PANTHER Tester Plugins

Formal Verification and Protocol Testing Services

Tester plugins in PANTHER provide sophisticated testing and validation capabilities for protocol implementations. These services generate test traffic, perform conformance verification, and validate protocol behavior using formal methods, specification-based testing, and comprehensive test suites.

Tester Categories

Formal Verification Testers

Testing tools that use formal methods and mathematical verification to validate protocol implementations against their specifications.

Tester	Purpose	Technology	Documentation
Panther Ivy	Specification-based testing and formal verification	Microsoft Ivy framework	Documentation

Quick Start

Using a Tester Plugin

# filepath: example_tester_usage.py
from panther.plugins.plugin_loader import PluginLoader

# Load the Panther Ivy tester plugin
loader = PluginLoader()
ivy_tester = loader.load_plugin('services', 'testers', 'panther_ivy')

# Configure the tester
config = {
    "protocol": "quic",
    "specification": "/specs/quic_spec.ivy",
    "target_implementation": "picoquic",
    "test_scenarios": ["handshake", "data_transfer", "connection_migration"],
    "output_format": "junit"
}

# Initialize and run tests
ivy_tester.initialize(config)
results = ivy_tester.run_tests()

Running Formal Verification

# filepath: example_formal_verification.py
from panther.plugins.services.testers.panther_ivy import PantherIvyTester

# Set up formal verification testing
tester = PantherIvyTester()
tester.configure({
    "verification_mode": "compositional",
    "protocol_model": "/models/quic_transport.ivy",
    "implementation_config": {
        "type": "picoquic",
        "role": "server",
        "port": 4433
    },
    "test_generation": {
        "depth": 10,
        "coverage_target": 0.95,
        "property_checks": ["safety", "liveness"]
    }
})

# Execute verification
verification_results = tester.verify_implementation()

Tester Architecture

Base Tester Interface

All tester plugins inherit from the base ITester interface:

# filepath: /panther/plugins/services/testers/tester_interface.py
from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
from typing import Dict, List, Any

class ITester(ABC):
    def __init__(self):
        self.logger = logging.getLogger(self.__class__.__name__)
        self.test_results = []

    @abstractmethod
    def initialize(self, config: Dict[str, Any]) -> None:
        """Initialize the tester with configuration"""
        pass

    @abstractmethod
    def run_tests(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
        """Execute the test suite"""
        pass

    @abstractmethod
    def generate_report(self) -> str:
        """Generate test report"""
        pass

Test Result Management

Standardized test result format across all testers:

# Test result structure
test_result = {
    "test_id": "quic_handshake_001",
    "test_name": "QUIC Initial Handshake",
    "status": "PASS|FAIL|SKIP",
    "duration": 1.234,  # seconds
    "properties_verified": ["connection_establishment", "crypto_negotiation"],
    "violations": [],  # List of property violations if any
    "metrics": {
        "packets_sent": 42,
        "packets_received": 38,
        "rtt_ms": 15.6
    },
    "artifacts": {
        "pcap_file": "/results/trace.pcap",
        "log_file": "/results/test.log",
        "qlog_file": "/results/trace.qlog"
    }
}

Testing Methodologies

Specification-Based Testing

• Model-Driven Testing: Generate tests from formal protocol models
• Property Verification: Validate safety and liveness properties
• State Space Exploration: Systematic exploration of protocol states
• Invariant Checking: Continuous verification of protocol invariants

Conformance Testing

• RFC Compliance: Verification against protocol specifications
• Edge Case Testing: Boundary condition and error scenario testing
• Regression Testing: Automated testing for implementation changes
• Compatibility Testing: Cross-implementation interoperability

Performance Testing

• Load Testing: High-volume traffic generation
• Stress Testing: Resource exhaustion and recovery
• Endurance Testing: Long-term operation validation
• Scalability Testing: Multi-connection and multi-stream scenarios

Configuration Patterns

Basic Tester Configuration

testers:
  ivy_formal_verification:
    type: "panther_ivy"
    protocol: "quic"
    specification_file: "/specs/quic_rfc9000.ivy"
    test_scenarios:
      - "initial_handshake"
      - "key_exchange"
      - "data_transfer"
      - "connection_migration"
    verification_depth: 15
    property_checks:
      - "no_packet_loss_without_network_drop"
      - "ordered_stream_delivery"
      - "connection_state_consistency"

Multi-Implementation Testing

testers:
  interoperability:
    type: "cross_implementation"
    implementations:
      - name: "picoquic"
        role: "server"
        config: {port: 4433}
      - name: "quic_go"
        role: "client"
        config: {server_addr: "picoquic:4433"}
    test_matrix:
      - scenario: "basic_handshake"
        variations: ["ipv4", "ipv6"]
      - scenario: "version_negotiation"
        versions: ["draft-29", "v1"]

Performance Testing Configuration

testers:
  load_generator:
    type: "performance"
    target:
      implementation: "lsquic"
      endpoint: "server:4433"
    load_profile:
      concurrent_connections: 1000
      requests_per_connection: 100
      ramp_up_time: "30s"
      test_duration: "5m"
    metrics:
      - "connection_setup_time"
      - "request_response_latency"
      - "throughput_mbps"
      - "cpu_utilization"

