Enhancing the fidelity of network emulation through direct access to device buffers. (15th March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Imputato, Pasquale; Avallone, Stefano
• Is Part Of: Journal of network and computer applications. Volume 130(2019)
• Page Start: 63
• Page End: 75
• Publication Date: 2019-03-15
• Subjects: Emulation -- Experimental evaluation -- Network simulation -- Active Queue Management; Microcomputers -- Periodicals; Computer networks -- Periodicals; Application software -- Periodicals; Micro-ordinateurs -- Périodiques; Réseaux d'ordinateurs -- Périodiques; Logiciels d'application -- Périodiques; Application software; Computer networks; Microcomputers; Periodicals; 004.05; 004
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jnca.2019.01.014
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1084-8045

Abstract

Abstract: Researchers from academia, industry and research centers often resort to emulation to overcome the drawbacks associated with network simulation and experimental evaluation. Emulation is broadly classified in environment emulation, usually carried out by running real code in Virtual Machines (VMs) or containers, and network emulation, typically involving network simulators that exchange packets with the real world. In this paper, we focus on network emulation, which is often exploited for rapid prototyping and testing of network protocols and algorithms. We identify the limitations of the approach currently used by various network simulators to provide network emulation and design an alternative solution based on netmap, a framework for high speed packet I/O which is available on multiple operating systems. We argue that the proposed solution to network emulation provides extremely accurate results in terms of packet latency and packet drops and prove our claim by means of an extensive experimental campaign. We also show that by building upon an accurate network emulation mechanism it is possible to validate the implementation of protocols found in network simulators against their implementation in real network stacks. As an example, we present the results of the experiments we conducted to validate the ns-3 implementation of various packet schedulers against their Linux counterpart.