end explained above
applies here as well.

The number of packets received that failed the test payload integrity check. These
Payload
packets are not counted as lost or misordered as they strictly speaking are valid
Errors
Ethernet packets. But their presence indicates that the DUT/SUT changed something
in the payload section which caused the payload integrity check to fail.

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This value is an estimated bit error rate (BER) measured over the timespan since the
traffic counters was last cleared.

The BER value provided is estimated based on the assumption that 1 errored packet
Bit Error equals 1 bit error. If more than one bit error occurred in one errorred packet this will
Rate not be detected by the Xena tester. Based on this assumption the estimated BER is
calculated as follows by the ValkyrieManager:

sumErrors = lostPackets + misorderPackets

BER = 1.0 / (8.0 * rxBytes / sumErrors)

Latency and Jitter

The Latency and Jitter section show the latency and jitter values calculated for each end-to-end
stream entity. The mechanism for showing TID conflicts explained above is also used here.

PORT FILTERS
This section describes the ValkyrieManager Filters panel. The panel allows you to configure the filters for
the currently selected port.

Overview
Every port has a filter mechanism for inspecting all the received packets and recognizing particular patterns
within the packets. Filters are defined under their own “Filters” panel in the content area of the
ValkyrieManager. Filters are independent of the test payloads and provide an alternative method for
analyzing the train of received packets.

Filters are logical conditional expressions on a number of basic true-or-false terms, which can be of two
types: match terms and length terms.

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• Match terms look for a particular pattern of bits at a particular position within each packet.
• Length terms look for packets that are longer or shorter than a particular size.
• A number of these two terms can then be combined into a single filter condition.

Filter Details
Match Terms

As stated above match terms look for a particular pattern of bits at a particular position within each
packet. Like a modifier, a match term will typically correspond to a particular protocol field.

And like a modifier you can select the protocol field where you want to position the filter. However,
since a filter is not related to any stream definition you need to manually click the “Add” button to
build the needed protocol segments.

Match terms also consist of a filter mask and a filter value. The mask indicates which part of the
value you want to match on. The filter value is the actual value you want to match on.

A match term is identified with the code “M<index>” where <index> is a non-negative integer
identifying the match term.

Length Terms

As stated above length terms look for packets that are longer or shorter than a particular size. If
you want to look for packets that fit within a certain range you will need to define two length terms;
one that looks for packets larger than or equal to the minimum size (At Least) and one that looks
for packets smaller than or equal to the maximum size (At Most).

A length term is identified with the code “L<index>” where <index> is a non-negative integer
identifying the length term.

Filter Condition

Each filter consist mainly of a filter condition that combines one or more match terms and one or
more length terms. The filter condition is built using a boolean expression using the match and
length term identifiers names. The condition can use the usual Boolean operators &, |, and ~. The |
operator has the lowest precedence.

Example: M0 & L0 & ~M1 (means “match M0 but not M1 and also fulfill L0”)

Using Filters

Filters can be used in different ways: the port will accumulate separate statistics for packets
satisfying the filter condition, the capture mechanism can use the filters as start/stop/keep criteria,
and likewise for the histogram mechanism.

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PORT CAPTURE
This section describes the ValkyrieManager Capture panel. The panel allow you to configure the capture
settings for the currently selected port and to inspect the result of the capture.

Overview
All packets arriving at a port are counted and analyzed if they contain test payloads. In addition, selected
packets can be retained (captured) for closer inspection using the capture mechanism.

Configuration
Start Trigger
The Start Trigger control when the capture function actually begins to collect packets in the capture
buffer. The default behavior is to begin collection when capture is started (aka. the From ON
option). Other options include:
• From FCS Error: Begin collection when the first FCS error in a received packet is detected.
• From Filter: Begin collection when the first packet that matches the specified filter is
received.
• From Payload Error: Begin collection when the first payload error in a received packet is
detected.
Stop Trigger
The Stop Trigger can be used to control when the capture function stops collecting packets. When
using a start trigger, capturing is automatically stopped if the internal capture buffer runs full.
When using only a stop trigger, the hardware capture buffer retains as many packets as possible up
until the stop trigger event.
The Stop Trigger options are identical to the Start Trigger options.

Packets To Keep
This option control what type of packets to keep. This may help you make the most of the limited

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capture buffer.

How Much To Keep

This option how much of the captured packets to keep. Using this option will increase the number
of packets you can keep in the internal capture buffer. The ValkyrieManager will always report the
total length of the packet even if it has been truncated due to this option.

Starting Capture
You can manually start capture on a port by pressing the Start Capture button at the top of the
panel. If the checkbox next to the button is checked the Global Statistics Start Traffic button will
also start capture of the ports in your testbed.

Capture Results
The captured packets will be uploaded from the chassis while capture is ongoing. You can thus
inspect them both when the capture is still in progress and when the capture operation has
completed.

Results Grid
Each captured packet will be displayed as a row in the Result Grid. The following values are
reported for each packet:
• Timestamp: The timestamp for when the packet was received relative to capture start.
• Latency: The latency value calculated from the Xena test payload data (not valid for other
types of packets)
• IFG: The Inter-Frame Gap compared to the previous packet.
• Source: The SMAC address from the packet.
• Destination: The DMAC address from the packet.
• Protocol: A summary of the decoded packet headers in the packet.
• Full Length: The original length of the captured packet before any optional truncation due
to the How Much To Keep option has been performed.
• Captured Length: The actual length of the captured packet after optional truncation.
If you select a packet in the grid a Wireshark-like packet header view will be displayed below the
grid where the packet content can be inspected.

Capture Graph
The ValkyrieManager also provides a graphical histogram view of the length or spacing of the
captured packets, as well as the latencies.

Saving or Exporting Capture Data

By using the Save Packets button you can save the captured packets to a PCAP or a PCAP-NG (PCAP
Next Generation) file.

You can also launch Wireshark directly with the captured packets as an argument by pressing the
Launch Wireshark button. This obviously require that Wireshark has been installed on your PC.

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PORT HISTOGRAMS
This section describes the ValkyrieManager Histogram panel. The panel allow you to configure the
histogram settings for the currently selected port and to inspect the result of the histograms data
collection.

Overview
Histograms analyze a stream of packets, either at the transmit side or the receive side of a port, and classify
them into a number of buckets, counting how many packets go into each bucket.
A histogram is configured with a fixed number of buckets and a value range. The first and last bucket
handles all the packets that don’t fit within the specified range. All the other buckets each handle a sub-
span of the range, determined by the histogram configuration.
Histograms complement the statistics counters function, which just provide aggregate counts, and the
capturing function, which provides per-packet information.

Configuration
You can create up to two histograms per port. Usually a single histogram will be sufficient for most uses.
You can add a new histogram by pressing the Add Histogram button in the toolbar. To delete a histogram
you should select the histogram and press the Remove Histogram button in the toolbar.

Each histogram is listed as a row in the configuration gridview and has the following configuration
properties:

• State: Indicates whether the histogram is currently activated or not.

• Control: Allow you to control the activation state of the histogram.
• Global?: Allow histogram control from Global Statistics view.
• Source Type: Determines what type of metric is used as the source for the histogram.
• Which Packets: Control which type of packets are used for the histogram.
• TID: If the Which Packets property is set to Test Payload this field should contain the Test Payload ID
(TID).
• Filter: If the Which Packets property is set to Filter you should select the filter you want to use here.
• Start: The lowest value in the valid range. Any value lower than this will be placed in the first bucket.
• Step: The span of each bucket.

Histogram Results
Viewing Charts
Once a histogram is active you can view the realtime chart of the collected data by selecting the
histogram row. When a histogram is activated all the buckets are empty. As packets are
encountered (according to the source) their data is registered and placed in the correct bucket

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according to the range specification. You can see this progress in the chart.

Hovering the mouse over a particular vertical bar pops up a little window with the information
about that bucket as shown in the image below. The Accumulated value indicates the sum of the
values up to and including the value in focus.

You can temporarily freeze the chart update by pressing the Freeze Chart button. No data will be
lost and when you unfreeze the chart it will be updated with all the samples that was collected in
the background.

You can use the chart scrollbars to zoom and pan the results as described here.

Saving Results
The bucket counts can also be saved to a CSV textfile file for more detailed analysis by pressing the Save
Data button.

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PORT GAUGES/METERS
This section describes the ValkyrieManager Gauge/Meter window. The window allows you to display the
layer 2 traffic for a port or a stream in a Gauge (or Meter).

Overview
Gauges display the current layer 2 traffic in bit/s for a port or a stream for a quick visual overview of one or
more traffic results. The gauge transforms the layer 2 traffic into the visual representation of the gauge and
will display the numerical value in the same window. The gauge auto scales to the bit rate of the port
carrying the monitored traffic.

Configuration
You can activate gauges when traffic is running. To activate a gauge for a port or a stream, right-click on the
port or stream in the Available Resources tree in the left side of the ValkyrieManager. You now get a menu
with options for the port/stream, including Add Gauge. When you click Add Gauge, the Gauge window will
appear. You can continue to add more gauges to show information for the ports and streams that are
relevant to you.

At the top of the Gauge window you can see if the gauge shows traffic for a port (Port Mode) or a stream
(Stream Mode). You will also find identification of chassis, module, port and stream(s). If you left-click and
hold on the top line in the gauge window, you can move it around on your PC screen.

You can resize the gauge window by dragging in the low right corner of the window.

Keyboard Resizing Shortcuts:

+ Doubles the gauge window size.
- Restores the gauge window size.

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Gauge Menu
If you right-click on the gauge window you get the Gauge Menu:

• Restore Size: Restores the size of the gauge window to its default size
• UI Theme: Allow you to change the appearance of the gauge.
• Refresh Rate (ms): Allow you to select how often the gauge is updated.

To close the gauge window, click on the X in the top left of the gauge window or press Alt+F4. The gauge
window will automatically close when the traffic it monitors is stopped or the ValkyrieManager is closed.

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EVENT LOG
This section describes the ValkyrieManager Event Log panel. This panel can be used to view events from all
connected ports.

Event Types
The Event Log displays events of the following types:

• Port Errors: Indicate an error that affects the operation of the whole port.
• Packet Errors: Indicate an error in a received packet.
• Disruption: Indicate that the port-level gap monitor has detected a gap in the received data stream.

You can control the logging of each of these types in the Event Log panel toolbar, as indicated below:

Event States
Some events are raised when a monitored value crosses a certain threshold and cleared when the
monitored value falls below the threshold again. This includes for instance the port sync state and
the laser Rx level events and the disruption events.

Other events are merely raised when a certain criterion is met. This includes for instance the packet
error events. These events are not cleared.

Event Monitoring
For detection of most event types the port needs to be polled continuously. It is only the port sync
event that can be detected without polling.

