Patent ID: 8630187

Claim:
A system for testing a network switching apparatus, comprising: one or more port connections external to the network switching apparatus, the one or more port connections being configured to interconnect selected ports of the network switching apparatus to transfer packets between the selected ports; a test manager configured to automatically generate a plurality of test scenarios for testing a processing operation to be performed by the network switching apparatus on packets, the test scenarios defining paths for forwarding packets multiple times among the ports of the network switching apparatus; and a packet generator configured to transmit packets to at least a first port of the network switching apparatus to test a processing operation performed by the network switching apparatus, wherein the test manager is configured to sequentially determine internal forwarding associations along the paths, the test manager is configured to determine a source port of an internal forwarding association that is in connection with a previously determined internal forwarding association via a port connection, and determine a destination port of the internal forwarding association based on a random number generator, and the test manager is configured to determine the destination port of the internal forwarding association based on a pseudo random number generator with a selected seed.