Patent attributes
According to embodiments of the present invention an apparatus suitable for testing a connection defined between a customer entity and a network entity, the connection traversing at least a first portion of a packet-enabled network between said apparatus and the network entity is provided. The apparatus comprises a first interface adapted to exchange with the network entity data associated with the connection over a first traffic VLAN and a second interface adapted to exchange with the customer entity data associated with the connection over a second traffic VLAN bridged to the first traffic VLAN by a bridging entity. The apparatus further comprises a third interface adapted to exchange with a management entity data associated with a management connection over a management VLAN. A control module coupled to the first, second and third interfaces, the control module is provided and the control module is operable to respond to an instruction received from the management entity to cause the switching entity to perform selective bridging of the management VLAN to at least one of the first traffic VLAN and the second traffic VLAN.
