IMUNES Based Distributed Network Emulator

Abstract

In this paper we describe a new version of our distributed network emulator that extends an existing kernel level emulator called IMUNES. IMUNES is based on a lightweight virtual machine concept and performs zero copying when packets traverse through the emulated topology. It works on a modified FreeBSD kernel and enables emulated nodes to use the standard UNIX applications. The main strengths of this tool are scalability, performance and high fidelity. We are developing a distributed network simulation to further increase the scalability by allowing parts of emulation to be deployed across a peer-to-peer emulator cluster. The decentralized management of the emulator cluster improves availability and robustness of the system. We provide support for a multi-user and multi-experiment environment to maximize the benefit from newly increased resources