Test Automation

Continuous Integration

# .github/workflows/protocol-testing.yml
name: Protocol Testing
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  formal_verification:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Run Ivy Formal Verification
        run: |
          python -m panther.test \
            --tester panther_ivy \
            --protocol quic \
            --implementation picoquic \
            --specification specs/quic_rfc9000.ivy

  conformance_testing:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        implementation: [picoquic, quic_go, quinn, mvfst]
    steps:
      - name: Run Conformance Tests
        run: |
          python -m panther.test \
            --tester conformance \
            --implementation ${{ matrix.implementation }} \
            --test_suite rfc_compliance

Test Orchestration

# filepath: test_orchestration_example.py
from panther.testing.orchestrator import TestOrchestrator

# Define test campaign
campaign = TestOrchestrator()

# Add formal verification phase
campaign.add_phase("formal_verification", {
    "tester": "panther_ivy",
    "implementations": ["picoquic", "quic_go"],
    "protocols": ["quic"],
    "test_depth": 10
})

# Add performance testing phase
campaign.add_phase("performance", {
    "tester": "load_generator",
    "implementations": ["lsquic", "mvfst"],
    "load_profiles": ["light", "moderate", "heavy"]
})

# Execute campaign
results = campaign.execute()
campaign.generate_report(results, format="html")

Development Guidelines

Creating a New Tester Plugin

1. Inherit Base Interface: Extend ITester with your specific functionality
2. Define Test Scenarios: Create comprehensive test scenario definitions
3. Implement Configuration: Support flexible configuration options
4. Handle Results: Generate standardized test result formats
5. Add Documentation: Document test capabilities and usage patterns

Tester Plugin Structure

my_tester/
├── __init__.py
├── my_tester.py           # Main tester implementation
├── config_schema.py       # Configuration validation
├── test_scenarios/        # Test scenario definitions
│   ├── basic_tests.py
│   └── advanced_tests.py
├── templates/            # Test templates and generators
├── results/              # Result processing utilities
└── README.md            # Tester documentation

Example Tester Implementation

# filepath: custom_tester_example.py
from panther.plugins.services.testers.tester_interface import ITester
import logging
from typing import Dict, Any, List

class CustomProtocolTester(ITester):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.test_scenarios = []
        self.target_implementation = None

    def initialize(self, config: Dict[str, Any]) -> None:
        """Initialize tester with configuration"""
        self.target_implementation = config.get('implementation')
        self.test_scenarios = config.get('test_scenarios', [])
        self.logger.info(f"Initialized tester for {self.target_implementation}")

    def run_tests(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
        """Execute test scenarios"""
        results = []

        for scenario in self.test_scenarios:
            self.logger.info(f"Running scenario: {scenario}")
            result = self._execute_scenario(scenario)
            results.append(result)

        return {
            "total_tests": len(results),
            "passed": len([r for r in results if r['status'] == 'PASS']),
            "failed": len([r for r in results if r['status'] == 'FAIL']),
            "results": results
        }

    def _execute_scenario(self, scenario: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
        """Execute individual test scenario"""
        # Implementation-specific test logic
        pass

    def generate_report(self) -> str:
        """Generate comprehensive test report"""
        # Report generation logic
        pass

Integration Examples

Web Dashboard Integration

# Flask web interface for test results
from flask import Flask, render_template, jsonify
from panther.plugins.services.testers import get_test_results

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/test-results')
def test_results():
    results = get_test_results()
    return render_template('test_results.html', results=results)

@app.route('/api/test-status')
def test_status():
    return jsonify({
        "status": "running",
        "progress": "75%",
        "current_test": "quic_handshake_verification"
    })

Notification Integration

# Slack notification for test completion
from panther.integrations.slack import SlackNotifier

def notify_test_completion(results):
    notifier = SlackNotifier()
    message = f"""
    🧪 Test Campaign Completed

    **Results Summary:**
    • Total Tests: {results['total_tests']}
    • Passed: {results['passed']} ✅
    • Failed: {results['failed']} ❌
    • Success Rate: {results['success_rate']}%

    View detailed results: {results['report_url']}
    """
    notifier.send_message(message, channel="#testing")

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Test Execution Failures

• Verify tester plugin configuration and dependencies
• Check target implementation availability and status
• Review test scenario definitions and parameters
• Validate network connectivity and firewall rules

Performance Issues

• Monitor resource usage during test execution
• Tune test parallelism and concurrency settings
• Check for memory leaks in long-running tests
• Profile test execution bottlenecks

Result Analysis Problems

• Verify result collection and storage mechanisms
• Check log file permissions and disk space
• Review test artifact generation and cleanup
• Validate result format compatibility

Debug Configuration

testers:
  debug_tester:
    type: "panther_ivy"
    debug_mode: true
    log_level: "DEBUG"
    artifact_retention: "all"
    timeout_settings:
      test_timeout: "300s"
      setup_timeout: "60s"
    resource_monitoring:
      cpu_profiling: true
      memory_tracking: true

Related Documentation

• Service Plugin Overview: General service plugin architecture
• Protocol Plugins: Protocol-specific testing

References

• Microsoft Ivy Framework
• Protocol Testing Methodologies
• Formal Verification in Networking
• QUIC Protocol Testing