ATM Forum conformance testing to ensure your P-NNI implementation is ready to plug-and-play

Abstract

As its name implies, P-NNI (private network-network interface) was originally designed for private enterprise networks. However, many public carriers are seriously considering deployment of P-NNI networks. P-NNI promises fault-tolerant, dynamic QoS routing, in a highly scalable multi-vendor plug-and-play environment. The down side to P-NNI is its complexity. The ATM Forum specification totals over six hundred pages, including errata and addenda. Clearly, it is no small task to ensure that the switch you are building conforms to standards, and will inter-operate with others. If you are building a P-NNI network, and purchasing equipment off the shelf from one or more vendors, the same questions arise. This presentation provides a brief overview of the P-NNI standard, outlines some of the factors that need to be considered when developing a P-NNI test strategy, and illustrates how conformance testing can be performed.