However to decrease the performance impact of too much polling the ValkyrieManager will by
default only poll ports that are visible in a panel that requires the polled information. This primary
includes the various statistics panels. So if you are currently not viewing e.g. the statistics panel for

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a given port the port may not be polled.

If you require a given port to be polled regardless of its current visibility you can enable the Poll
Always property in the Port Receive Statistics toolbar in the Port Statistics panel.

Event Columns
The Event Log panel contains the following columns:
• Timestamp: The timestamp when the event was detected by the ValkyrieManager. Note:
This does not represent the time when the event occurred in the chassis but the time when
the event was detected on the PC. The accuracy is thus in the seconds range.
• Source Type: The type of the event source.
• Source ID: A unique identification of the event source.
• State: The event state (see above for details)
• Event Type: The event type (see above for details)
• Event Text: A textual description for the event which may provide more details.

Event Log Management

The event log is not persistent and the content will be cleared when you close down the
ValkyrieManager application.
You can save the current content of the event log to a CSV text file by clicking the Save Log button
in the toolbar. You can also manually clear the event log by clicking the Clear Log button in the
toolbar.

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COMMUNICATIONS TRACE
This section describes the ValkyrieManager Communication Trace panel. This panel show the decoded
communication with connected chassis using the Xena Management Protocol (XMP).
The panel is mainly used for debugging the communication in case of problems but it can also be used as a
help for users writing automation scripts who wants to see how a certain request is formatted.
For details on the XMP requests please refer to the Scripting Manual.

Trace Format
The trace entries are displayed in a standard grid view as shown below. Each request or reply is listed in a
separate row in the grid. Requests sent from the ValkyrieManager are shown in green whereas successfully
replies from the chassis are shown in blue. Error replies from the chassis are shown in red.

Available Columns
The trace gridview offers the following columns:
• Time: A timestamp for the trace event with millisecond accuracy.
• Dir: The direction (Tx or Rx).
• ChassisName: Name of the chassis
• Target: The request target on the form <module index>/<port index> [optional stream index].
• Command: The XMP command type
• SeqNo: The XMP sequence number.
• Param: The XMP request parameter.
• Arguments: Any arguments as a list of hexadecimal numbers
• Result: The result code for a reply.

Filtering
Several column provide support for filtering the displayed trace messages. This is indicated by the funnel
icon in the column header. If you click this icon you can select how you want to filter the displayed trace
messages.

Performance Impact
Having the panel open at all times is usually not recommended. If a lot of traffic is going to and from the
chassis this may impact the performance of the PC, especially during polling.

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ADVANCED FEATURES
CHASSIS TIME SYNCHRONIZATION

This section describes how to setup and monitor time synchronization between multiple Xena test chassis.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

IMPORTANT: This function requires additional software installed on your Xena test chassis. Please
contact Xena support for details.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Overview
Capabilities

The chassis time synchronization feature enables multiple Xena testers to synchronize their local
time to each other. This can be used for various purposes:

• One-Way Latency (OWL) measurements between two test chassis.

• Synchronized traffic start between multiple chassis.
• Accurate timestamping of captured packets in exported PCAP files.
The timing network consisting of your Xena testers may be configured in a very flexible way
supporting multiple scenarios:

• One tester may serve time to the other testers (and any other host on your network) using
any combination of NTP, PTP or RFC 868 TIME (*).
• Each tester may obtain its own time from an external NTP, PTP or GPS source.
(*) Note that the RFC 868 TIME protocol can only set the time with a precision of 1 second.

About TimeKeeper

TimeKeeper is an advanced time synchronization solution from the company FSMLabs. Xena
Networks uses the TimeKeeper solution to keep the local time on each Xena test chassis in sync.
The TimeKeeper solution must be installed on each Xena chassis that will participate in the timing
setup.

The TimeKeeper solution runs as a separate service on the Xena chassis but is configured and
monitored through the ValkyrieManager.

Licensing

Each Xena chassis running the TimeKeeper solution will require an additional software license. The
license is time-limited and must be periodically renewed for the TimeKeeper solution to continue to

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work.

The TimeKeeper license comes in two types: A client-only license that only allows the Xena chassis
to obtain its time from an external source and a full license (aka. a server license) that also allows
the Xena chassis to serve time to other hosts.

Contact Xena sales for details on the availability and pricing of the TimeKeeper licenses.

TimeKeeper Configuration
The TimeKeeper configuration is accessed as part of the chassis resource property page. If the TimeKeeper
solution is installed on the chassis an additional sub-tab named Time Service Configuration will be visible
when you select the chassis resource property page, as shown below.

Service and License Control

The TimeKeeper service state can be controlled by the buttons in the top toolbar:

Name Explanation

Start Time Service Start the TimeKeeper service if it is not already running.

Stop Time Service Stop the TimeKeeper service if it is running.

Update License File Upload a new TimeKeeper license file to the Xena chassis.

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Apply a changed configuration for the TimeKeeper service. Invoking this option
Apply Configuration
will also restart the TimeKeeper service.

The TimeKeeper status will be automatically refreshed every 5 seconds. You can
Refresh State
however manually refresh the status by clicking this button.

General State

The general state of the TimeKeeper solution can be monitored in the General System State
section at the top. The following values are provided:

Value Explanation

Version: The currently installed version of TimeKeeper.

The current state of the TimeKeeper service (started or

Run Status:
stopped)

General State: The general state of TimeKeeper

Operational State: A more detailed state of TimeKeeper

The current chassis reservation state (must be reserved in

Reservation State:
order to change configuration)

The current license state (valid or invalid) and scope (client-only

License State:
or full server).

Time Source Configuration

A time source represents the source from which this chassis will synchronize its OS kernel time. The
following source types are supported:

• An external NTP server

• An external PTP server
• An internal SpectraTime GPS module (an optional hardware add-on for the chassis)
PPS device is not used.

You must configure at least one time source for a chassis. It is possible to configure multiple time
sources for a single chassis. The TimeKeeper solution will extract the optimal time based on the
contributions from all configured sources.

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Time Source Parameters

Parameter Explanation Applies To

Server NTP Server, PTP

The address of the server to source time from
Address Server

The network interface to listen on. If left empty all available

Interface PTP Server
network interfaces will be used.

Time Server Configuration

If a Xena chassis has been provided with a full TimeKeeper server license it may also serve time to
the network, including other Xena chassis in the network. You can configure several different time
server definitions for a chassis.

Time Server Parameters

Para
Explanation Applies To
meter

Interf The network interface to send messages on. If left empty all available
PTP Server
ace network interfaces will be used.

License Scenarios

This section describes various configuration scenarios and the required hardware and licenses.

Local Datacenter Scenario

If you have a number of co-located Xena testers in the same physical location and connected to the
same local network you can use one of the testers as a time server. This tester will then serve time
to the rest of the network, including but not limited to the other Xena testers. The best results will
be obtained by using PTP between the Xena testers.

If you have N testers you will need one full TimeKeeper server license and N-1 client-only
TimeKeeper licenses. You can configure the time server to synchronize to a public NTP server but if
you need a very accurate local time you can optionally equip the time server tester with a
SpectraTime GPS module.

[efsnotification type=”” style=”warning2″ close=”false” ]Note that the SpectraTime GPS module
must be purchased and installed through Xena Networks.[/efsnotification]

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Remote Networked Scenario

If you have two or more Xena testers in remote locations which are connected to the Internet you
can then use a public NTP service to synchronize each of the testers. Please note that using a public
NTP server will most likely be less accurate than the other solutions.

If you have N testers you will then need N client-only TimeKeeper licenses.

Remote Scenario (no Internet)

If you have two or more Xena testers in remote locations which are not connected to the Internet
you can equip each tester with a GPS module.

If you have N testers you will then need N client-only TimeKeeper licenses and N GPS modules.

[efsnotification type=”” style=”warning2″ close=”false” ]Note that the SpectraTime GPS module
must be purchased and installed through Xena Networks.[/efsnotification]

Test Module Configuration

By default, each test module will use its own internal clock for latency timestamps and scheduling traffic
start. The internal module clock is synchronized with the general PCI clock on the chassis but two or more
chassis will of course not share the same clock.

Enabling External Clock Sync

Perform the following steps to enable each test module to synchronize to the TimeKeeper-
controlled Operating System (OS) kernel clock:

1. Open ValkyrieManager and reserve the test module you want to configure.
2. Set the Latency Reference option to “Lock to External Time”.

The module will now attempt to synchronize its internal clock to the OS kernel clock.

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Monitoring Clock Sync Accuracy

You can monitor the accuracy using the following state properties:

Name Explanation

The currently measured difference between the OS kernel time and the
External Clock Diff
local module time.

Statistics counters:

External Clock Stats

• AP: Number of polls when in “Adjusting” state.
• SP: Number of polls when in “Steady” state.
• SE: Number of state transitions to “Steady” state.
• SS: Number of “spikes” seen when in “Steady” state.
One of the following:

External Clock State

• Adjusting: The module clock is adjusting to the OS kernel time.
• Steady: The module clock has been within +/- 500 nsec from the OS
kernel time for the last 5 seconds.

The module clock will usually synchronize to the OS kernel time with approx. 15-20 seconds. But if
the OS kernel time is also being adjusted by TimeKeeper you will experience a larger adjustment
period.

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DHCP CLIENT WIZARD

Overview
If your DUT contains a DHCP server (IPv4) you can use this to quickly assign IP addresses to your test port
and/or the streams configured on the port. The addresses must be acquired from the DHCP server prior to
starting the traffic. and will then be stored as part of the port and stream configuration.
At present only IPv4 is supported. Support for IPv6 may be added in the future.

Wizard Operation
Selecting Targets
When you open the wizard you will be presented with the start page shown below. You can now
select to acquire addresses for the port itself, the existing streams on the port, or both.

Please note that if you select to acquire addresses for your streams then they must all contain an
IPv4 protocol segment. If the wizard detects that this is not the case you must exit the wizard and
correct this manually.

Setting SMAC for Streams

To acquire addresses for streams each
stream must be configured with a
unique SMAC address in the initial
Ethernet protocol segment.
On initial launch the wizard will
determine if the SMAC addresses for
the streams are unique within the scope
of the port. If not it will offer to assist
you in assigning unique addresses as
indicated in the screenshot shown
below.

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Please note that the wizard will not ensure that the stream SMAC addresses are globally unique. It
will only check if the SMAC addresses are unique within the scope of the port on which they reside.

Acquiring Addresses
Once all requirements are satisfied the wizard will start to acquire addresses from the DHCP server.
You can follow the progress in the wizard as shown below.

The Counters field at the top show the number of DHCP packet sent and received. The grid below
that show a summary of the communication with the DHCP server.

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REPLAY PCAP FILE

The ValkyrieManager is capable of replaying the packets in a PCAP file on a single testport. You access this
function through the main Edit menu by selecting the Replay File menu item when the port you want to
use is selected. You will have to reserve the port before the function is available.

