VIAVI Solutions

Case Study

Testing HTTP Adaptive
Bitrate (ABR) Video with
TeraVM
TeraVM statefully emulates the leading HTTP adaptive bitratestreaming players: Adobe® (HDS), Apple® (HLS), Microsoft®
(Smooth) and MPEG-DASH.

HTTP adaptive bitrate (ABR) players allow network
users to consume video content customized to thescreen resolution, frame size and frame rate of thedevice and/or the conditions of the network path whenthe video is streaming. This form of video distribution
is often referred to as Over-The-Top (OTT) video. Theability of the HTTP adaptive streaming player to adapt
to its conditions results in multiple video file formats

Featuresy Emulate HDS, HLS, MPEG-DASH and Smooth
adaptive bitrate streaming players
y Concurrent testing of all the leading HTTP
adaptive bitrate streaming serversof varying frame sizes and rates being sent fromy Parse served manifest files, request content foreach avail- able source

the origin server during a single video session. The

y Configurable playout buffer sizes

challenge to testing ABR video services is the need tofacilitate these change requests live during the test.
The forced switch over helps determine the availabilityof each of the associated frame rate file formats undervarying network load conditions.
TeraVM is the only virtualized test solution available
that enables stateful emulation of all the leading ABR
streaming players: Adobe® (HDS), Apple® (HLS), MPEGDASH and Microsoft® (Smooth). Because TeraVM’s
emulated ABR streaming players are stateful they canrequest content from live 3rd party video servers andprovide detailed performance measurements on a peremulated player basis.

y Delay playout based on fragment or chunkrates
y Automatic up/down shift of video qualityrates on demandy Force video file switch overs
y Configure per emulated player quality rate
cycle (up and down) lists
y Dynamic control of emulated players during
live test runs

Test HTTP adaptive bitrate streaming servers:• Manifest file accuracy• Video file availability

Emulate HTTP bitrate players• Force content for various screen resolutions

Hypervisor

Infrastructure
under test
HTTP adaptive bitratestreaming servers

Figure 1: Example TeraVM deployment - testing adaptive bitrate streaming

TeraVM’s ABR testing capabilities are used in a number of test scenarios including adaptive video streaming
service reliability and robustness testing. TeraVM is also used by service providers to determine the impact thata large number of active streaming users has on regular traffic flows such as voice and data.

Example Scenario
TeraVM is used to test HTTP adaptive bitrate streaming services by emulating the leading players. The per flowarchitecture of TeraVM enables unique content requests per player, ideal for scalability and robustness testing. In
addition, TeraVM can be configured to force the source to adapt or switch over the video file based on quality
parameters on an upward or downward basis.
TeraVM is an ideal solution to test and measure performance of the following HTTP adaptive streaming attributes:
y Accuracy of the manifest file (per video)y Availability and accessibility of each and every one of the video file formatsy Response rates to video switch over requests
y Scalability of the service

Functionality
TeraVM ABR Capabilities

Description

Stateful Emulation

Emulate HDS, HLS, MPEG-DASH and Smooth adaptive bitrate streaming players
Interoperate with 3rd party video servers: request manifest file, request media
per manifest file descriptors
Emulate both the MPEG-DASH client and server
Supports video switch over requests

Analysis Per Player

Analysis on a per emulated player basis
MOS equivalent scoring for each of the ABR types
Analysis of video: timing performance on each of the sources for each and every
variant of the media file

Player Functionality

Adjustable playout buffer size and delays
Dynamically force video quality switch over on an up or downward basis
Unique user login details per player

Scalability

As the video catalog grows, verify that the session controller’s database is up to date
Verify that the session controller is keeping track of older content and locations
Assess load balancing and efficient use of the media servers

2 Testing HTTP Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) Video with TeraVM

Comprehensive Test Metrics
TeraVM provides the industry’s most comprehensive test suite with over 3,000 unique metrics; ranging fromapplication performance to protocol tunneling down to simple port enabled testing with throughput and latency
metrics. A user defined threshold can be set on any of these metrics to easily pinpoint and isolate problem flows.
TeraVM is enabled with a unique set of metrics for video on demand. Below are a few example metrics:
y Retrieval timesy Availability of Manifest files

y HTTP response codesy Packet loss

y Established Connectionsy Buffer Overrun/Underrun

Applications Supported
General

Real-time isolation of problem flows

Data

TCP / UDP
HTTP (headers, substitution, attachments)
SMTP / POP3 (incl. file attachments)
FTP (Passive/Active), P2P applications, DNS

Address

MAC, VxLAN
DHCP, PPPoE (IPv4 & IPv6)
Dual Stack (6RD, DS Lite)

Ethernet switch

VLAN and Double VLAN Tagging (Q-Q)
ACL, 802.1p, DSCP

ReplayReplay large PCAP files - TCP, UDP and raw data playback
Amplify and dynamically substitute data into PCAP files

VideoMulticast: IGMP v1/v2/v3 & MLD v1/v2
Automatic Multicast Tunelling (AMT)Video on Demand (RTSP)
Adaptive Bit Rate Video (HLS, HDS, Smooth, MPEG-DASH)Video conferencing

Secure VPN

SSL/TLS/DTLS, IPsec (IKE v1/v2)
Cisco AnyConnect SSL VPN Client, Cisco AnyConnect IPsec VPN Client
Juniper Pulse, Juniper Network Connect
802.1x EAP-MD5Security stack mitigation

Spam / Viruses / DDOS

Voice

VoIP: SIP & RTP (secure & unsecure), H.323
Dual Hosted UACs, SIP Trunking
Voice & Video quality metric (MOS)

LTE/4GGTP tunnel support

SLATWAMPAutomation

CLI, Perl, TCL, XML, Java API
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Product specifications and descriptions in thisdocument are subject to change without notice.
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