NTA3000 Quick Start Guide

Overview

NTA3000 NTA3000

The NTA3000 from QA Cafe is a high performance network test appliance that has been designed and optimized for use with CDRouter, the industry’s leading CPE and router functional test solution. The NTA3000 comes in a 3U form factor and provides a turn-key experience for CDRouter enabling rapid deployment in any test environment.

Key benefits include:

  • Turn-key, high performance, fully integrated solution designed and optimized for use with CDRouter.

  • Support for tri-band Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7.

  • Twice as much storage as the NTA1000 for CDRouter test results and data.

  • Large quantity and variety of test interfaces, including (8) 1 Gbps Ethernet ports, (4) 10 Gbps (10GBASE-T) Ethernet ports, and (7) Wi-Fi radios supporting Wi-Fi 6, 6E, or 7.

  • Support for all CDRouter expansions and additional test instances for parallel testing of multiple devices or test packages simultaneously.

  • Two dedicated management interfaces plus IPMI 2.0 for enhanced remote management.

Specifications

Detailed hardware specifications for the NTA3000 may be found here:

Performance

Performance numbers for the NTA3000 may be found here:

What’s in the box?

The following accessories are included with all NTA3000 systems:

  • NTA3000 system (1)
  • Category 6 Ethernet cables (4)
  • Tri-band Wi-Fi antennas (11)
  • Power cord (1)
  • Documentation pack (1)

The following accessories are included with the optional Advanced Accessory Pack which can be purchased separately:

  • Synaccess SynLink SP-1001AIE-02 power distribution unit (PDU) (1)
  • USB cable for PDU (1)
  • Power cord for PDU (1)
  • Power outlet pigtails for PDU (8)
  • Magnetic bases with SMA extension cables for tri-band Wi-Fi antennas (11)
  • Sliding rack rail kit for NTA3000 (1)

The optional Advanced Accessory Pack provides a number of benefits:

  • The Synaccess SynLink PDU makes it possible to automatically control power settings for up to eight (8) devices from CDRouter. It is fully integrated into CDRouter allowing any of the (8) connected devices to be powered on, off, or rebooted during testing and for general management and maintenance.

  • The magnetic bases allow the supplied tri-band Wi-Fi antennas to be remotely located for optimal performance and ease of use.

  • The sliding rack rail kit allows the NTA3000 to be easily and conveniently mounted in a standard 19 inch rack.

Please refer to the Advanced Accessory Pack documentation for more information.

Installation

The NTA3000 has no specific installation requirements. It may be installed in any lab or office by placing it on a sturdy desk, table, or shelf with adequate space for one or more DUTs and within close proximity to a suitable power source.

If the optional Advanced Accessory Pack has been purchased, the NTA3000 may also be mounted in a standard 19 inch equipment rack using the sliding rack rail kit. Installation instructions for the sliding rack rail kit may be found here.

The NTA3000 may also be installed inside an RF isolation chamber to provide an optimal environment for Wi-Fi performance testing. Please contact support@qacafe.com for more information on setting up the NTA3000 with an RF chamber.

Power

The NTA3000 is equipped with a universal full-range power supply that is compatible with 100-240 VAC, 50-60 Hz power available in most regions of the world.

Power is supplied to the NTA3000 via a C14 power receptacle on the rear panel. Any standard power cord with a C13 plug may be used. A C13 to NEMA 5-15P(US) or C13 to Schuko (Europe) power cord is included with the NTA3000.

To turn on the NTA3000, connect it to a suitable power supply. Locate the two momentary rocker switches below the LCD on the front panel. Press and release the right switch to turn the system on and start the boot process.

Switches

There are two momentary rocker switches on the front panel of the NTA3000. Note that when released, these switches will return to their original positions. They perform the following functions:

  • Left switch - reboot
  • Right switch - power on/off

These switches operate as follows:

  • If the system is on, pressing the left switch will reboot it immediately.
  • If the system is on, pressing the right switch will perform a software shutdown prompting the user to cancel, power down now, or reboot in 60 seconds if no input is provided.
  • If the system is on, pressing and holding the right switch for five seconds will power it off immediately.
  • If the system is off, pressing the right switch will power it on and start the boot process.

The system will fully boot in approximately two minutes. Once booted, the LCD screen on the front panel will activate and display the IPv4 address of the mgmt1 ethernet interface.

LCD Screen

The NTA3000 is equipped with an LCD screen which is located in the top left corner of the front panel. The LCD screen displays information about the system, including:

  • IPv4 address of the mgmt1 interface
  • IPv4 address of the mgmt2 interface
  • IPv4 address of the IPMI interface
  • Hostname
  • CDRouter version
  • Serial number
  • Hardware version
  • Image version
  • OS version
  • Kernel version

The LCD screen has four soft keys that may be used to scroll through the various displays. The top two soft keys scroll up. The bottom two soft keys scroll down.

