Patent ID: 8572260

Claim:
A method to test network connections using a port unit having a plurality of processors, comprising: defining a plurality of transmission control protocol (TCP) connections to be opened by the port unit during a test session, each TCP connection having a source internet protocol (IP) address, a destination IP address, and a destination port number; determining a set of predetermined source port numbers, wherein the set of predetermined source port number contains a predetermined source port number uniquely associated with each possible combination of one processor from the plurality of processors and one TCP connection from the plurality of TCP connections, and each predetermined source port number is selected such that a predetermined hash function applied to the predetermined source port number and the destination port number, the source IP address and the destination IP address of the associated TCP connection returns a hash value pointing to the associated processor; storing the sets of predetermined source port numbers in the port unit; and conducting the test session, conducting the test session further comprising: a first processor of the plurality of processors opening TCP connections, via the network, from the defined plurality of TCP connections, wherein each TCP connection is opened using the predetermined source port number uniquely associated with the first processor and with the TCP connection.