ITU-T Y.1564
The ITU-T Y.1564 plugin validates Ethernet service activation according to the ITU-T Y.1564 methodology. For each service, you define the frame size, the bandwidth profile (CIR and EIR), VLAN tags, marking, and service acceptance criteria (SAC). The plugin runs the service configuration test and the service performance test, measures IR, FLR, FTD, FDV, and availability, and returns an "Accepted" or "Not accepted" verdict for each service.
The plugin belongs to the Network Testing module (see Pricing) and is configured in the Data Plane: select ITU-T Y.1564 in the plugin catalog, then open the Y.1564 parameters section.
Test Setup
A Y.1564 series uses exactly two ports and sends traffic in one direction:
- Add a client ITU-T Y.1564 entry to the task. Under Sources, select one interface: it transmits the service streams.
- Add a server ITU-T Y.1564 entry. Under its Sources, select one interface: it receives the streams and checks every frame.
- Under Targets of the client entry, select the network of the server entry.
- Configure tests, services, and ports in the Y.1564 parameters section of the client entry. In the server entry, this section only sets the speed of its port.
The target network must have a UDP port configured. The stream of service N is sent to that port + 2 × (N − 1), and the yellow frames of that service go to the next port. For example, with port 5000, the first service uses ports 5000 and 5001, and the second uses 5002 and 5003. The network can be IPv4 or IPv6. The next-hop MAC address is taken from the network's L2 policy.
FTD and FDV are measured only when both ports of the series are on the same agent. When the ports are on different agents, services are judged by IR and FLR, and the Delay column of the report shows "Ports on different agents".
Tests
| Test | What runs |
|---|---|
| Service configuration | Each service is tested separately: CIR steps, then the EIR test and the policing test (Y.1564, clause 8.1) |
| Service performance | All services are sent at CIR simultaneously for the configured time (Y.1564, clause 8.2) |
You can select one test or both. Both are enabled by default.
Settings
Service Configuration
| Setting | Description | Value |
|---|---|---|
| CIR steps | Share of CIR at which the service is sent at each step | 25, 50, 75, and 100% of CIR by default; up to 10 steps in ascending order, each greater than 0 and no more than 100% |
| Additional step | Adds your own step to the list | Greater than 0 and no more than 100% of CIR |
| Step duration | Duration of each CIR step, the EIR test, and the policing test | 1 to 60 s, 5 s by default |
| EIR test | Transmission at CIR + EIR | Runs for services with EIR greater than 0; enabled by default |
| Policing test | Transmission at CIR + 125% of EIR (125% of CIR if EIR is less than 20% of CIR). The device under test must limit the rate to CIR + EIR | Enabled by default |
Service Performance
| Setting | Description | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Duration | Time during which all services are sent at CIR simultaneously | 15 minutes (default), 2 hours, 24 hours, or a custom duration from 1 minute to 24 hours |
Trial Settings
| Setting | Description | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Learning before measurement | A setting shared with the RFC methodologies. A Y.1564 series does not run a separate learning phase before a trial; the value is only checked against the allowed range | 1000 to 60,000 ms, 2000 ms by default |
| Wait for last frames | The server side keeps receiving for this time after transmission stops, to count frames still in the path. The value is rounded up to whole seconds | 100 to 60,000 ms, 2000 ms by default |
| Generator rate tolerance | A trial is invalid if the number of transmitted frames is above or below the expected number by more than the tolerance. The same value is used as the M correction of the policing test | 0.01 to 5%, 1% by default |
Services
A series can contain from 1 to 64 services. Add services with Add service; the row menu lets you duplicate or delete a service. To edit a service, expand its row in the table.
| Setting | Description | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Service name | Service name in the report | Up to 64 bytes in UTF-8 (a Cyrillic letter takes 2 bytes), unique within the series regardless of case |
| Frame size | Frame size without VLAN tags, including FCS. Each VLAN tag adds 4 bytes | 64 to 9018 bytes (at least 84 bytes for IPv6 networks so that the measurement header fits in the frame), 512 by default. Standard Y.1564 sizes: a = 64, b = 128, c = 256, d = 512, e = 1024, f = 1280, g = 1518. Frames larger than 1518 bytes must be supported along the entire test path |
| Color mode | Color-blind: all service traffic is sent as one stream, and the device under test colors the frames itself. Color-aware: frames within EIR are sent as a separate yellow stream with its own marking | Color-blind by default. Color-aware mode requires EIR greater than 0 and yellow frame marking |
| CIR | Committed service rate at L2: from the destination MAC address to the FCS, including VLAN tags | At least 1 kbit/s, 100 Mbit/s by default |
| EIR | Excess rate on top of CIR | 0 means no EIR; the EIR test does not run for the service |
| CBS, EBS | Burst sizes in the bandwidth profile | 0 to 4,294,967,295 bytes. The values are stored in the service profile; CBS and EBS tests are not run yet |
| VLAN tags | Tags of service frames: TPID, VID, PCP, and DEI. The first tag is the outer tag; a second tag makes the frame QinQ | Up to two tags; TPID 0x8100 or 0x88a8, VID 0 to 4094, PCP 0 to 7, DEI 0 or 1. Without tags, frames are sent untagged |
| DSCP | DSCP marking of service frames | 0 to 63; an empty field means DSCP 0 |
| Yellow frames: PCP, DEI, DSCP | Marking of the yellow stream in color-aware mode. PCP and DEI are changed in the outer VLAN tag | An empty field takes the green frame value. PCP and DEI require the service to have a VLAN tag |
| FLR (SAC) | Allowed share of lost frames | 0 to 100%, 0.1% by default |
| FTD (SAC) | Limit for the mean frame transfer delay | Greater than 0 and no more than 10,000 ms, 10 ms by default |
| FDV (SAC) | Limit for frame delay variation: the 99.9th percentile minus the minimum | Greater than 0 and no more than 10,000 ms, 5 ms by default |
| AVAIL (SAC) | Share of available seconds in the performance test (per ITU-T Y.1563) | 0 to 100%, 99.9% by default; 0 means not checked |
Ports
Each port of the series has a speed that is treated as 100% load:
- Automatic: the speed is detected from the interface and checked again before the run.