The LCD screen will dim after five minutes of inactivity. Pressing any key will enable the backlight again.

Software overview

The NTA3000 ships with a slightly modified 64-bit Rocky Linux 9 operating system. Some of the changes to the stock Rocky Linux distribution include:

  • Custom disk partition layout
  • custom kernel
  • Custom firmware for the wireless cards
  • Full dnf update
  • Installation of some packages required by CDRouter
  • Removal of some packages and services not required by CDRouter
  • Configuration of the mgmt1, mgmt2, and IPMI ports, Ethernet test interfaces, and wireless test interfaces
  • Cosmetic modifications to the desktop and qacafe home area
  • SELinux disabled
  • firewall disabled
  • Various other system modifications

Partitioning

The NTA3000 includes an internal disk for the operating system and two disks used for CDRouter data.

The operating system disk (/dev/nvme0n1) is a 500GB NVMe disk, partitioned as follows:

  • /dev/nvme0n1p1: 1 GiB; /boot/efi
  • /dev/nvme0n1p2: 1 GiB; /boot
  • /dev/nvme0n1p3: 32 GiB; swap
  • /dev/nvme0n1p4: rest of disk; the / directory is mounted here

The two data disks (/dev/sda and /dev/sdb) are 4TB SSDs, combined into a single 8TB logical volume: /dev/ntavg/userdata.

  • /dev/ntavg/userdata: entire disk; the /userdata directory is mounted here

The /usr/cdrouter-data directory is bind mounted to the /userdata/cdrouter-data directory, allowing it to make full use of the large logical volume.

The /usr/cdrouter-data directory has been isolated from the main operating system to allow for multiple recovery options in the event of a software failure or disk crash. All CDRouter devices, configs, packages, and test results are stored in the /usr/cdrouter-data directory on the large logical volume.

These partitions require no action on the part of the user. The disk layout and partitioning scheme is presented for information only.

Firewall

The NTA3000 is shipped with the firewall completely disabled. We have made this decision because the NTA3000 is often protected in a lab network, and configuring the firewall is an advanced system administration procedure. You are free to implement the firewall according to any corporate guidelines.

Please note that the firewall must be started before it can be configured. To enable the firewall, enter this command as root in a terminal:

systemctl enable firewalld.service

This will enable the service to start at the next reboot. To start the service now, enter:

systemctl start firewalld.service

You can refer to this document for information related to the firewall.

Administration and Management port access

The operating system credentials are:

  • Login: root
  • Password: cdrouter

These credentials can be changed at your discretion and are required for local or remote administration of the operating system.

Local administration is possible at any time by connecting a standard monitor to the VGA port and a keyboard and mouse to any of the the USB ports.

Remote administration is available via SSH on the mgmt1 or mgmt2 ports. The LCD screen will display the IP address of both ports, making it possible to remotely administer the system without needing a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Remote administration is also available via a web browser by browsing to the IPMI address. The LCD screen will display the IP address of this interface also.

The mgmt1 and mgmt2 management interfaces of the NTA3000 is used exclusively for remote access to the CDRouter GUI and to login to the NTA3000 CLI via SSH.

mgmt1

The mgmt1 interface has the following default configuration:

  • IPv4 address: DHCP
  • IPv6 address: SLAAC/autoconf
  • CDRouter login: admin
  • CDRouter password: cdrouter
  • CDRouter URL: http://[mgmt1 IPv4 or IPv6 address]

mgmt2

The mgmt2 interface has the following default configuration:

  • IPv4 address: static, 192.168.100.100/24
  • IPv6 address: disabled
  • CDRouter login: admin
  • CDRouter password: cdrouter
  • CDRouter URL: http://192.168.100.100

The mgmt2 interface is useful in environments where the system is not connected to a network or not connected to a network with a DHCP server.

Changing mgmt1 or mgmt2 configuration

It is possible to reconfigure the mgmt1 or mgmt2 network settings. Open a terminal window as the root user, and edit the appropriate file:

/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/mgmt1.nmconnection
/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/mgmt2.nmconnection

For example, to change the static IPv4 address of mgmt2 to 192.168.1.10 with a 24 bit netmask, edit the mgmt2.nmconnection file, and under the [ipv4] section, change the address1 line to

address1=192.168.1.10/24

When done with all changes, issue the following commands (still as root) to make the changes take effect:

nmcli connection reload
nmcli connection down mgmt2
nmcli connection up mgmt2

IPMI

The use of IPMI is optional and should be limited to experienced users or under the explicit direction and guidance of the QA Cafe support team. To access CDRouter, please use the mgmt1 or mgmt2 interfaces instead.