When you select the Replay File menu item you will be asked to select the PCAP file you want to use.
ValkyrieManager supports both traditional PCAP files and the newer PCAP-NG format. After you have
selected the PCAP file then content of the file is imported and a replay control windows will be shown (see
screenshot below).

The following commands are available in the control window:

Command Explanation

Start transmitting packets form the PCAP file as fast as possible. When all packets are sent
Start
the replay is automatically stopped (unless the Loop Until Stopped option is selected).

Stop Stop the packet transmission.

Single-Step Send the next packet in the packet sequence and stop.

Loop Until If selected, the transmission will start over when the end is reached. If not selected the
Stopped transmission is stopped when the end is reached.

Rewind Reset the current packet position to the first packet in the sequence.

The following limitations apply to the PCAP Replay function:

Packets will not be re-sent with the original inter-packet timing from the PCAP file. The transmission control
is handled by the PC running ValkyrieManager. Packets are sent one at a time and the next packet is not
sent until the last packet was successfully transmitted. The transmission timing is thus influenced by both
network and Windows OS latency.

The maximum packet size that can be transmitted is 2 Kbyte.

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STREAM WIZARD
This section describes the ValkyrieManager Stream Wizard panel.

Overview
The stream wizard will help you generate a potentially large number of connected streams based
on a set of defined stream templates for a given topology.

With the Stream Wizard you can:

• Define persisted port properties so that ports are setup in a predictable way every time you
run the wizard.
• Define stream templates to ensure common setup of actual stream instances.
• Define multiple streams per port to allow for different protocol header and rate setup.
• Ensure that source and destination addresses in the protocol headers are set correctly.
• Validate the whole configuration before stream creation.
The Stream Wizard is closely integrated with the Testbed concept and will operate on the ports you
have included for use in your current testbed. You can thus only have one wizard configuration per
testbed.
The Stream Wizard is available in ValkyrieManager version 1.10 and newer.

Getting Started
Wizard Panel
The Stream Wizard is controlled through the Stream Wizard panel which is initially located in the
lower hidden tab panel as shown below.

When you regularly work with the wizard you may want to “pin” the panel and move it to the main
tabbed part of the work area for easier access.

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Step-by-Step Configuration
To define and create a set of streams on your ports please follow these steps:

• Optionally create a new testbed.

• Include a set of ports in the testbed. You don’t have to reserve the ports as this is handled
by the wizard.
• Set the desired topology in the wizard Topology panel.
• Set the value for the desired port properties in the wizard Ports panel.
• Specify the number of desired streams per port in the wizard Streams panel.
• Also set the value for the desired stream properties.
• Once you are ready you can press the Create Streams button to generate the streams.
• You can repeat this cycle as many times as you want if you need to change parts of the
wizard configuration.

Detailed Information
Toolbar Buttons
The top wizard toolbar contains the following buttons:
Create Streams: Pressing this button will make the wizard create the streams defined by the
configuration. Before creating the streams the wizard will validate if the configuration is valid. If
this check fails the stream creation will be aborted
Validate Configuration: Pressing this button will just execute the configuration validation step
described above. You can use this to quickly check your configuration while building it.
Reset Configuration: Pressing this button will reset the wizard configuration to the default value.

Topology Settings
The wizard will generate and pair streams according to the selected port topology. The following
topology choices are available:

Each port is paired together with another port. These two ports only
Pairs
communicate with each other. There must thus be an even number of
Topology:
ports in your testbed.
Blocks Each port is placed in either the <em>West</em> or the <em>East</em>

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Topology: group. Each port in one group communicates with all ports in the other
group but not with any port in its own group.
Mesh
Each port communicate with all other ports.
Topology:

Port Configuration
The port configuration is handled by the Ports sub-tab in the main Stream Wizard panel.
It is possible to define a set of properties that will be applied to the ports in your testbed. The
default configuration will show a few properties as shown in the image below. But you can choose
which properties to apply to your ports by pressing the Select Port Property Types button located
in the upper right corner.

Any port property that is not specifically set in your wizard configuration will be set to the default
value of the port (or left at the current value if you have chosen not to reset the ports).

The Reset Ports checkbox will control whether the ports are reset to their default state before
applying the specified properties. It is normally recommended to enable this option as it ensures
that the resulting configuration is reproducible every time you run the wizard. But you may have
special reasons for not wanting to reset the ports, such as wanting to retain a specific custom
setup.

Stream Template Configuration

The stream template configuration is handled by the Streams sub-tab in the main Stream Wizard
panel.You can define a number of stream templates for the configuration using the Per-Port
Stream Count selector.

Each stream template will be used to create a single stream on each source port for each of that
port’s peer ports.So if you have 3 ports in your testbed and you specify a Mesh topology each port
will have two peer ports. If you define for instance 3 stream templates then each port will end up
containing a total of 6 streams where the first 3 streams goes to the first peer port and the other 3
streams goes to the other peer port.

For each stream template it is possible to define a set of stream properties that will be applied to
the actual streams in your testbed. You can choose which properties to include by pressing the
Select Stream Property Types button located in the upper right corner. The type of the selected
properties are common for all stream templates but the value for each property can be different
for each template.

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Any stream property that is not specifically set in your wizard configuration will be set to the
default value of the stream.

The Remove Existing Streams checkbox will control whether the existing streams are removed
before creating the new streams. It is normally recommended to enable this option as it ensures
that the resulting configuration is reproducible every time you run the wizard. Note that if you have
selected the Reset Ports option in the Ports sub-panel then all existing streams will be removed
regardless of the value of the Remove Existing Streams option.

The Stream Wizard will automatically ensure that the Source and Destination MAC and IP fields in
the Ethernet and (optional) IP headers will match the port pairing. If the Resolve Gateway MAC
option is selected then the Stream Wizard will try to resolve the MAC address of any defined
gateway addresses and use this address as the DMAC address instead.

Validation Errors Panel

If the configuration validation will reveal any errors in the configuration you can view the detailed
list in the Validation sub-panel. Each error is shown on a different line. Each line shows both a
description of the error, together with the resource type and identifier that caused the error.

Wizard Execution Event Log

The Event Log shows a log of all actions performed by the wizard when creating the streams. This
will also show any errors optionally encountered by the wizard when creating the streams.

Persistence
The stream wizard configuration will automatically be saved as part of the current testbed
configuration. You can thus adjust the wizard configuration and re-generate your streams over and
over.
Please note that if you make manual changes to the actual port and/or stream configuration after
the wizard has created the initial configuration then these changes will not be retained in the
wizard configuration!

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STREAM SCHEDULER
This section describes the Stream Scheduler panel which can be used to build a series of actions based on
existing streams in the current testbed.
The Stream Scheduler function is available in ValkyrieManager version 1.33 and newer.

Overview
The Stream Scheduler works closely together with the currently selected testbed and works
exclusively with the streams defined on the used ports.

Schedules
Each testbed can contain several schedules. A schedule is simply a collection of operations that will
be executed sequentially (although with some looping support as described below).

Operations
As stated above a schedule is basically a collection of operations that will affect the traffic
generation. The following operations are supported:

Operation Name Target Type Explanation

Set Parameter Port or Set the value of a supported stream or port parameter, such as a
Value stream stream rate.
Pause the scheduling for a specified number of seconds, typically to let
Wait Period None
the traffic run for a specified period of time.
Start Traffic Port Start the traffic on selected port(s).
Stop Traffic Port Stop the traffic on selected port(s).
Clear Statistics Port Clear all statistics counters on all ports used in the current testbed.
Enable specifying a block of operations that can be repeated for a
Loop Block None
specified number of times.
Enable Stream Stream Enable selected stream(s).
Disable Stream Stream Disable selected stream(s).
Suspend Stream Stream Suspend the selected stream(s).
Send a custom command to the port(s) selected as targets for the
Custom Port
Port command. This command can be any port-level script command. See
Command
this link for details.
Send a custom command to the stream(s) selected as targets for the
Custom Stream
Stream command. This command can be any stream-level script command. See
Command
this link for details.

Note on custom commands: The scheduler will perform a certain level of consistency checking on
the normal commands but it will not be able to perform any consistency check on any custom
commands.

Targets
Some operations can be performed on selected targets, which are either streams or ports. These
operations can either apply to all valid targets or you can select exactly which targets you want the
operation to operate on.
Valid targets are ports included in the current testbed or streams defined on those ports.
Certain operations, such as the Wait Period operation, are not associated with any specific targets
as they apply to the schedule as a whole.

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Common Scenarios
This section explains how to perform common schedule operations.

Creating a Simple Schedule

First you should setup a simple configuration consisting of two ports, each with a single stream
paired to each other (you can use the Stream Wizard for this). Then you can perform the following
actions in order to define a simple schedule for your streams:

1. Bring up the Scheduler panel by selecting it in the lower panel strip. Push the little “paper-pin”
in the upper right corner to prevent it from auto-hiding.

2. Add a new schedule by clicking the Add Schedule in the upper panel toolbar.

3. Click the Add Operation button in the schedule operations toolbar and select the Clear
Statistics operation in the list.

4. Also add the following operations in the specified order:

• Set Parameter Value
• Start Traffic
• Wait Period
• Stop Traffic

5. You should just use the default value for each operation for now.

6. Press the Start Schedule button in the upper panel toolbar. The schedule will now perform the
specified operations and stop after that.

Changing the Packet Rate

This section explains how to change the packet rate of the streams after a while. Your streams will
start with a 10% rate but after 10 seconds their rate will drop to 5%. The section will extend the
schedule defined in the last section.

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Perform the following actions:

1. Select the last “Stop Traffic” operation and insert these additional operations after it:
• Set Parameter Value
• Start Traffic
• Wait Period
• Stop Traffic

2. We need to stop the traffic while changing the rate value as the Xena tester does not support rate
changes while the traffic is running.

3. Select the second “Set Parameter Value” operation and change the Rate value to e.g. 5% as shown
in the image to the right.

4. Press the Start Schedule button in the upper panel toolbar. The schedule will now again perform
the specified operations and stop after that. If you want to follow the progress of the rate you can
use the Statistics Charting panel for that.

Changing the Operations Order

This section explains how you can insert a new operation and move it to the desired location.
Perform the following actions:

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1. Add a single Clear Statistics operation to the end of the list.

2. Drag the new operation to the top of the list until you see a guideline on top of the upper-most
operation (see screenshot).
3. Drop the operation at the new location.
4. Now all statistics counters will be cleared before traffic is started for the first time.

Adding a Loop Section

It is possible to repeat a group of operations for a specified number of times by adding a Loop Block
operation. This operation can contain a number of other operations which will be executed
sequentially the specified number of times.

Perform the following actions to add a loop block with a repeat count of 2 and to move most of
your existing operations into it:

1. Add a Loop Block operation to the end of the list.

2. Using the mouse drag and move the loop operation just below the top-most clear operation.

3. Drag the operation just below the loop block on top of the loop block so that it is shown
indented compared to the loop operation.

