Patent ID: 8131667

Claim:
A method for testing a storage system executing a storage operating system, comprising: initiating, on a physical client computer using a first source network address, a synthetic client program, wherein the synthetic client program comprises a packet library configured to generate one or more protocol packets, each protocol packet comprising a plurality of fields, wherein each field of the one or more protocol packets configured to be modified by the packet library, and wherein the physical client computer executes a first operating system; simulating a synthetic physical client using the synthetic client program, wherein the synthetic client program further comprises a synthetic client module configured to cooperate with the packet library to implement the synthetic physical client; generating a second source network address for the synthetic physical client of the physical client computer that is different than the first source network address; performing, by the synthetic physical client, an operation directed to the storage system, wherein the synthetic physical client is configured to perform the operation by using the second source network address and by simulating a second operating system that is different than the first operating system of the physical client computer; collecting data regarding the operation, wherein collecting the data comprises collecting a protocol trace of the operation directed to the storage system from the synthetic physical client; and modifying a configuration of the storage system based on the collected data.