Patent ID: 8085675

Claim:
A method for testing a data path in a network, the method comprising: creating a closed loop in the data path with a first loopback mechanism at a local network device and a second loopback mechanism at a downstream network device so that a fixed set of test data sent from a first port adapter of the local network device to a second port adapter of the downstream network device is returned by the downstream network device, the first port adapter comprising a first packet transmission buffer and a first packet reception buffer, the second port adapter comprising a second packet transmission buffer and a second packet reception buffer; connecting the first packet transmission buffer to the first packet reception buffer with the first loopback mechanism at the local network device; connecting the second packet transmission buffer to the second packet reception buffer with the second loopback mechanism at the downstream network device; injecting the test data into the closed loop at the first packet transmission buffer of the first port adapter of the local network device; repeating, at the local network device, the steps of receiving the test data returned by the downstream network device and re-injecting the received test data back into the closed loop for a test duration, the repeating to accumulate transmission errors in the test data; extracting the test data from the closed loop; and analyzing the test data.