Aviz Networks details FTAS automation for SONiC evaluation

Aviz Networks’ Fabric Test Automation Suite (FTAS) is positioned to streamline SONiC evaluations for data center networks by automating Layer 2/3, routing, overlay, QoS, resilience, and monitoring checks. The update matters to enterprise IT and security leaders evaluating open networking with multi-vendor hardware and frequent changes.

Research Overview

The blog frames SONiC as an open-source approach for building and managing data center networks, with the goal of reducing vendor lock-in and improving operational control. It also outlines why enterprises may find SONiC evaluation difficult when hardware, software distributions, and configuration options vary across environments.

To address evaluation and deployment complexity, the post focuses on FTAS as an automation suite for validating SONiC-based network setups. It describes FTAS as supporting tests across the lifecycle, including validation tied to upgrades and ongoing configuration changes.

Key Findings

The blog states that SONiC evaluation can be difficult due to multi-vendor variability, multiple SONiC flavors, complex network configurations, the need for SONiC expertise, and a large set of features to assess. It also highlights the lack of standardized testing tools across deployments.

For FTAS, the blog describes automated testing for Layer 2/3, high-availability and security protocol validation, firmware and image qualification testing, and continuous validation through CI/CD pipeline integration. It further claims coverage for day-2 operations such as upgrades, configuration changes, and troubleshooting.

Technical Breakdown

The post lists protocol coverage categories for FTAS testing, including Layer 2/Layer 3 items such as Ethernet and IP (IPv4/IPv6). It also includes overlay protocols such as VXLAN and EVPN, and control plane items such as BGP, STP, LACP, and MLAG.

Other supported elements mentioned include QoS. For resilience-related validation, the blog describes stability testing during reboots, container crashes, and link events, along with scalability testing and stress testing intended to reveal performance bottlenecks and failure points.

Product Update

The blog’s FTAS 3.1 update adds QoS testing coverage, expanded EVPN/L2VXLAN coverage, more SNMP monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities, fast reboot testing, broader platform CLI coverage, and additional verifications within resilience test cases. It also adds stress testing coverage for stability and scalability under heavy load.

The post additionally describes FTAS as providing standardized testing across vendors, automated testing to reduce manual effort, and CI/CD integration for continuous validation. It also notes detailed reporting and analysis and says FTAS development is driven by customer use cases and feedback.

Overall, the blog presents FTAS as an automation suite for validating SONiC-based data center networks across protocol layers, resilience scenarios, scalability and stress conditions, and operational lifecycle steps, with added FTAS 3.1 coverage for QoS, EVPN/L2VXLAN, SNMP, fast reboot, CLI, and resilience verification. Blog Signals brief is a fact-based summary of the vendor blog.