Real-time network simulation support for scalable routing experiments. (22nd September 2009)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Yue; Liu, Jason; Rangaswami, Raju
• Is Part Of: International journal of simulation and process modelling. Volume 5:Number 2(2009)
• Page Start: 146
• Page End: 156
• Publication Date: 2009-09-22
• Subjects: network simulation -- real-time simulation -- network emulation -- open source routing protocols -- large-scale routing experiments -- software infrastructure -- lightweight virtual machines; Management -- Computer simulation -- Periodicals; Mathematical models -- Periodicals; Operations research -- Periodicals; Simulation methods -- Periodicals; 003.05
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1740-2123

Abstract

This paper describes a new software infrastructure that combines the scalability and flexibility benefits of real-time network simulation with the realism of open-source routing protocol implementations. The infrastructure seamlessly integrates the open-source XORP router implementation with a real-time large-scale network simulation engine. The design uses a novel forwarding plane offloading approach that decouples routing from forwarding and confines the more resource consuming forwarding operations inside the simulation engine to reduce I/O overhead. Experiments demonstrate superior performance of the software routing infrastructure without impairing accuracy. The infrastructure is shown to be able to support large-scale routing experiments on light-weight virtual machines.