4. Drag each of the other operations to the bottom of the previous operation as shown in the
screenshot until they are all indented under the loop block.

5. Start the schedule and observe that all the operations in the loop block are executed twice.

Loop blocks can be nested so that one loop block can contain another loop block.

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STATISTICS LOGGING

Overview
The Statistics Logging function allows you to periodically poll statistics counters for all ports in a
testbed and log those counters to a CSV or XML file. This feature is intended to replace
the equivalent feature in the XenaIntegrator.

Port Scope
The logging function works on all ports in a given testbed. You can enable logging on multiple
testbeds at the same time.

Configuration Panel
This function is handled by the Statistics Logging panel. This panel is by default shown in the
bottom part as one of the “auto-hide” panels.
The panel is shown in the image below.

Logging Configuration
The Statistics Logging panel provides the following configuration options:

Option Explanation
State and Content
Enable Logging: Selects whether this statistics logging definition is enabled or not.
Pressing this button will enable you to select which counters to include in the
Counter Types:
log. See below for a detailed description of the available counter types.
State Control: This button will either start or stop a logging session.
Elapsed Time: Shows the elapsed time for an active logging session.

Scheduling
Specifies the interval between polls. The default value is 1 second. The
Poll Interval:
minimum value is 1 second.
Specifies the total desired duration of a collection period. You can specify this
Log Duration: duration as a number of days + a hour::minute::second option. The total
duration could thus for instance be 2 days, 4 hours and 30 minutes.

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This option is only valid if the Run Until Stopped option is not selected.
Run Until
If this option is selected the collection will run until it is manually stopped.
Stopped:

File Name and Location

File Name
This string will be used as the prefix for the logging filenames.
Prefix:
Append If selected a timestamp on the form “YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS” will be appended
Timestamp: to the filename.
All logfiles will be located under the
<ProgramData>XenaXenaIntegratorPortLog directory. If this option is selected
the logfiles for different logging runs will be placed in separate subdirectories
Separate Run under this master directory. The subdirectory name will be a timestamp on the
Directories: form “YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS”.

If the option is not selected all logging files will be placed directly in the
PortLog directory described above.
This determines the format of the logfile. You can select between CSV (Comma
File Type:
Separated Value) or XML format.

Disk Space Management

Selecting this option will make the logging function save the current logfile to
an archive file and start a new logfile when the logfile reaches a certain size.
Archive Large
The archive files will be named <prefix>.<archive no>.<extension>.
Files:
The archive numbering will be sequential so that the file with the highest
number is the most recent archive file. The currently active logfile will still be
called <prefix>.<extension>.
Archive File Size: The file size where archiving should take place.
If this option is selected the application will limit the number of archive files
Limit Archive
for a single logging run. This can be used for long-running logging tasks to
File No:
prevent the harddisk from filling up.
Max. Archive The maximum number of archive files to keep. This option is only valid if the
Files: Limit Archive File No option is selected.

L2 Counter Types
The following counter types are available:
L2 Counter Type Explanation
TxBps Transmit rate (bit/sec)
TxFps Transmit rate (frames/sec)
TxBytes Transmitted bytes
TxFrames Transmitted frames
RxBps Receive rate (bit/sec)
RxFps Receive rate (frames/sec)
RxBytes Received bytes
RxFrames Received frames
RxSeqErr Number of lost frames due to non‐incrementing‐sequence‐number errors.
RxMisErr Number of received swapped‐sequence‐number misorder errors.
RxPldErr Number of received packets with non‐incrementing payload content.

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The average latency for the last second in microseconds. Only available in
LatencyCurr
newer Xena chassis firmware versions.
LatencyAvg The average latency for the whole time period in milliseconds.
LatencyMin The minimum latency for the whole time period in milliseconds.
LatencyMax The maximum latency for the whole time period in milliseconds.
The average jitter for the last second in milliseconds. Only available in newer
JitterCurr
Xena chassis firmware versions.
JitterAvg The average jitter for the whole time period in milliseconds.
JitterMin The minimum jitter for the whole time period in milliseconds.
JitterMax The maximum jitter for the whole time period in milliseconds.

Importing Legacy XenaIntegrator Configurations

It is possible to import a legacy XenaIntegrator Port Logging Definition as a new ValkyrieManager
testbed. Since the XenaIntegrator Port Logging Definition contains a definition of the ports which
will provide the logging counters the import process will automatically perform the following steps:
• Check if the Xena chassis defined in the legacy configuration are already defined in the
ValkyrieManager configuration. If not, the necessary chassis definition will be created.
• Create a new testbed with the name “Testbed XI: <definition label>” where <definition
label> is the name originally used for the Port Logging Definition in XenaIntegrator.
• Add the defined logging ports to the new testbed.
• Migrate the other logging configuration to the new testbed.
To import a legacy XenaIntegrator Port Logging Definition simply click the Import XI LogCfg button
in the Operations menu and select the XenaIntegrator configuration file you want to import.

Controlling Logging State

Starting and Stopping Logging
As stated above the State Control button allows you to start or stop the logging process. While the
logging is in progress it will not be possible to change any configuration parameters.

Monitoring Progress
While the logging is in progress the Elapsed Time counter will increment showing the total duration
of the logging process.
The Current Log Directory field will show the full path to the current logging directory. Clicking the
Open Log Directory button will launch a Windows Explorer in this directory.

Output Formats
CSV File Format
The CSV file will contain a number of lines. Each line will represent all enabled logging data for one
port for a single poll. A line will have the following format:
<Timestamp>, <Port ID>, { <CounterValue>, }*

Field Explanation
The data and time for the logged data line on the form “YYYYMMDD-
Timestamp
HHMMSS”.
Port ID The port identification on the form “P-<chassis>-<module>-<port>”,
CounterValue The counter value. All values are expressed as a decimal number.

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The file will also contain a header row describing the selected counter types.

XML File Format

The XML file format will be similar to the following example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<!--XenaIntegrator Statistics Counters-->
<PollSamples>
<SelectedCounterTypes
Values="TxBps,TxFps,TxBytes,TxFrames,RxBps,RxFps,RxBytes,RxFrames"
/>
<Element Timestamp="20130331-174155" Type="Notification"
Text="Log initialized" />
<Element Timestamp="20130331-174156" Type="Sample" Port="P-0-10-
2" Values="0,0,0,0,0,0,2.91E+06,4.3E+04" />
<Element Timestamp="20130331-174156" Type="Sample" Port="P-0-10-
3" Values="0,0,0,0,0,0,1.51E+05,581" />

<etc>

</PollSamples>

All data is kept under a root tag called <PollSamples>.

The first node is called <SelectedCounterTypes>. The “Value” attribute describes the selected
counter types in comma-separated format.
Each poll sample is represented using the <Element> node tag and has the “Type” attribute set to
“Sample”. The “Values”
attribute contains the sample values in the same order as is given by the <SelectedCounterTypes>
tag.
<Element> nodes with Type = “Notification” represents notification messages.

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STATISTICS CHARTING
This section describes the Statistics Charting panel which can be used to view a real-time chart of various
statistics counter values from selected streams.
The section describes the new version of the charting panel introduced in ValkyrieManager version 1.43.
The original simpler charting panel is no longer supported.

Overview

Charted Parameters
The charting panel allow you to view real-time charts of a number of monitored parameters. You
can define multiple charts within the chart panel which can each display separate parameters. Each
panel can optionally display two different parameters where each parameter then is associated
with its own Y-axis (left or right).

Selecting Data Sources

The charting panel will always be associated with the ports and streams in the current testbed. It is
possible to select exactly which streams are used by each individual panel.

Counter Types
It is possible to chart all the counter types available in the statistics panels.

Port Polling Aspects

When charting receive-side counters it is important to ensure that the port(s) you expect the
packets to arrive on are polled for counters.
To decrease the performance impact of too much polling the ValkyrieManager will by default only
poll ports that are visible in a panel that requires the polled information. This primary includes the
various statistics panels. So if you are currently not viewing e.g. the statistics panel for a given port
the port may not be polled.
When you add a stream to the charting function the ValkyrieManager knows which port this stream
is defined on and will ensure that any such port is polled. This ensures that any transmit-side
counters will always be polled. But the ValkyrieManager cannot know which port(s) the packets
sent by the streams actually arrive on. You need to help the ValkyrieManager by either ensuring
that you are viewing the statistics panel for the receiving port or by enabling the the Poll Always
property in the Port Receive Statistics toolbar in the Port Statistics panel.

Charting Details
This section explains how to configure and use the charting function.

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Chart Control
Add and Remove Charts
You can add any number of charts to the chart panel. The defined charts will be stacked vertically
on top of each other.
To add a new chart simply click the Add Chart button in the top toolbar. You can now select the
parameter type which you want to be charted from a dialog.
To remove a chart simply click the Remove Chart button in the chart toolbar. If you want to remove
all charts you can also click the Remove All Charts button in the top toolbar.

Start and Pause Charting

When you have added the chart(s) you want to use you need to start the charting function by
clicking the Start Charting button in the toolbar. To pause the charting function you can click the
Pause Charting button. You can re-start the chart by clicking the Start Charting button again.
The data will continue to be collected in the background so the chart will be fully updated with the
collected data once you resume charting.

Add a Second Parameter

When you add a chart the selected chart parameter will by default be associated with the left Y-
axis. It is possible to add a second parameter to a chart by clicking the “Add 2nd” button in the
chart toolbar. The second parameter will be associated with the right Y-axis.

Selecting Stream Sources

By default all streams in your current testbed will be part of the charts. The streams are shown in
the legend below each chart.
You can select which streams are part of a chart by checking or unchecking the checkbox in front of
each stream in the legend. You can also control the state for all streams by using the Select All and
Deselect All buttons in the panel toolbar.

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Visual Aspects
Controlling Chart Size and Visibility
The size of each chart can be controlled by holding and dragging the dotted handle at the bottom
of each sub-chart. It is also possible to control the visibility of a chart completely by clicking the
little “plus/minus” icon in the right side of the chart header.

Chart Sample Span

The number of samples in the chart is determined by the Max Samples property in the panel
toolbar. Once the total number of samples in the chart has reached this number older samples will
be dropped from the chart when new samples are added.

Controlling Tooltip
By default a rather large tooltip with information about the plot points under the mouse will be
shown when you hover the mouse over the chart. You can disable this function in the panel
toolbar.

Zoom and Pan

You can use the chart scrollbars to zoom and pan the results as described on this page.

Taking Snapshots
You can grab a snapshot of the charts by using one of the Snapshot buttons. This action will
generate an image and copy that to the Windows clipboard. You can then paste it into your
favourite reporting tool, such as Word or Excel.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The following are type-specific properties giving detailed property descriptions for the specific resource
types.

