dsTest on Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Move your lab to the cloud, demonstrate your network element at a customer site, or perform live network tests with dsTest from AWS Marketplace. You can subscribe to dsTest through AWS, choosing from our preapproved instance configurations, although you will need to obtain a license from Mobileum. dsTest is designated as a BYOL (Bring Your Own License) product.

Subscribing to dsTest

After you click the Subscribe button you will first be prompted to accept the Terms and Conditions, consisting of our EULA as well as AWS terms and agreements. Also on this page is the list of approved instance types with the software cost-per-hour for each.

Next, after your subscription has been processed, you can click the Continue to Configuration button. Here you will need to select the Fulfillment Option (64-bit x86 AMI is the only option we support), the initial dsTest Software Version, and the AWS Region that will host your instance. AWS pricing varies by region and their Pricing Information block on this page will display an estimated monthly cost based on that region and our recommended instance type. You're not locked in to that instance type - you can modify that on the next page. Click Continue to Launch to proceed.

The selections you make on the "Launch this software" page depend on whether you have already configured an AWS Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).

Existing VPC

If you have a VPC and want to run dsTest there you should set Choose Action to Launch through EC2 and then click the Launch button which will take you to your EC2 console where you'll configure your instance and security group before running the instance.

New VPC

If you do not have a VPC you should set Choose Action to Launch from Website. Select an EC2 Instance Type that is suitable for your purpose, keeping in mind that the instance cost-per-hour increases as the instance size increases.

You'll need to create a VPC and a subnet in which dsTest will operate. If you're only planning on running an example test you can minimally configure a VPC with one subnet. Please refer to AWS's VPCs and Subnets documentation for instructions. After you've configured your network, return to the "Launch this software" page and set VPC Settings and Subnet Settings to your configurations.

In Security Group Settings you can create a new security group based on the default security group we provide by clicking Create New Based On Seller Settings. This group is configured to allow external access to the instance via SSH and through the TCP and UDP ports that dsClient and dsTest use to communicate as well as dsTest and its license server (more regarding license servers in step 2 below). You can also refer to this FAQ for the TCP ports utilized by dsTest and dsClient. This configuration also allows those types of traffic from all external sources, which is satisfactory for a short trial but not for regular use. When you start running tests you should set Source to Custom IP and only allow access from your facility.

Finally, you'll need to configure Key Pair Settings to restrict access to users who can provide an acceptable private key. Click Create a key pair in EC2 and then Create key pair from the EC2 console. Give your new key pair a name and then set File Format to pem. When you click Create key pair AWS will generate a private key file and push it down to you. You'll be importing this file into dsClient's library below and can use this key to SSH to your instance from Linux/Mac or Windows 10 PCs with OpenSSH. If you also need to use PuTTY, you can create a second key pair with a ppk format.

You're ready to start your instance. Click Launch and then click the link to view your instance in your EC2 Console. Make note of the instance's IPv4 Public IP as that's the address you will use to communicate with your instance and with dsTest. Follow the instructions below to install your license and run an example test using either dsClient Desktop or dsClient Terminal.

Quick Start

1.Once your instance is running you can access it using SSH. For administrative access, use the user name ubuntu and your Amazon private key. For dsTest-related access use the user name devsol and the same private key you configured the instance with prior to launching. For the following procedures you should use the devsol account.

2.Obtain and/or install your dsTest license. If you're an existing customer with a floating license you can install your existing license.dsl file. Otherwise, if you'd like to try dsTest please contact our Sales Team: sales@mobileum.com. You can read more about our floating license model here. In either case, ensure that your security group allows communications between your instance and the license server, whether it's our license server (hosted floating license) or a license server in your facility (non-hosted floating license). A license server cannot be hosted on AWS.

3.Launch dsTest. For this exercise no launch options are required, but please note that when you use the -i parameter to identify dsTest's management IP address, that address must exist on the instance (i.e., use the private address not the public address). The message dsTest initialized indicates that dsTest is running. If instead you see an error message displayed, please refer to this FAQ.

4.We provide two applications you can use to interface with dsTest. dsClient Terminal is installed with dsTest and provides a command line interface with dsTest within your instance while dsClient Desktop runs on your PC and enables you to configure, run, and monitor your tests using a graphic interface. If you'd like to try dsClient Desktop, you'll find dsClient packages on your image in /home/devsol/Loads. Download the package appropriate for your PC's OS (Mac users should use the Linux package). You'll find system requirements and installation instructions here. The following steps assume that you've installed dsClient Desktop. To run an example test using dsClient Terminal, skip to step 8.

5.Register your instance in dsClient Desktop, making sure to select key-based authentication and to import the .pem key file you generated and downloaded from AWS. In this case you'll want to use the instance's public IP address, not its private address. Then click the refresh () icon in the server list toolbar to connect to your instance. If the connection was successful dsClient will scan your instance and download schema files, dictionary files, and example test configurations. You'll see a progress bar as the application scans the example files. Wait for it to complete before continuing.

6.Browse through the Examples Library in the desktop application and open two tests, one server-side and one client-side, for an interface application that is included in your license. Example configurations are provisioned to automatically start and run back-to-back using the lo interface. Go to the Commands Tab of the server-side configuration and click the Transmit to <server name> button, then repeat with the client-side configuration.

7.Watch your test run by opening a Chart Report and adding summary level Transaction Attempts and Transaction Successful measurements to the chart. If your example contains SmartEvents state machines you can open SmartMonitor and trace a subscriber's path through the test. When you're finished, return to your test configuration Workspaces and click Delete My Nodes to stop the test and clear the configuration.

8.To run an example test with dsClient Terminal, first SSH to your instance as devsol. You'll find the example configuration XML files in /usr/local/devsol/dsTest/examples/. Choose two tests, one server-side and one client-side, for an interface application that is included in your license. You can either make note of the file names or copy them to your home directory. Return to your home directory and launch dsClient. Now you can use the source command to load your example configurations. You can view the current state of the node emulators with a nodes status command, and you can sample current measurements with node commands.