[Tfug] Testing switches

[Bexley Hall]

Hi,

Without any foreknowledge about a particular switch, what's the
easiest, *reliable* way of testing its functionality?

I.e., if you had to design a (portable) "switch tester", what
would it look like?

[Of course, the extent to which you test it is negotiable and
not important, here]

Presumably, you would need at least two interfaces that could
be configured to operate at different rates.  And, those two
I/F's would probably want to be driven from the same "smarts"
(i.e., so the tester would know how *each* I/F was currently
configured).

Conceptually, this is easy.  However, the devil lies in the details.
E.g., if you set an I/F for a particular configuration, how long do
you "wait" to see if the switch wants to talk to you before trying
another configuration?

Any devices that already *do* this?

Thx,
--don