Patent ID: 7680925

Claim:
A method for testing a service in a network, the method comprising: receiving data from a Network Management Station (NMS) to create a simulated interface on a network device; receiving an instruction at the simulated interface, wherein the instruction is received from the NMS, the instruction comprising a source address and a destination address, information related to a data packet, and wherein the information related to the data packet comprises at least one of the data packet payload information and an ingress interface for the data packet; testing the service on the network device based on the received instruction, wherein the simulated interface generates a response to indicate whether configuration commands associated with the service are working as intended between the source address and the destination address, and wherein the testing of the service comprises creating a data packet based on the instruction, if the ingress interface for the data packet is allowed for the source address and the destination address; modifying routing and forwarding tables at the network device, such that a response for the created data packet is re-directed to the simulated interface; injecting the created data packet into the network device by the simulated interface, wherein the network device processes the injected data packet to generate the response; receiving the response at the simulated interface, wherein the response comprises a processed data packet; and sending the generated response from the simulated interface to the NMS.