Patent ID: 7099797

Claim:
A system for testing a network architecture comprising: a test network; an inventory of network devices connected to the test network; a closed test environment comprising selected network devices selected from the inventory of network devices, wherein the selected network devices are adapted for duplicating a configuration of the network architecture and wherein a selected network device comprises a resident operating system, a resident processor, and a resident memory; a test protocol server connected to the test network and adapted for operating a test protocol to simulate a loading of the closed test environment, wherein the loading of the closed test environment comprises increasing a number of simulated users over time; a managed information kernel adapted for: loading into the resident operating memory of the selected network device, wherein the managed information kernel operates independently of the resident operating system and resident processor; acquiring performance metrics from the resident processor indicative of the performance of the selected network device; and transmitting the performance metrics of the selected network device to a managed information processor associated with the selected network device, wherein the managed information processor is independent of the resident processor.