Use Avalanche to test the Mail server

The testing tool uses the Avalanche 2200 provided by Spirent Communications. Avalanche 2200 simulates the actual user sending requests to the server, including SMTP and POP3), and provides detailed test results based on the response. It has the following features: it can simulate hundreds of thousands of clients to send requests to the server; can simulate real network applications; can generate 20000 connection/second requests, enough to meet the test needs.
Windows 2000 Server with SP2 is installed on the monitoring end. Shows the test environment. The hardware and software configurations of the two servers under test are the same). The two servers are directly connected through the mongoammer24 switch in the vswitch harbor) and the test port of Avalanche 2200. To facilitate management, we use the Avocent KVM switch, which allows you to conveniently control multiple servers remotely.

In order to simulate the test environment and test model as much as possible to the actual running status of the mail system, we fully considered the test method. First, the mail system is built on two servers. If a server only delivers locally but does not deliver remotely, there is little pressure on the mail system, and the actual usage of the user will certainly include remote delivery, therefore, we tested the mail system of the two servers. Second, use multi-domain testing. The two servers are configured with independent DNS servers, and multiple domain names are specified for five domain names ). Third, use multi-account testing. We create 200 accounts in each domain, with a total of 1000 accounts. During the test, users on the two servers sent emails to each other, accounting for 90% of the total. At the same time, users on each server sent emails to each other, accounting for 10% of the total. Fourth, the size of the sent mail must be distributed. The email size is 400, 1000, 2000, 4000, 10000, 20000, 40000, 100000, and bytes respectively.

The specific test process consists of four stages. The first stage is the push phase. The number of email sending requests sent by Avalanche increases from 0 to 10/s. The second stage is the gradual pressurization phase, requests are gradually increased to 510/s, which exceeds the maximum capacity of all participating email systems). The third stage is the maintenance stage, and the request volume remains unchanged. The fourth stage is the decline stage, the number of requests dropped from the maximum to 0. Finally, the maximum number of concurrent requests on the server is obtained, and the success percentage, round-trip latency, and other results are also provided.

POP3 protocol operations include CHECK, LIST, RETR, and DELETE. Each test method is roughly the same as SMTP. The email system in this test provides the account security protection function. For the same email account, only one user can receive emails with POP3, and the stress test is conducted, A large number of POP3 connections must be initiated at the same time. Therefore, we only perform the DELETE operation to verify that each account only logs on once for the DELETE operation ).

After receiving the email, the server only stores it locally and then creates an index to send the "successful" message to the user. Therefore, when the user actually receives the email is not reflected. Therefore, we have designed a method to evaluate how long the account will receive emails. We compiled a program and used 100 accounts on one server to use 20 accounts in each domain.) We sent 100 emails to 1000 accounts on the other server, the length of each email is 20 kb. Check the account to be sent immediately after sending the email to obtain the number of emails received. Then, check again in five minutes. If you do not receive the email, check again in five minutes, until 1000 emails are received.

Each test is performed three times, and the server and tester restart each time. The average value of the three tests is obtained.

In terms of function testing, we focus on security, multi-domain management, and mail storage. At the same time, the system operation platform, system support capability, user service capability, and mailbox management capability are also examined. We also examine the system management, client management, and the usability of the entire system.