Lab Resources

Lab resources typically refers to the physical and virtual equipment used for testing. In XPRESSO, the following Lab resources are registered:

• Testbeds: Testbeds define or represent the network devices that work together as a test platform that your tests will be executed against. XPRESSO supports the following testbed types:

  • LaaS testbeds: LaaS (Lab-as-a-Service) Is a network orchestration tool used to create on-the-fly network topologies with both physical and virtual hardware to represent or describe Cisco platforms/devices. LaaS brings up the nodes in the topology, creates network connections among these nodes and establishes console access to each node.

  • Static testbeds: Represents the physical network devices in your lab which are not managed by LaaS.

• Topologies: Topologies allow abstract and logical arrangement of network resources to describe testbeds in LaaS. Topologies are one layer above a testbed and describe how a testbed can be constructed. LaaS-NG brings up the nodes in the topology, dynamically stitches the requested devices together and links them using a pool of available devices to create the network connections between the nodes. LasS-NG is also referred to as a dynamic or logical testbed.

  NOTE:
  In XPRESSO, Topologies are only associated with LaaS.

  NOTE:
  All the above resources, once DELETED, can only be RESTORED and not created again with the same name. Restore can be done in the Current Group -> Restore tab. Required permissions can be given in the Current Group -> Permissions section.