The Ethernet interface labeled IPMI on the front panel of the NTA3000 provides a full suite of IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) 2.0 functionality.

The IPMI is useful for managing and monitoring the system remotely, even when it is powered off or unresponsive. Some of the key features include:

  1. Remote Power Management: Allows the system to be powered on, off, or rebooted.

  2. Hardware Monitoring: Monitors various hardware components such as temperature, voltage, and fan speed, providing alerts for any anomalies.

  3. Event Logging: Records hardware events and system errors for troubleshooting and auditing purposes.

  4. Remote Console: Provides a text-based or graphical console for accessing the server’s BIOS and operating system remotely.

  5. Virtual Media: Allows an ISO image to be remotely mounted as a virtual CD/DVD drive or USB drive for installing or booting an operating system.

  6. User Authentication and Authorization: Provides secure authentication and access control mechanisms for managing the server.

  7. Power and Thermal Control: Allows power policies and thermal thresholds for the server to be set.

  8. System Inventory: Provides detailed information about the server’s hardware and firmware components.

  9. Security: Offers features like encryption and authentication to ensure secure communication between the management console and the server.

  10. Serial Over LAN: Allows the server’s serial console to be redirected over the network for troubleshooting and management.

The default configuration of the NTA3000’s IPMI is:

  • IPv4 address: DHCP
  • IPv6 address: SLAAC/autoconf
  • Login: cdrouter
  • Password: NTA3000 serial number
  • IPMI URL: https://[IPMI IPv4 address]

The IPMI may be accessed with a web browser. The NTA3000 serial number and the IP address of the IPMI may be obtained from the LCD screen.

Hostname

By default, the hostname of the NTA3000 is nta3000. You can change this (as root) with the following command:

hostnamectl set-hostname newname

Operating system updates

QA Cafe maintains a separate software repository for security and feature updates. QA Cafe’s Support Team may advise you to perform a specific update that utilizes this repository.

It is of particular concern that Linux kernel updates may break the functionality of your CDRouter software. CDRouter interacts with the kernel directly, and the specific version shipped with your NTA3000 has been verified as compatible. QA Cafe will publish newer kernels to its software repository as security and feature requirements are determined.

CDRouter software updates

The NTA3000 ships with the most recent released version of CDRouter pre-installed and ready to run. QA Cafe periodically makes new major, minor, and maintenance releases of CDRouter available. QA Cafe’s Support Team will notify all active customers of new CDRouter software releases via email. Updated CDRouter software can be downloaded from the Customer Lounge (login required). Upgrade instructions can be found here.

System recovery

The initial factory configuration of your system was installed using a disk image for the system disk and a set of commands for recreating the data logical volume. These things, along with a supporting script to guide you through the process have all been bundled onto a bootable USB image. If for some reason you need to revert either of your disks back to their original state e.g., due to a disk failure, you can make use of this USB utility. For more details, please refer here:

If the operating system disk is rebuilt, it will be necessary to reinstall CDRouter. The CDRouter RPM is available from the QA Cafe Customer Lounge. As long as the data drive remains intact, it will automatically discover and index all previous CDRouter data.

WARNING: Please be aware that the process of replacing the system drive will change the system-id, and CDRouter will not load until QA Cafe’s Support Team has been alerted and the new system-id is registered. Please contact support@qacafe.com before opening or replacing any of the NTA3000’s hardware components.

If the data disk is rebuilt, you will then need to restore previously backed up data (if any) to the /usr/cdrouter-data area.

The necessity of performing regular backups

The NTA3000, like any industrial tool, is not immune to software or hardware failure, and it is the responsibility of the customer to perform regular backups of all user data on the system to ensure quick, complete recovery in the aftermath of a system failure.

To be able to completely rebuild an NTA3000 after a data disk failure, it is important to regularly back up the /usr/cdrouter-data directory. This should be done with CDRouter shut down so that the CDRouter database is in a static state. The operating system drive should have no user data on it, so rebuilding that should not involve restoring data after the rebuild.

Refer here for more information on backups.

Getting started with CDRouter

Getting started with CDRouter is easy! You can start exploring by opening a web browser and pointing it to your NTA3000’s mgmt1 or mgmt2 IP address or simply to localhost if working locally on the system:

http://<NTA3000 IP address>
http://localhost

We recommend starting with the CDRouter Quick Start Guide. Detailed information on CDRouter and all CDRouter expansions can be found in our User Guides. We also provide a library of training videos. Our top level CDRouter support site contains all online resources. Finally, you can always contact our support team directly: support@qacafe.com.