Testing OSI protocols at the national bureau of standards

The Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology at the National Bureau of Standards has developed an architecture for testing implementations of OSI protocols, to establish conformance with the appropriate Federal Information Processing Standards. This paper gives a justification for specific design choices made, describes architectural elements, and gives an example of a test language used to drive the test system. Some examples are given to indicate the practical utility of this system, demonstrated by over 18 months of testing experience.