FreyaCompact ANLT Test Appliance

Finally! A smart solution for optimizing and debugging Auto-Negotiation & Link Training on 112G SerDes Ethernet devices.

In a perfect world, Auto-Negotiation & Link Training is always initiated automatically, and the two devices run through the different states in the protocols to negotiate and tune to optimal settings.

However, not all endpoints behave the same and interpretations of the standards varies. Also, the quality of the AN/LT training results are not always consistent which can lead to erratic link stability.

Xena’s new FreyaCompact ANLT Test Appliance was designed to troubleshoot these issues. It provides insight, visibility, and configuration possibilities to the AN and LT process making it easy to analyze DUT behavior during AN/LT, configure and optimize the relevant AN parameters and LT coefficients.

Based on Xena’s award-winning Freya 800G test modules, the FreyaCompact ANLT tester is a small 1U “desktop” tester that is easy to transport from site to site in a 19” flight case.

It’s available in QSFP-DD (Z800qac) and OSFP (Z800oac) versions. Read more by clicking the buttons below.

How it works

This Application Note explains how easy it is to test AN/LT protocol and performance using FreyaCompact AN/LT Test Appliance and XOA Utilities.

Testing 112G SerDes devices is complex with heavy focus on Layer 1-3. Here we demonstrate how to test Auto-Negotiation & Link Training using Xena’s 112G SerDes Traffic Generation & Analysis (TGA) solutions. Our demo setup is a Freya 112G SerDes test module in a Xena chassis connected via a ½ meter electric cable to another 112G SerDes Device Under Test (DUT). The test is performed using both XenaManager and a mix of internal scripts creating using Xena OpenAutomation (XOA), our new open-source scripting & test automation platform.

XOA Utilities

XOA Utilities is an interactive shell for controlling the FreyaCompact ANLT Test Appliances using command-line interface (CLI) commands to perform Auto-Negotiation and Link Training testing.