Finally, build your test network and vet it for functionality and performance. At this point, you may have to tweak the test plan if the test bed deviates from what you'd planned.
If you've done your job well, the test plan will be pretty polished and will need little modification during testing.
Notice we said little, not no, modification. If we've learned one thing in our years of product testing, it's that even the best-laid plans will require some tweaks. We always find little things we missed or miscalculated. The point is to have the test bed running and documented before you insert devices.
Run performance tests without an SUT in the mix so you can baseline the system. Then you'll be able to analyze the performance of the SUT in reference to the baseline.
Now, a test plan is just that--a plan. Plans can change during testing. At times, you'll need to make architectural changes to accommodate an SUT that won't work in the standard configuration, or because an unplanned feature turned up. You should keep these changes to a minimum and ensure that they don't bias the test to a specific product. In addition, you should retest all your SUTs under the same conditions.
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