- Manual speed: the value is entered manually in Mbit/s or Gbit/s.
The form checks that the load of each service fits within the L2 capacity of the port, allowing 20 bytes per frame for the preamble, SFD, and interframe gap. For a service, CIR + EIR is checked, or the policing test load when the policing test is enabled. For the performance test, the sum of CIR across all services must not exceed the port capacity at the smallest frame size among the services.
Series Flow
A series consists of trials. Each trial is started anew on the agents, runs for the configured time, and ends with a measurement snapshot that the verdict is based on.
- Service configuration test. Services are tested one after another. For each service, the CIR steps run first (25, 50, 75, and 100% of CIR by default), then the EIR test (if enabled and the service has EIR greater than 0) and the policing test (if enabled). Each of these trials lasts the Step duration.
- Service performance test. One trial: all services are sent at CIR simultaneously for the configured duration.
In color-aware mode, the green stream (within CIR) and the yellow stream (within EIR) are sent separately with their own marking. The trial duration is rounded up to whole seconds.
A failed service does not stop the series: all trials run to the end. The series stops early only if a measurement is invalid: for example, there is no snapshot or no transmit and receive counters, the number of transmitted frames differs from the expected number by more than the Generator rate tolerance, or, in the performance test, there are more runs of severely errored seconds than the measurement snapshot can hold. In that case, the results are summarized from the completed trials.
How the Verdict Is Reached
For each stream, the following values are calculated:
- IR: received traffic rate at L2: received frames × frame size with tags × 8 / trial duration;
- FLR: share of lost frames: (transmitted − received) / transmitted;
- FTD: frame transfer delay as minimum, mean, and maximum; the mean is compared with the criterion;
- FDV: frame delay variation: the 99.9th percentile minus the minimum;
- AVAIL: in the performance test, the share of available time per ITU-T Y.1563: a second is a severely errored second (SES) if fewer than half of the expected frames were received; unavailability starts after 10 such seconds in a row and ends after 10 seconds in a row without them.
| Trial | "Passed" condition |
|---|---|
| CIR step, performance test | For each green or color-blind stream: FLR, FTD, and FDV do not exceed the SAC; in the performance test, AVAIL is also not below the SAC (if AVAIL is greater than 0) |
| EIR test, color-blind | IR is not below CIR × (1 − FLR from the SAC) and not above CIR + EIR |
| Policing test, color-blind | IR is not below CIR × (1 − FLR from the SAC) and not above CIR + EIR increased by the generator rate tolerance |
| EIR test and policing test, color-aware | The green stream meets the SAC; the yellow stream is not judged. In the policing test, the total IR is not above (CIR + EIR) × (1 + generator rate tolerance) |
Each summary column (CIR steps, EIR, policing, performance) is "Passed" if all trials of that kind passed, and "Failed" otherwise. A service is accepted if all of its trials passed. The series is accepted if all services are accepted and the measurements are valid.
Results
Results are shown on the task's Metrics tab: the Y.1564 dashboard is listed right below General data (see the dashboard description below).
In the trials table, the Delay column shows "Measured", "Ports on different agents" (FTD and FDV are not measured), or "No timestamps" (no timestamps were received in the trial).
The task report is exported from the Parameters menu (⋮), see Report Export and Task Import:
- PDF and HTML contain the "ITU-T Y.1564 results" section: methodology conditions and limitations, series settings, the per-service summary, and all trials;
- CSV has one row per service stream in every trial;
- Export Report as JSON exports the raw measurements of the latest run: the run description and all trials.
"ITU-T Y.1564: Services" Dashboard
The dashboard is shown for tasks with this plugin and is built from the saved series results.
| Row | Panels |
|---|---|
| Summary | Services accepted, Trials, Series status |
| Results | Per-service summary: CIR steps, EIR, policing, performance, and the overall result |
| Traffic | IR and offered rate by CIR step; Service performance test (SPT) summary: duration, offered load, IR, FLR, AVAIL, unavailable time, verdict, and reasons |
| Trials | Trials by service: the same columns as the trials table of the report |
Limitations
- A series uses exactly two ports and one transmission direction. To test the reverse direction, create a separate series.
- FTD and FDV are measured only between ports of the same agent. The transmit timestamp is taken in software (before the transmit queue), so FTD includes time spent in the generator's queues.
- CBS and EBS tests (Y.1564, Appendix I) are not run yet: CBS and EBS values are only stored in the service profile.
- The M correction of the policing test equals the Generator rate tolerance of CIR + EIR.
- In the performance test, FLR, FTD, and FDV are calculated over the whole test, including unavailable seconds.
- A service has one frame size; frame size mixes (EMIX) are not supported.
- Frames larger than 1518 bytes (jumbo) must be supported along the entire test path; the agent enables jumbo mode on the port for them.
- The task can only run on agents whose version supports Y.1564.