Test Coverage for Network Configurations

Xieyang Xu, Weixin Deng, Ryan Beckett, David Walker

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

We develop NetCov, the first tool to reveal which network configuration lines are tested by a suite of network tests. It helps network engineers improve test suites and thus increase network reliability. A key challenge in developing a tool like NetCov is that many network tests test the data plane instead of testing the configurations (control plane) directly. We must be able to efficiently infer which configuration elements contribute to tested data plane elements, even when such contributions are non-local (on remote devices) or non-deterministic. NetCov uses an information flow graph based model that precisely captures various forms of contributions and a scalable method to infer contributions. Using NetCov, we show that an existing test suite for Internet2, a nation-wide backbone network in the USA, covers only 26% of the configuration lines. The feedback from NetCov makes it easy to define new tests that improve coverage. For Internet2, adding just three such tests covers an additional 17% of the lines.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 20th USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation, NSDI 2023
PublisherUSENIX Association
Pages1717-1732
Number of pages16
ISBN (Electronic)9781939133335
StatePublished - 2023
Event20th USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation, NSDI 2023 - Boston, United States
Duration: Apr 17 2023Apr 19 2023

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 20th USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation, NSDI 2023

Conference

Conference20th USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation, NSDI 2023
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBoston
Period4/17/234/19/23

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Control and Systems Engineering

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