CHASSIS PROPERTIES
This section describes the available chassis properties for ValkyrieManager.

Configuration and Status

Identification

Property Explanation
The name you have administratively assigned to the chassis during
Chassis Name
installation.
Chassis The description you have administratively assigned to the chassis
Description during installation.
Chassis The password you want users to provide when logging on to the
Password chassis.
Chassis Model The Xena chassis model identification. This value cannot be changed.
The Xena chassis serial number. This value cannot be changed. You
Serial Number should provide this number if you have to request technical support
for your chassis.
Firmware
The version of the currently running chassis firmware.
Version
Driver Version The version of the currently used PCI bus driver firmware.
You can use this button to upload single firmware image files to the
chassis. It is however recommended that you use the Setup program to
upgrade your chassis as this provides a more automatic and user-
Firmware friendly upgrade mechanism.

This option is only visible when you have enabled the Show SW
Upgrade Controls option in the View menu.

Status

Property Explanation
Status The connection status of the chassis.

Module Count The number of detected modules in the chassis

User Sessions The number of current user sessions (connections)

Reservation

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Property Explanation
If the chassis is currently reserved by someone this field contains the
Reserved By
username of the reserver.

Chassis Management Address

Property Explanation
The static management IP address of the chassis. See this page for
IP Address
details on how to modify the address.
Subnet Mask The subnet mask for the management port of the chassis.

IP Gateway The default gateway for the management port of the chassis.
Checking this option will enable the chassis to obtain an IP address
Use DHCP using DHCP. The static IP address control mentioned above will then
not be used.
Chassis The chassis hostname used when sending DHCP requests to a DHCP
Hostname server. The default value is “xena-<serialno>”.
The MAC address of the main management port. You can use this
MAC Address when setting up a static address assignment in your DHCP server.
Right-click on the value to copy the value to the clipboard.

Actions

Property Explanation
When enabled this property will cause the chassis LEDs to flash,
Flash Chassis
making it easier to identify it if you have several Xena test chassis
LEDs
installed.
This button will reboot the Xena chassis. You can use this to recover
Reboot Chassis
from an error situation or if you have changed the chassis IP address.
Shutdown This button will shutdown the chassis. Note that you will have to
Chassis manually power-cycle the chassis to bring it up again!

Management Port Sessions

This table show the currently active user sessions on the chassis. You can for instance use this to check if a
user that have reserved a resource you want to use is currently active.

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MODULE PROPERTIES
This page describes the available module properties for ValkyrieManager.

Identification

Property Explanation
Module Model The Xena testmodule model type.

Serial Number The Xena testmodule serial number.

Version
The currently loaded firmware version number.
Number
THis button allow you to manually upgrade this module with a
firmware image which has been uploaded using the controls in the
Firmware chassis panel. Usually it is recommended that you use the firmware
upgrade functions in the Setup program as this provides a more
automated and user-friendly approach.

Port Count The number of detected ports on the module.

Status

Property Explanation
Module
The current module temperature in degrees (Celsius).
Temperature

Reservation

Property Explanation
If the chassis is currently reserved by someone this field contains the
Reserved By
username of the reserver.

Timing Configuration

Property Explanation
Control how the test module time-stamp clock is running, either freely
in the chassis or locked to an external system time. Running with free
chassis time allows nano-second precision measurements of latencies,
Latency
but only when the transmitting and receiving ports are in the same
Reference
chassis. Running with locked external time enables inter-chassis
latency measurements, but can introduce small time discontinuities as
the test module time is adjusted.
Local Clock Makes a small adjustment to the local clock of the test module, which
Adjustment (*) drives the TX rate of the test ports. The property value is the desired

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adjustment from the nominal value, in parts-per-billion, positive or

negative.
SMA Output For test modules with SMA connectors, this property select the
Function (*) function of the SMA output.
SMA Input For test modules with SMA connectors, this property select the
Function (*) function of the SMA input.
TX Clock Source For test modules with advanced timing features, this property select
(*) what drives the port TX rates.
TX and SMA For test modules with advanced timing features, this property
Clock Filter (*) determines the loop bandwidth on the TX clock filter.
(*) This property is not supported by all module types.

CFP Configuration

Property Explanation
Describes the type of CFP. The following values are supported:

• Not a CFP: This is not a CFP-based test module.

• CFP (Not Present): No transceiver, the CFP cage is empty.
CFP Type • CFP (Not Flexible): Transceiver present, supporting a fixed
speed and port-count.

CFP (Flexible): Transceiver present, supporting flexible speed and port-

count.
This property show the current number of ports and their speed of a
CFP CFP test module. For a flexible CFP type it also allows the user to
Configuration change the configuration.

This property is not supported for non-CFP modules.

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Port Properties
BASIC PORT PROPERTIES
This page describes the basic port properties for ValkyrieManager.

Main Properties
Identification

Property Explanation
Name The unique short-form name for the port

Description A user-definable string label for the port

Interface Type The Xena port interface type

If the port has been reserved by a user, this field will show the
Reserved By
username of the reserver.

TX Control

Property Explanation
The current sync state for the port. The port can either be IN SYNC
Sync Status
(sync detected) or NO SYNC (no sync detected).
The current traffic status for the port (OFF: traffic is off, ON: traffic is
Traffic Status
on)
This button enables you to either start or stop traffic on the port. Or
Traffic Control
restart traffic with dynamic changes seamlessly*.
If this option is checked, the port will allow dynamic changes to the
Dynamic Traffic
traffic while the traffic is running on the port. As soon as the Restart
Change*
button is pressed, traffic is changed dynamically seamlessly.
If this option is checked and the port is part of the current testbed the
Include in
port traffic state will be controlled by the Start/Stop buttons in the
Global Control
Global Statistics panel.
Enable TX Determines if the port should enable its transmitter, or keep the
Output outgoing link down
The maximum amount of time the port should transmit when enabled.
TX Time Limit
If set to zero the port will transmit until stopped manually.

TX Time
The amount of time the port has currently been transmitting
Elapsed

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Stop After** Stop port transmission after the specified number of packets are sent

*Feature is only supported by 40G/100G ports.

**Feature requires software release 76 or higher

TX Profile

Property Explanation
This property determines the scheduling mode for outgoing traffic
from the port, i.e. how multiple logical streams are merged onto one
Port TX Mode
physical port. Refer to the Script API description here for further
information.
Rate Fraction The port-level rate of the traffic transmitted for a port in sequential TX
(*) mode, expressed as a percentage of the effective rate for the port.
The port-level rate of the traffic transmitted for a port in sequential TX
Packet Rate (*)
mode, expressed in packet per second.
The port-level rate of the traffic transmitted for a port in sequential TX
Bit Rate (*)
mode, expressed in bits per second.
Inter Packet The calculated mean inter-packet gap with the current TX profile
Gap (*) settings.

Burst Period Time in micro seconds from start of sending a group of bursts till start
(**) of sending next group of bursts
(*) This property is only available when the Port TX Mode is set to Sequential.

(**) This property is only available when the Port TX Mode is set to Burst. This property
requires software release 76 or higher

Misc. Settings

Property Explanation

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If checked this property will make the test port LED for a particular
Flash Port LEDs port flash on and off with a 1-second interval. This is helpful when you
need to identify a specific port within a chassis.

Layer-1 Control

Property Explanation

Port Speed Controls the port speed selection. This property is only available
Selection for ports that support a configurable port speed.

Min. Inter-
The minimum total interframe gap (including preamble and SFD)
Frame Gap

Allows you to specify a speed reduction value for the port. The
Speed
speed reduction is specified as a PPM value between 0 and 100
Reduction
in steps of 10.

Current Port
The currently detected port speed
Speed

Effective Port The effective speed of the port taking any configured speed
Speed reduction into account.

Auto-
Negotiation Controls whether the port will support auto-negotiation
Enable

Controls whether a BroadR-Reach transceiver will be in Master

BroadR-Reach
or Slave mode. This property is only shown when a BroadR-Reach
Mode
transceiver is installed in the port.

This property delays start of traffic generation on one port relative to

activation of global start. The delay is programmed in steps of 64 µsec.
Stagger
The Stagger Factor will work between ports on test modules installed
Factor
in the same chassis. NB: This requires that “Sync.Start in Global Stats.”
under the Options tap has been checked.

TCVR The currently detected transceiver temperature if supported by

Temperature the transceiver.

The currently detected received optional power. This property

Optical RX
value is only available for optical ports if supported by the
Power
transceiver.

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Layer-2 Control

Property Explanation

Min. Inter-
The minimum total interframe gap (including preamble and SFD)
Frame Gap

MAC Address The port MAC address

MAC Auto- The interval in seconds with which the port should broadcast a MAC
Training learning frame. Set to 0 to disable.

React to PAUSE
Control whether the port should react to received PAUSE frames
Frames

Gap Monitor Specifies the time period that will trigger the gap monitor start. Refer
Start to the Script API section here for more details.

Gap Monitor
Specifies the number of packets to receive to stop the gap monitor.
Stop

Payload

Property Explanation

Payload
Checksum The offset where to place the payload checksum in the payload section
Offset

Used when generating traffic that requires random variation in packet

Random Seed
length, payload, or modified fields

Max Stream
The maximum length of the defined stream headers
Header Length

Specify the weights for the MIX size packet distribution if supported by
MIX Weights
the port.

Specify the size of the TPLD for the port streams if supported by the
TPLD Size port. Details on the TPLD content for the various size options can be
found here.

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Specify the payload mode used for the port streams if supported by
the port (currently only supported by selected 40/100G ports). The
following options are available:

• Normal: The packet payload type is determined by the Payload

Type property on the streams. This is the default behaviour.
Payload Mode
• Extended Payload: Enable support for the extended payload
feature for streams on this port. Refer to this section for
details.

Custom Data Field: Enable support for the custom data field feature
for streams on this port. Refer to this page for details.

Loopback and Latency

Property Explanation

Loopback
The port loopback mode.
Mode

Latency Mode The port latency calculation mode.

Latency Offset The calibrated latency offset value (ns).

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40/100G PROPERTIES
This section only applies to 40G and 100G ports. For these ports an additional sub-tab will appear in the
main Resource Properties tab as shown in the image below.

Lane Configuration
Ethernet at speeds of 40 and 100 Gbps uses the CAUI standard at Layer-1, the physical coding sub-layer.
This divides the traffic into a number of physical lanes, which are transmitted together in various
combinations depending on the interface type.

Within each lane the data is divided into 66-bit codewords which contain a 2-bit header. The data in each
physical lane carries an alignment marker which contains the virtual lane number for this portion of the
traffic.

Lanes may be physically swapped along the path from transmitter to receiver, and once the alignment
markers are located inside each received lane the virtual lane numbers are used to put things in the right
order. The lanes may also get skewed in time relative to each other during transit, and the alignment
markers are also used to do the required de-skewing in the receiver.

