Patent ID: 7958230

Claim:
A method for testing a heterogeneous network including a plurality of interconnected component systems, each component system supporting one or more communication protocols, the method comprising: normalizing communication protocols supported by the plurality of component systems into corresponding protocol grammars; representing the plurality of component systems as a set of objects with methods corresponding to supported protocol commands; generating a unit test for the heterogeneous system comprising a collection of method calls that correspond with a series of interactions among the plurality of component systems; converting the collection of method calls into test protocol messages based on the corresponding protocol grammars; transmitting the test protocol messages to the plurality of component systems; monitoring returning messages received from the plurality of component systems in response to the test protocol messages; determining whether the heterogeneous network functions properly based on the returning messages received from the plurality of component systems; responsive to deployment of an additional component system in the heterogeneous network, re-transmitting the test protocol messages to the plurality of component systems; monitoring returning messages received from the plurality of component systems in response to the re-transmitted test protocol messages; and based on the returning messages received from the plurality of component systems in response to the re-transmitted test protocol messages, verifying that the heterogeneous network functions properly despite the deployment of the additional component system.