1. When the circuit goes quiet
Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October returns as the recalled work because the book is full of submarines that must maintain communications, command, and redundancy while individual units disappear from the net. The desktop’s cells are not submarines, but they face a similar problem: a node goes dark, and the rest must decide what that means and how to reroute.
This entry defines the network reconfiguration test matrix for the desktop’s weak federation.
2. Test setup
The test uses a representative federation of at least four cells connected by redundant links. One cell acts as the ground proxy. Traffic includes:
- Critical control traffic with bounded latency.
- Best-effort telemetry and file transfer.
- Storage healing traffic, if that capability is available.
- Synchronization traffic, such as time or configuration updates.
The test is run in a thermal-vacuum-compatible harness or a high-fidelity simulator, depending on what hardware is available.
3. The test matrix
| Case | Event | Trigger | Expected response |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Single cell failure | Power off one non-ground cell | Remaining cells detect loss, converge on new routes, traffic resumes. |
| 2 | Single link failure | Disable one inter-cell cable | Cells route around the failed link using redundant path. |
| 3 | New cell insertion | Power on a new cell and authenticate it | New cell is discovered, admitted, and begins receiving traffic. |
| 4 | Network partition | Split federation into two groups | Each group operates with degraded redundancy; reunion reconciles state. |
| 5 | Degraded link | Inject latency and packet loss on one link | Routing algorithm shifts traffic if better path exists; alarms raised. |
| 6 | Ground link loss | Disconnect ground proxy | Cells continue local operations; queued telemetry resumes on reconnect. |
| 7 | Combined stress | Multiple failures in sequence | Federation converges without policy violations or routing loops. |
Each case is run at least twice: once with static routes and local failover, and once with the self-reconfiguration protocol enabled if available.
4. What is measured
For each case the test records:
- Time from event to route convergence.
- Number of lost or reordered packets for each traffic class.
- Whether policy constraints, such as required redundant paths, are maintained.
- Whether unauthorized cells are rejected.
- Whether a routing loop forms.
- Whether the audit log captures cause and effect.
5. What this changes
- The network reconfiguration test has a concrete matrix.
- The matrix links back to the self-reconfiguring network and federated storage healing arcs.
- The next entry will define pass and fail criteria.