On the transmit side, you can manually swap and skew the lanes as shown in the image to the right. You
can also inject different kinds of CAUI errors into specific lanes as shown below.

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Lane Status Monitoring

On the receive side, you can see whether there is proper header lock and alignment lock, and which virtual
lane and actual skew is detected for each physical lane. You can also see which kind of CAUI errors are
detected in each lane.

40/100G PRBS Testing

The physical lanes of a 40 or 100 Gbps port can also be put into PRBS mode, where they transmit a pseudo-
random bit pattern which can be useful for testing physical cabling and connectors.

On the transmit side, you select whether each lane should be in PRBS mode, and also whether it should be
subject to error injection:

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Errors can be injected individually by clicking a button, or continuously by specifying a rate. Error injection
also works for lanes that are not in PRBS mode, and can thus be used to simulate bit-level errors into the
CAUI level.

On the receive side, you can see whether each physical lane has locked onto the PRBS pattern, and the
number of bit errors while in PRBS lock:

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TRANSCEIVER REGISTERS
This section only applies to ports that support direct access to their transceiver through a well-defined
register interface such as the MII register interface. For these ports an additional sub-panel
named Transceiver Registers will appear in the main Resource Properties tab as shown in the image below.

This function is mainly provided for debugging purposes and will normally not be required for ordinary test
usage.

General Functionality
The Transceiver Register panel provides access to the register interface supported by the port transceiver.
It is possible to both read and write register values.
All supported registers for a transceiver may be shown in a table as shown above.
All registers for a given transceiver type is typically organized in sets called pages. Each register within a
given page is then identified by an address.

Reading Register Values

The register values may be read manually by pressing the Refresh Values in the panel toolbar. The
panel can also refresh the values periodically if the Auto-Refresh option is enabled.
The field values will primarily be displayed using the selected field display type (hex, decimal or
binary) but it will also be displayed as ASCII characters for convenience.

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Writing Register Values

The register values may also be changed by the user by changing the value in the Register
Value column. The new value is applied when the <Enter> key is pressed.
It is not possible to change the ASCII character value directly.

Register Definitions
Each set of supported register fields for a given transceiver type is defined in a separate file with
extension .xtreg. The data definition is formatted using JSON notation.
You can load a register definition file by pressing the Load button ion the toolbar. If the Auto-Load
Last option is selected then the last loaded definition will automatically be loaded the next time
ValkyrieManager is started

Built-in Register Definitions

The ValkyrieManager is shipped with a set of commonly used register definitions, such as the MII
register set mentioned above. These files will be kept in
the C:Users<username>DocumentsXenaValkyrieManagerTcvrDefs directory.

Creating or Modifying Definitions

It is also possible to modify the built-in register definitions or create your own from scratch.
To create a new definition you should press the New button in the toolbar. You can also change an existing
definition by loading it and saving it under a new name.

Changing Display Options

The top subpanel called Field Definition Control defines the overall handling of all register fields in
the definition. You can change the display type (hex or decimal) of both address and page number
fields. You can also change the bit width (16 or 32 bit) of the register addresses.

Adding or Removing Fields

You can add new register field by pressing the area at the bottom of the field definition table
labelled Click here to add a new item. The new item will be added to the bottom of the table.
You can reorder the field by using the up- and down-arrows in the Commands column.
To remove a field press the Delete icon in the Commands column.

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ADVANCED PHY FEATURES

This section only applies to CFP4 and QSFP28/QSFP+ ports on 40/100G modules supporting these port
types. For these ports an additional sub-tab will appear in the main Resource Properties tab as shown in
the image below (available on R.57.3 or newer).
The Advanced PHY Features includes the ability to control and monitor the four receive SerDes associated
with the 4x10G or 4x25G link at the physical level. This includes the possibility to read out bit-error-rate
(BER) eye diagrams, estimate the link BER from the vertical and horizontal BER bathtub curves and to
control the PHY tuning in the transmit and the receive directions.

Configuration and Controls

The configuration and controls for the advanced PHY features are shown in the image below. They consists
of three main sections: Diagram Control, Per SerDes TX PHY Tuning and Overall RX PHY Tuning.

Diagram Control
This section controls the collection of the BER eye diagram and eye data as well as the parameters
associated with this measurement.

Property Explanation

Collection
state Shows the current state of the eye diagram measurement.

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Start/Stop
Collection Start/Stop eye diagram measurement.

Re-read current eye diagram and eye data measurement from the chassis.
Refresh Press this to view the current eye measurement for the SerDes if one already
Data exists.

X Resolution of the time-axis (horizontal). Calculated from “X Exponent” as

Resolution 2^(exp) + 1. Min/Max = 9 / 65.

Y Resolution of the voltage axis (vertical). Calculated from “Y Exponent” as

Resolution 2^(exp) – 1. Min/Max = 7 / 255.

User-settable X resolution exponent. See “X-Resolution” for details). Min/Max

X Exponent = 3 / 6.

User-settable Y resolution exponent. See “Y-Resolution” for details). Min/Max

Y Exponent = 3 / 8.

SerDes The SerDes for which the settings and controls listed above, as well as the Per
Index SerDes TX PHY Tuning listed below applies. Valid values = 0..3.

Note that higher values of X and Y will give you a higher precision in the vertical and horizontal bathtub
curve estimations, respectively. However, the time it takes to measure the eye is directly proportional to
the number of sampling points (X*Y).

Per SerDes TX PHY Tuning

This section allows the user to manually control and monitor the equalizer settings of the four individual
25G/10G SerDes of the on-board PHY in the transmission direction (towards the transceiver cage). The
affected SerDes is selected using the “SerDes Index” parameter described under “Diagram Control”. This
feature can for example be used to improve the signal quality over a direct attached copper cable (e.g.
CR4) in the absence of automatic TX tuning auto-negotiation or to test a transceiver using various TX
equalization settings.

Property Explanation

TX Pre-
emphasis Transmit pre-emphasis. Values = -7..15. Default = 0 (neutral).

TX
Attenuation Transmit attenuation. Values = 0..31. Default = 0 (full power).

TX Post-
emphasis Transmit post-emphasis. Values = -31..31. Default = 0 (neutral).

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Note: The absolute values of the three equalizer parameters (pre, attn and post) must be <= 32. So
{-7 10 15} is OK, but {-8 10 15} is invalid and will be rejected by the server.

Overall RX PHY Tuning

This section allows the user to control the tuning of the on-board PHY in the receive direction
(signals coming from the transceiver): The user can enable or disable the automatic receive PHY
retuning, which is performed on the 25G interfaces as soon as a signal is detected by the
transceiver. This is useful if a bad signal causes the PHY to continuously retune or if for some other
reason it is preferable to use manual retuning. Regardless of whether the automatic tuning is
enabled, the user may also trigger a manual retuning of the PHY. Note that the as opposed to the
TX tuning, receive tuning affects ALL four SerDes.

Property Explanation

Auto-Tune Enable/Disable the automatic RX PHY tuning upon signal detection at the
PHY Enabled transceiver.

Retune PHY
Now Press to trigger a manual RX PHY tuning.

Eye diagram
The bit-error-rate (BER) eye-diagram allows the user to get a direct visual representation of the signal
quality. The eye-diagram is formed by changing the sampling point of the PHY step by step in the time
dimension (sampling delay) and the amplitude dimension (0/1 threshold). For each sampling point (x,y), 1
million bits are measured and the number of bit-errors are counted. A simple division gives the BER. The
result is the BER eye-diagram shown below:

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The color map shows the measured bit-error rate for each point going from 1 million (maximum red) to
zero (black). The color scale is logarithmic. Higher resolutions give a more clear diagram and higher values
of X and Y will also give a higher precision in the vertical and horizontal bathtub curve estimations,
respectively (see Eye Data below). However, the time it takes to measure the eye is directly proportional to
the number of sampling points (X*Y).

Eye Data
The eye-data table provides an estimate of several parameters of the eye, including width, height and jitter.
Future releases will also include link BER estimates based on the horizontal and vertical bathtub curves.

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Name Description

Common Parameters

Width Estimated eye-width in mUI

Height Estimated eye-height in mV

Horizontal Bathtub Parameters

HSlope left Left slope of the horizontal bathtub curve

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HSlope right Right slope of the horizontal bathtub curve

Y-intercept left Intersection with the Y-axis on the left side

Y-intercept right Intersection with the Y-axis on the right side

R-squared fit left Quality assessment of the estimation. Max = 100.

R-squared fit right Quality assessment of the estimation. Max = 100.

Est RJrms left Estimated random jitter (rms) – left side

Est RJrms right Estimated random jitter (rms) – right side

Est DJpp Estimated deterministic jitter

Vertical Bathtub Parameters

VSlope bottom Bottom slope of the vertical bathtub curve

VSlope top Top slope of the vertical bathtub curve

X-intercept bottom Intersection with the bottom X-axis

X-intercept top Intersection with the top X-axis

R-squared fit bottom Quality assessment of the estimation. Max = 100.

R-squared fit top Quality assessment of the estimation. Max = 100.

Est RJrms bottom Estimated random jitter (rms) – bottom

Est RJrms top Estimated random jitter (rms) – top

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STREAM PROPERTIES
This page describes the available stream properties for ValkyrieManager.

Common Stream Control

This area contains port-level controls that affect all streams on that port. They are shown on the streams
property page for the sake of convenience.

Traffic Control

Property Explanation

Traffic
Status The current traffic status for the port (OFF: traffic is off, ON: traffic is on)

Traffic
Control This button enables you to either start or stop traffic on the port

This property determines the scheduling mode for outgoing traffic from the
Port TX port, i.e. how multiple logical streams are merged onto one physical port. Refer
Mode to the Script API description here for further information.

Port Stop
After** Stop port transmission after the specified number of packets are sent

Port Burst** Time in micro seconds from start of sending a group of bursts till start of
Period sending next group of bursts

**Feature requires software release 76 or higher

TX Time Limit

Property Explanation

Port TX Time
Limit The maximum time the port should transmit

Port TX Time
Elapsed The amount of time the port has been transmitting.

Stream Properties
This area contain all stream-level configuration properties, except those related to protocol header and
modifier definitions.

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Identification

Property Explanation

Port The parent port name

Stream ID The unique stream ID

The test payload ID (TID) carried in the Xena test payload area. This field can
Test Payload ID be empty if no TID value is needed.

Description A user-modifiable description label for the stream

State The stream enable state.

Transmission Profile

Property Explanation

Rate The stream traffic rate expressed as a percentage of the effective rate for the
Fraction port.

Packet Rate The stream traffic rate expressed as packets per second.

Bit Rate L2 The stream traffic rate expressed as bits per second seen on Layer 2.

Bit Rate L1 The stream traffic rate expressed as bits per second seen on Layer 1.

