Symbiotic Network Simulation and Emulation

A testbed capable of representing detailed operations of complex applications under diverse network conditions is invaluable for understanding the design and performance of new protocols and applications before their real deployment. We introduce a novel method that combines high-performance large-scale network simulation and high-fidelity network emulation, and thus enables real instances of network applications and protocols to run in real operating environments and be tested under simulated network settings. Using our approach, network simulation and emulation can form a symbiotic relationship, through which they are synchronized for an accurate representation of the network-scale traffic behavior. We introduce a model downscaling method along with an efficient queuing model and a traffic reproduction technique, which can significantly reduce the synchronization overhead and improve accuracy. We validate our approach with extensive experiments via simulation and with a real-system implementation. We also present a case study using our approach to evaluate a multipath data transport protocol.

[1]  Fouad A. Tobagi,et al.  Provisioning IP backbone networks to support latency sensitive traffic , 2003, IEEE INFOCOM 2003. Twenty-second Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37428).

[2]  David M. Nicol,et al.  RINSE: the real-time immersive network simulation environment for network security exercises , 2005, Workshop on Principles of Advanced and Distributed Simulation (PADS'05).

[3]  Yu Liu,et al.  Genesis:a system for large-scale parallel network simulation , 2002, Proceedings 16th Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Simulation.

[4]  Biplab Sikdar,et al.  Traffic management and network control using collaborative on-line simulation , 2001, ICC 2001. IEEE International Conference on Communications. Conference Record (Cat. No.01CH37240).

[5]  B. Sikdar,et al.  Network Management and Control Using Collaborative On-line Simulation , 2001 .

[6]  Yue Li,et al.  SVEET! a scalable virtualized evaluation environment for TCP , 2009, 2009 5th International Conference on Testbeds and Research Infrastructures for the Development of Networks & Communities and Workshops.

[7]  Andrew A. Chien,et al.  Network Emulation Tools for Modeling Grid Behavior , 2003 .

[8]  Yan Gu.  ROSENET: a remote server-based network emulation system , 2008 .

[9]  Mike Hibler,et al.  An integrated experimental environment for distributed systems and networks , 2002, OSDI '02.

[10]  Yin Zhang,et al.  On the constancy of internet path properties , 2001, IMW '01.

[11]  T.R. Henderson,et al.  CORE: A real-time network emulator , 2008, MILCOM 2008 - 2008 IEEE Military Communications Conference.

[12]  Richard M. Fujimoto,et al.  Grand Challenges for Modeling and Simulation , 2002 .

[13]  David E. Culler,et al.  A blueprint for introducing disruptive technology into the Internet , 2003, CCRV.

[14]  Eddie Kohler,et al.  The Click modular router , 1999, SOSP.

[15]  Mineo Takai,et al.  MAYA: Integrating hybrid network modeling to the physical world , 2004, TOMC.

[16]  Mark Carson,et al.  NIST Net: a Linux-based network emulation tool , 2003, CCRV.

[17]  Paul Barford,et al.  Bench-style network research in an Internet Instance Laboratory , 2003, CCRV.

[18]  Fouad A. Tobagi,et al.  Analysis of measured single-hop delay from an operational backbone network , 2002, Proceedings.Twenty-First Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies.

[19]  R. Hill,et al.  REAL-TIME SCHEDULING OF LOGICAL PROCESSES FOR PARALLEL DISCRETE-EVENT SIMULATION , 2013 .

[20]  R. Srikant,et al.  Multi-Path TCP: A Joint Congestion Control and Routing Scheme to Exploit Path Diversity in the Internet , 2006, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking.

[21]  Ramesh Govindan,et al.  Performance Preserving Topological Downscaling of Internet-Like Networks , 2006, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[22]  Brian W. Unger,et al.  Applying parallel discrete event simulation to network emulation , 2000, Proceedings Fourteenth Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Simulation.

[23]  Jason Liu,et al.  A Primer for Real-Time Simulation of Large-Scale Networks , 2008, 41st Annual Simulation Symposium (anss-41 2008).

[24]  Chase Cotton,et al.  Packet-level traffic measurements from the Sprint IP backbone , 2003, IEEE Netw..

[25]  C. Raiciu,et al.  Practical Congestion Control for Multipath Transport Prot ocols , 2009 .

[26]  David M. Nicol,et al.  S3F: The Scalable Simulation Framework revisited , 2011, Proceedings of the 2011 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC).

[27]  Dejan Kostic,et al.  Scalability and accuracy in a large-scale network emulator , 2002, CCRV.

[28]  Robert Ricci,et al.  Modeling and Emulation of Internet Paths , 2009, NSDI.

[29]  Xinjie Chang.  Network simulations with OPNET , 1999, WSC'99. 1999 Winter Simulation Conference Proceedings. 'Simulation - A Bridge to the Future' (Cat. No.99CH37038).

[30]  David M. Nicol,et al.  Fast simulation of background traffic through Fair Queueing networks , 2010, Proceedings of the 2010 Winter Simulation Conference.

[31]  Yue Li,et al.  A real-time network simulation infrastructure based on OpenVPN , 2009, J. Syst. Softw..

[32]  Luigi Rizzo,et al.  Dummynet: a simple approach to the evaluation of network protocols , 1997, CCRV.

[33]  Pavlin Radoslavov,et al.  Designing extensible IP router software , 2005, NSDI.

[34]  Ness B. Shroff,et al.  Simplification of network analysis in large-bandwidth systems , 2003, IEEE INFOCOM 2003. Twenty-second Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37428).

[35]  Philippe Owezarski,et al.  A flow-based model for internet backbone traffic , 2002, IMW '02.

[36]  Mark Handley,et al.  Coupled Congestion Control for Multipath Transport Protocols , 2011, RFC.

[37]  Jason Liu,et al.  PrimoGENI: Integrating Real-Time Network Simulation and Emulation in GENI , 2011, 2011 IEEE Workshop on Principles of Advanced and Distributed Simulation.

[38]  Kevin R. Fall,et al.  Network emulation in the VINT/NS simulator , 1999, Proceedings IEEE International Symposium on Computers and Communications (Cat. No.PR00250).

[39]  Jason Liu,et al.  How Low Can You Go? Spherical Routing for Scalable Network Simulations , 2011, 2011 IEEE 19th Annual International Symposium on Modelling, Analysis, and Simulation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems.

[40]  Deborah Estrin,et al.  Advances in network simulation , 2000, Computer.