
IxChariot 9.1: The Right Time to Upgrade from IxChariot 7.30 is Now!
By Mihail Constantinescu | IxChariot 9.1 combines all the traffic types of IxChariot 7.30 with all the exciting features of the web version. If you haven’t done it already, there has never been a better time to upgrade from the aging IxChariot 7.30. The innovation of this new web version is amazing. While we will continue to support 7.30 as part of our solution offering, the future lies with the web version: IxChariot 9.1!
A year and a half ago, IxChariot 8.0 re-invented itself as a web product. The aging user interface of the Windows-based IxChariot 7.30, unchanged for years, gave way to a modern and simplified web interface.
It had a look-and-feel shared by other Keysight web applications. As a web product, we streamlined the installation process: after you hosted the server in the enterprise infrastructure, it could be accessed from any client through a web browser. The multi-user system kept track of the open sessions (you could resume your work or keep an eye on your long duration test anytime and anywhere). The statistics dashboard supported both high-level views of the test-level aggregated statistics and drill-down views of the individual simulated users (the endpoint pairs from IxChariot 7.30). The test configuration and results could be automatically saved to a database for future reference. The database also acted as a Resources Manager, a place where you can save or retrieve entire test configurations or the endpoints most commonly used in your tests.
AppMix was another feature included in the web versions of IxChariot since IxChariot 8.0. Similarly to other Keysight products (such as BreakingPoint and IxLoad), IxChariot came with more than 100 application templates, that could be combined in a mix based on a percentage pie. Such an Application Mix will measure the impact of running these applications from a controlled number of simulated users over the target network or devices under test.
When it came to testing networks through NAT and firewall devices, the support in IxChariot 7.30 was often limited and difficult to configure. Version 9.0 brought tremendous improvements by requiring little to no configuration, and by opening exciting opportunities such as hosting the IxChariot server in cloud systems or testing the links between enterprise and cloud or public networks with bidirectional TCP and UDP traffic.
As IxChariot 7.30 is a mature and feature-packed product, it took a while to transition its most used features to the web version. With each release, more and more features got on-board, such as VoIP and Quality of Service (in IxChariot 8.1), popular test options (in IxChariot 9.0) and Video and Multicast (in IxChariot 9.1). With the recently released IxChariot 9.1, all the traffic types from 7.30 (TCP and UDP, unicast and multicast, VoIP and Video with QoS) are available in the web version.
IxChariot 7.30 and 9.1 can be used together, side-by-side, with the same floating license. Even with a single console-seat license, you can use both the applications, as long as a test is not being started concurrently. This allows for great opportunities to compare and evaluate both versions. You don’t need to deal with two endpoint versions, as the 9.1 endpoint is compatible with any IxChariot version. It’s also possible to use IxChariot 7.30 for more advanced use cases, which have not been ported yet to the web version, such as viewing and editing complex scripts. After you edit a script in IxChariot 7.30, it can be imported and used in 9.1.
IxChariot 9.1 combines all the traffic types of IxChariot 7.30 with all the exciting features of the web version. If you haven’t done it already, there has never been a better time to upgrade from the aging IxChariot 7.30. The innovation pace has been amazing for the web version, and while we continue to support 7.30 as part of our solution offering, the future lies with the web version!
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