LLDP packet generator

Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) and its extension for Media Endpoint Discovery (MED) is a Layer 2 protocol that allows an equipment to advertise its own capabilities. The protocol is robust and reliable and it works in multi-vendor environments, but the main problem is testing, since it requires two physical network equipments to exchange information. The problem gets more complicated when one wants to test dozens or hundreds of connections, because a similar number of devices will be needed. This paper provides a solution to ease the network debugging and testing of LLDP. In order to emulate a number of LLDP agents, a LLDP Packet Generator was implemented. It can be used from command line interface or from a graphical user interface and it is a very useful tool for the deployment of different testing scenarios.