This command can be used to cap the rate for disabled streams. The button will
only be enabled if the sum of the defined stream bandwidth actually exceeds
Rate Cap the available port bandwidth.

The calculated mean inter-packet gap with the current TX profile settings. This
Inter Packet denotes the space between the end of the preceding packet and the start of
Gap the following packet.

The number of sequential packets sent before switching to the next stream
(packets). This property is only configurable when the Port TX Mode is set to
Seq.Packets “Sequential”.

Stop stream transmission after the specified number of packets are sent. This
Stop After value can be empty or zero, which means that the stream will continue to
transmit until traffic is stopped at the port level.

The number of packets in each burst (packets). Valid range 0-500; in TX mode
Burst Size Burst**: 0-10000.

The density of the burst expressed as a percentage value between 0 and 100. A
Burst Density
value of 100 means that the packets are packed tightly together, only spaced by

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the minimum inter-frame gap. A value of 0 means even, non-bursty, spacing.

The exact spacing achieved depends on the other enabled streams of the port.

Not used when TX port mode is Burst**

Inter Packet Gap between packets in a burst

Gap**
Only used when TX port mode is Burst

Inter Burst Gap between this burst and burst in next stream
Gap**
Only used when TX port mode is Burst

The calculated inter-burst gap with the current burst settings. This denotes the
Inter Burst space between the end of the last packet in the preceding burst and the start of
Gap the first packet in the following burst.

Burst
Signature A graphical depiction of the current burst settings

**Feature requires software release 76 or higher

Error Handling

Property Explanation

Insert Frame Checksum Control if a valid frame checksum is added to the stream packets.
(FCS) Default is enabled.

Specifies the type of error that is injected into the traffic stream.The
following types of errors can be specified:

Frame Checksum Error: Injects an Ethernet FCS error.

Sequence Error: Injects a sequence error in the Xena Test Payload.

This will result in a lost packet being counted. Only applicable if the
stream has a TID.

Misordering Error: Injects a misordering error in the Xena Test

Payload. Only applicable if the stream has a TID.

Payload Integrity Error: Only applicable for incrementing payloads.

Error Injection Injects an error by changing a byte in the incrementing sequence.

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Test Payload Error: Injects an error in the Xena Test Payload

sequence forcing the packet to not being recognized at the receiving
port as a Xena test packet. It will then be counted as a no-test-
payload packet.

It is only possible to inject errors on a stream if traffic is active on the

parent port.

Inject a single error of the specified type into the traffic stream. This
Inject Error option is only enabled when traffic is active on the parent port.

Packet Content

Property Explanation

Packet Size
Type The size distribution of the packets transmitted for the stream

Minimum Size The lower limit of the packet size (if required by the size type)

Maximum Size The upper limit of the packet size (if required by the size type)

The type of payload data used in the Xena payload section. See this Script API
Payload Type entry for details.

Payload
Pattern The pattern of bytes to be repeated when the type is set to ‘Pattern’.

Ext. Payload The size of the extended payload if this option has been enabled on the
Size parent port. See this link for details.

Connectivity Check

Property Explanation

IPv4 Gateway The IPv4 gateway address used to resolve the DMAC address for the stream.
Address Only valid if the stream contains an IPv4 protocol segment.

IPv6 Gateway The IPv6 gateway address used to resolve the DMAC address for the stream.
Address Only valid if the stream contains an IPv6 protocol segment.

Send an ARP or NDP request to the peer in order to resolve the MAC address.
Resolve Peer Only valid of an IPv4 or IPv6 segment has been defined with a valid Dest. IP
Address adress is defined.

Send a PING request to the peer in order to check the connectivity. Only valid
Check IP Peer
of an IPv4 or IPv6 segment has been defined with a valid Dest. IP adress is

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defined.

The Xena tester will set the Target IP Address in any ARP/NDP request sent from a Xena testport to a value
in the following prioritized order:

1. Stream gateway IP address for the IP version used by the stream if defined.
2. Port gateway IP address for the IP version used by the stream if defined and stream “Dest IP
Address” is not in same subnet as the port gateway (the legacy method).
3. Stream “Dest. IP Address”

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PORT STATISTICS LOGGING

Overview
The XenaIntegrator allows you to continuously poll statistics counters from one or more Xena tester ports to a
text file. The statistics counters can then be processed as follows:

- They can be logged to a text file for later offline processing.

- They can be monitored in a realtime chart.

These functions are handled by the Statistics Logging panel. This panel is shown in the center-right part of the
application by default, but it can also be shown by selecting the associated menu item in the View menu.

Port Logging Definition

A Port Logging Definition (PLD) contains the configuration for a number of selected testports.

A new PLD can be created in the Resources View by clicking the Create button and selecting the Port Logging
Definition option. Alternatively you can right-click on the Port Logging Definitions branch in the Available
Resources view and select the Create Port Logging Definition menu item. In either case you will then see the
main configuration panel as shown below.

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The main panel provides the following configuration options:

Option Explanation

Identification

Definition
A descriptive label for the definition.
Label:

Comments: Any comments you may want to add.

This option allows you to link a logging definition to a stream

Linked Adv.
definition. In this case the linked stream definition will determine the
Stream Def:
selected ports in the logging definition.

Scheduling

Poll Interval: Specifies the interval between polls. The default value is 1 second.

Specifies the total desired duration of a collection period. You can

specify this duration as a number of days + a hour::minute::second
Log Period: option. The total duration could thus for instance be 2 days, 4 hours
and 30 minutes.

This option is only valid if the Run Until Stopped option is not selected.

Run Until If this option is selected the collection will run until it is manually
Stopped: stopped.

Below the main configuration panel you find the selected ports list. Below each port you will see the
available streams on that port. The following configuration and monitoring options are available for each
stream:

Option Explanation

Chart? Select if you want to view this stream in a realtime chart.

High/Low? Select if you want to view the high and low values for this stream in a
chart. Only applicable for a broadcast or multicast stream that ends up on

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several receive ports.

Select the color for this stream in the charts.

Chart Color:

When the logging function is active the detected receive ports for each
Detected transmit stream will be shown here.
Receive Ports:

Text File Logging

The text logging function will log data from whole ports. It is not possible to select individual streams for
logging. The data reported for a port represents all streams defined on that port.
The text file logging can be configured in the Detailed Configuration panel. The available options are
described below:

Option Explanation

Selects whether textfile logging is performed or

Enable Textfile Logging: not.

This string will be used as the prefix for the

File Name Prefix logging filenames.

If selected a timestamp on the form

“YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS” will be appended to
Append Timestamp the filename.

All logfiles will be located under the

<ProgramData>XenaXenaIntegratorPortLog
directory. If this option is selected the logfiles
for different logging runs will be placed in
separate subdirectories under this master
directory. The subdirectory name will be a
timestamp on the form
“YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS”.

If the option is not selected all logging files will

be placed directly in the PortLog directory
Separate Run Directories described above.

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This determines the format of the logfile. You

can select between CSV (Comma Separated
File Type Value) or XML format.

Selecting this option will make the logging

function save the current logfile to an archive
file and start a new logfile when the logfile
reaches a certain size.

The archive files will be

named <prefix>.<archive no>.<extension>.

The archive numbering will be sequential so

that the file with the highest number is the
most recent archive file. The currently active
Archive Large Files logfile will still be called <prefix>.<extension>.

Archive File Size The file size where archiving should take place.

If this option is selected the application will

limit the number of archive files for a single
logging run. This can be used for long-running
logging tasks to prevent the harddisk from
Limit Archive File No filling up.

The maximum number of archive files to keep.

This option is only valid if the Limit Archive File
Max. Archive Files Nooption is selected.

Pressing this button will enable you to select

which counters to include in the log. See below
for a detailed description of the available
Select Counter Types … counter types.

This field displays the current location of the

Current Log Directory logfiles when logging has been activated.

Pressing this button will open a Windows

Open Log Directory Explorer in the current logging directory.

Counter types
The following counter types are available:

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Counter Type Explanation

TxBps Transmit rate (bit/sec)

TxFps Transmit rate (frames/sec)

TxBytes Transmitted bytes

TxFrames Transmitted frames

RxBps Receive rate (bit/sec)

RxFps Receive rate (frames/sec)

RxBytes Received bytes

RxFrames Received frames

RxSeqErr Number of lost frames due to non‐incrementing‐sequence‐number errors.

RxMisErr Number of received swapped‐sequence‐number misorder errors.

RxPldErr Number of received packets with non‐incrementing payload content.

The average latency for the last second in microseconds. Only available in
LatencyCurr newer Xena chassis firmware versions.

LatencyAvg The average latency for the whole time period in microseconds.

LatencyMin The minimum latency for the whole time period in microseconds.

LatencyMax The maximum latency for the whole time period in microseconds.

The average jitter for the last second in microseconds. Only available in newer
JitterCurr Xena chassis firmware versions.

JitterAvg The average jitter for the whole time period in microseconds.

JitterMin The minimum jitter for the whole time period in microseconds.

JitterMax The maximum jitter for the whole time period in microseconds.

CSV File Format

The CSV file will contain a number of lines. Each line will represent all enabled logging data for one port for
a single poll. A line will have the following format:

<Timestamp>, <Port ID>, { <CounterValue>, }*

Field Explanation

The data and time for the logged data line on the form “YYYYMMDD-
Timestamp HHMMSS”.

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Port ID The port identification on the form “P-<chassis>-<module>-<port>”,

CounterValue The counter value. All values are expressed as a decimal number.

The file will also contain a header row describing the selected counter types.

XML File Format

The XML file format will be similar to the following example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--XenaIntegrator Statistics Counters-->
<PollSamples>
<SelectedCounterTypes
Values="TxBps,TxFps,TxBytes,TxFrames,RxBps,RxFps,RxBytes,RxFrames" />
<Element Timestamp="20130331-174155" Type="Notification" Text="Log
initialized" />
<Element Timestamp="20130331-174156" Type="Sample" Port="P-0-10-2"
Values="0,0,0,0,0,0,2.91E+06,4.3E+04" />
<Element Timestamp="20130331-174156" Type="Sample" Port="P-0-10-3"
Values="0,0,0,0,0,0,1.51E+05,581" />

<etc>

</PollSamples>

All data is kept under a root tag called <PollSamples>.

The first node is called <SelectedCounterTypes>. The “Value” attribute describes the selected counter
types in comma-separated format.

Each poll sample is represented using the <Element> node tag and has the “Type” attribute set to “Sample”.
The “Values” attribute contains the sample values in the same order as is given by the
<SelectedCounterTypes> tag.

<Element> nodes with Type = “Notification” represents notification messages.

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Realtime Charting
The Realtime Charting function allows you to view a lineplot for each selected stream which is updated in
real time. For each stream you can monitor the throughput, loss, latency and jitter values.

