As a leading manufacturer of network access equipment for data communications
and telecommunications applications, RAD Data Communications offers an impressive
array of access product solutions to serve the requirements of service providers,
carriers and enterprises.
As an adjunct to these devices, RAD offers its RADview integrated network
and system management solution. RADview supervises, monitors and provisions networks
of various size and scope, including both RAD devices and third-party equipment.
RAD products are currently managed using SNMP V1, and their testing up to now
has been done mostly by MIB Walks or by verifying compatibility with RADview.
The need for an automatic agent tester grew mainly as a result of a planned
move to SNMP V3, and increasing cooperation and integration with other vendors'
management systems. Both of these developments required better compatibility
with SNMP standards. In addition, using an automatic tester offered better efficiency
in the agent development testing process, and greater agent testing possibilities.
SilverCreek of InterWorking Labs was found to meet all these needs. Key factors
in this selection were (1) the company's reputation - InterWorking Labs is a
well known and established company in the area of SNMP testing; (2) the committed,
direct and professional marketing and technical support that InterWorking Labs
offered during the evaluation period, and (3) the SilverCreek tool, which is
a stable and robust application that suits RAD's complex needs.
In addition to the obvious employment of the tool for establishing compatibility
with the SNMP standard, RAD also uses SilverCreek to verify that the full and
the accurate scope of SNMP support (in relation to all the MIB variables that
should be "included" or "excluded") is implemented by the
agent. SilverCreek ensures it is done efficiently using one of its tests that
detects objects defined in the loaded MIBs but are not returned by the agent
during the MIB Walk.
Although RAD has used SilverCreek for only a short time, and without its full
portfolio of features, the benefits are tangible. "Bugs are inevitable in
any software development process," says Gadi Ziv, Director of R&D, System-Tests
at RAD Data Communications, "But using SilverCreek will enable us to identify
them earlier, and significantly reduce development and testing time".
