Norma - Towards Practical Network Load Testing

Explore a 15-minute conference talk from USENIX NSDI '23 that introduces Norma, a practical network load tester built on programmable switch ASICs. Learn how Norma addresses key challenges in network load testing, including stateful protocol customization and real network traffic emulation. Discover how the system models stateful protocols on pipelined ASIC architecture, generates replying packets with customized payloads, and implements precise rate control mechanisms. Gain insights into Norma's real-world application in testing production network devices, its ability to detect performance issues, and its impressive capacity to generate high-throughput TCP and HTTP traffic.