Network Simulation and Testing

This is an advanced computer network course for graduate or senior-year students who are interested in pursuing research in networking. Together with Network Protocols: Design and Analysis, the two courses aim to 1) review the network research from an insider's point of view and to 2) introduce in classroom the so-called research methodology. As opposed to Network Protocols focusing on knowing the problem nature and potential solutions, Network Simulation and Testing emphasizes the evaluation, experimental methods.

The goal of this course is two-fold: 1) to introduce models, techniques, and tools frequently used in network research and 2) to provide training in experimental design and technical presentation.

The lectures will cover the necessary system evaluation basics and the tool specifics. The main class material will be a collection of workload characterization and performance evaluation papers and a number of online reference to the tools: ns-2, tcpdump, dummynet, and PlanetLab

A good general reference book to have on the side will be "The Art of Computer Systems Performance Evaluation" by R. Jain, John Wiley & Sons, 1991.

Objectives:

• Revisiting the fundamental experimental design and analysis
• Emphasizing the details of testing and simulation tools for network research
• Examining the workload model and experimental design suitable for network research
• Practical training of the theory learned in real-world network problems

Topics:

• Principle of Performance Evaluation
• Workload and measurement technique
• Measurement Tool: ping, traceroute, tcpdump
• Experimental Design and Analysis
• Simulation Tool: Network Simulator Version 2 (ns-2)
• Testing Tool: dummynet, PlanetLab
• Case Studies