The charts will display samples within a specific timespan, typically using a “sliding window” mechanism
where new samples are displayed at the right and old samples are dropped off at the left. All samples are
however saved in an internal database so it is possible to pan and/or zoom to view older samples. The
samples will also be saved between logging sessions, so you can go back and revisit a prior logging session
by panning the chart back in time.

Configuration

The realtime charting function can be configured in the Detailed Configuration panel. The available
options are described below:

Option Explanation

Enable Realtime
Charting: Selects whether realtime charting is performed or not.

These 4 controls determine whether each chart type will be displayed. If

Chart Enable and enabled you can also select the unit of the selected value on the ordinate
Unit: axis.

The initial timespan of the abscissa axis. You can however change the
Initial Time Span zoom factor while the logging is active.

Max. Hor. Legend Determines how many items the legend box will display horizontally. The
Items: default value is 6.

Legend Stream Determines whether to use a condensed stream ID or the actual stream
Labels: label as the legend stream identifier.

Determines the type of plot to display high/low values. A “Stick Plot” is a

simplified candle plot with a stick figure for each sample value. A “Region
Plot” consist of two lineplots representing the high and low values.

High/Low Chart Note: As stated above the high/low chart is only applicable for a broadcast
Type: or multicast stream that ends up on multiple destination ports.

Clear Old Samples Press this button to clear old sample values in the sample database.

Viewing Charts

The actual charts will be visible in the “Chart View” tab after logging has been started for a PLD. The
tab will feature 4 charts, one for each of the throughput, loss, latency and jitter values. All selected
streams will be contained in each chart. You can enable or disable streams for chart inclusion while
logging is active.

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Chart View Options

Each of the 4 chart types look like the Throughput example shown below.

The general visibility of each chart is controlled by the settings in the Detailed Configuration panel.
Each chart also feature a title bar with an grey expand/collapse (plus/minus) icon to the left of the
chart title. Use this to collapse a chart temporarily if you want to maximize screen space for viewing
another chart.

The two icons at the right of the title bar functions as follows:

- Auto-Slide to Latest Sample: Activate the “Sliding Window” mechanism where new samples
are displayed at the right and old samples are dropped off at the left.
- Reset Zoom and Pan: Reset the current zoom and pan level to the initial values.

These functions are also available as a right-click menu for the chart itself.

The width of the charts follows the width of the containing panel and will resize automatically
when the container is resized. The height of each chart can be changed by dragging the small
dotted handle at the lower right edge of each chart up or down.

Zooming and Panning

It is possible to zoom and/ir pan the chart view as follows:

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- To zoom either in or out along one of the axis click and drag the mouse button on the
desired axis. To zoom in drag up/right. To zoom out drag down/left.
- To pan (i.e. move the chart view without zooming) simply click and drag inside the chart
area.

Sample Charts

Below are shown few sample charts.

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Chart Zoom and Pan

This page explains how to perform zoom and pan in ValkyrieManager charts.

Zooming

Each axis scrollbar contain a small white square at each end. If you grab this with the mouse and drag it
left/right (for a horizontal axis) or up/down (for a vertical axis) you can zoom in or out on the displayed
data.

Panning

If you grab the scrollbar somewhere inside the white squares you can pan either horizontally or vertically.

Reset Zoom and Pan

Double-click a scrollbar to reset both the zoom and pan functions to the default states for the associated
axis.

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EXTENDED PAYLOAD FEATURE

This page describes the Extended Payload feature. The feature is currently only available for selected
40/100 port types and require Xena software release 68 or higher.

Overview
The original payload definition function for streams only allow the user to specify an 18 byte pattern (when
PS_PAYLOAD is set to PATTERN). The extended payload feature allow the definition of a much larger (up to
MTU) payload buffer for each stream which can be edited as part of the general protocol header editor in
ValkyrieManager.

Enabling the Feature

The feature require that the Payload Mode property on the parent port has been set to Extended Payload.
This enables the feature for all streams on this port.

Configuring the Payload

Once the port payload mode has been set to enable extended payload it will now be possible to set the
desired size of the payload area for the stream as explained here. This is also shown below.

Once the size has been set the equivalent data area will be available in the stream protocol header editor,
as shown below.

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Modifiers
It is possible to set a modifier in the extended payload area just as it is for a normal protocol field.

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PACKET HEADER DEFINITIONS

This page describes the Packet Header editor used by the stream configuration pages. The editor controls
the definition the protocol header segments and the associated field modifiers.

Overview
The defined protocol segments are shown in a Wireshark-like tree structure. All fields for a given segment
header are shown as child rows under the segment row. Any modifiers defined on fields are shown as child
rows under the field row.

Tree Columns
The treeview contains these columns:

Column Explanation

Segment/Field Name The name of the segment or field

Contains an icon that indicate if a collapsed segment or field row contains one
M
or more modifiers.

Field Value The actual field value in the common value representation for that field.

Certain fields may get their value from a list of standardized or well-known
Named Values named values. Instead of entering the value directly you can select the value
from the dropdown list in this column.

Field Type Icons

Each field row is prefixed with an icon indicating the value representation for the field. The following
representations are used:

- DEC: Decimal representation

- BIN: Binary representation
- HEX:Hexadecimal representation

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- MAC: A MAC address

- IP4: An IPv4 address
- IP6: An IPv6 address

Raw Hex Editor

At the bottom of the treeview you will find a raw hex editor which allow you to inspect and optionally
modify the raw hex data for the segment definitions. Any changes you make in the raw editor will be
written to the chassis and the associated field value controls will be updated accordingly.

When you select a segment or a field the relevant parts in the hex editor will be highlighted. The hex editor
will also underline the areas affected by any defined modifier.

The left part of the hex editor contains an address list and the right part show the current raw data
decoded as printable ASCII.

Segment Headers
Adding a Segment Header
To add a new segment header to the existing definition press the Add Segment button in the in the
command panel to the right. You will now be presented with a list of known protocol types in
alphabetical order. You can select one or more types using the standard Windows [Ctrl-Click] or
[Shift-Click] operations. When you are done press the OK button.

Moving a Segment Header

With the exception of the first Ethernet segment you can move segment headers up or down in the
list after you have added them. Select the segment you want to move and use either the Move Up
or theMove Down button in the command panel to the right.
Any modifiers you have defined in segments affected by the move will be moved automatically.

Removing a Segment Header

Select the segment you want to remove and use the Remove Segment button in the command
panel to the right.
Any modifiers you have defined in the removed segment will also be removed automatically.

Import From PCAP File

Instead of manually building the segment headers you can instead import the structure from a
PCAP file. Note that this operation will replace any segments you may have added manually!
To import the segment structure from a PCAP file simply press the Import button in the command
panel to the right and select a PCAP file on disk which contain the packet you want to import. The
packets in the PCAP file will now be decoded and a list of the found packets will be shown. You
should then select the packet you want to import and press the OK button.
The import function will use any trailing data in the packet as one or more custom data segments.

Setting Field Values

You can change any field value by using the associated edit control in the Field Value column. For those
fields that have a set of well-known values associated you can also choose one of these values from the
dropdown list in the Named Values column.
Finally you may edit the content of the fields directly in the hex editor panel if you are so inclined.

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Next-Protocol Type Fields

Certain protocol segment types (such as Ethernet, VLAN and IP) contain fields that indicate the type
of the next segment. The segment editor will attempt to set such fields to a correct value when you
add, remove or move segments. You can however override the value afterwards if necessary.

Modifiers
Modifiers are specified directly on the field hey are supposed to modify.

Adding a modifier
To add a modifier select the field you want to modify and click the Add button in the Modifiers
section in the command panel to the right. You will now be presented with a window allowing you
to specify the properties for the modifier. Press the OK button when you are done.
The new modifier will be shown as a child row under the field row. The value in the Field Value
column is a read-only string representation of the modifier settings.

Editing a Modifier
To edit the properties of an existing modifier select the modifier and click the Edit button in the
Modifiers section in the command panel to the right.

Removing a Modifier
To remove a modifier select the modifier and click the Remove button in the Modifiers section in
the command panel to the right.

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TROUBLESHOOTING A XENA TEST APPLICATION

This page contains some guidelines when you encounter a problem with one of the Xena test applications,
such as ValkyrieManager, Valkyrie2544, Valkyrie1564, Valkyrie3918 or Valkyrie2889 and want to obtain
help from your support representative.
Basic Instructions
This section explain how you should report a problem to your support representative.

Describe the Problem

To enable fast resolution of your problem we request that your support request contains the
following information:
• Name and version of the Xena test software used (the version can be seen in the main title bar)
• A description of what you are trying to do with the software.
• If the software misbehaved please describe what you actually encountered and you expected
instead.
• Screenshots of any error situation.
• The test configuration file for the application (contained in the support archive).
• Any debug log files for the application (contained in the support archive).

Create a Support Information Archive

The Xena test applications include a menu entry called Create Support Information Archive which
will create a compressed ZIP archive containing both the currently loaded configuration file and the
content of the Logs and Settingsdirectories. This file can then be emailed to your support
representative.
For the Valkyrie2544 and similar test applications this menu entry is located in the Help menu. For
the ValkyrieManager application it is located in the Tools ribbon menu.
Please note: For the Valkyrie2544 and similar test applications it is important that the configuration
file used when the problem was detected is loaded when the support archive is generated.
Otherwise the configuration file will not be part of the archive.

Attach Screenshots

Screenshots are a great and easy way of communicating what you see on the screen. To obtain a
screenshot of a running program and send it to Xena support perform the following actions:
1. Point your mouse inside the program window.
2. Press the <Alt-PrintScr> keys simultaneously.
3. Switch to your email program and start a new email message.
4. Press <Ctrl-V> or select “Paste” from the menu (most likely the “Edit” menu) to insert the
screenshot into the email.

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Additional Details
This section goes into a bit more detail about the various items contained in the Xena Support Archive
mentioned above.

Configuration Files

The Xena test applications keeps their configurations in special files with an application-specific
extension. The extensions used are as follows:
Valkyrie2544: *.v2544

Valkyrie1564: *.v1564

Valkyrie3918: *.v3918

Valkyrie2889: *.v2889

ValkyrieManager: *.vmcfg

The configuration files will be located in a common Xena data directory on your PC. More
specifically they will be located in the following
path: C:<UserAppDataDir>Xena<XenaTestApplication>. The <UserAppDataDir> directory depends
on your Windows version:
Windows
Vista, 7 C:Users<username>AppDataRoaming
and 8:

Windows C:Documents and

XP: Settings<username>}Application Data

The <username> is the name of the currently logged-in user.

The Xena test applications include a menu entry called Explore Xena Data Directory in
the File menu that will open a Windows Explorer in the correct directory, regardless of the
Windows version.

Debug Log Files

The Xena test applications logs certain events and errors to a series of debug log file located in the
Logs subdirectory under the above mentioned main application data directory. If you encounter
errors it may help the support if you include these files in your support request.

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