VSPERF provides an automated test-framework and comprehensive test suite based on industry standards for measuring data-plane performance which includes switching technologies with physical and virtual network interfaces. The VSPERF architecture is switch and traffic generator agnostic and test cases can be customized. The vSwitch and other software component versions and configurations are controlled by VSPERF as is the network topology. VSPERF is useful for development of switching technologies as well as for evaluation and optimization of the data-path.