Skip to main content
Log in

A virtual time system for virtualization-based network emulations and simulations

  • Article
  • Published:
Journal of Simulation

Abstract

Simulation and emulation are commonly used to study the behaviour of communication networks, owing to the cost and complexity of exploring new ideas on actual networks. Emulations executing real code have high functional fidelity, but may not have high temporal fidelity because virtual machines usually use their host's clock. To enhance temporal fidelity, we designed a virtual time system for virtualization-based network emulations and simulations, such that virtual machines perceive time as if they were running concurrently in physical world. Our time virtualization is not exact: there exist temporal errors primarily due to scheduler timeslice, which is tunable in our system. We then study the tradeoff between temporal fidelity and execution speed under different lengths of timeslices, both experimentally and analytically. We demonstrate that our virtual time system is flexible such that it can achieve different level of temporal accuracy at the cost of different execution speed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahrenholz J, Danilov C, Henderson TR and Kim JH (2008). Core: A real-time network emulator. In: Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference for Military Communications (MILCOM’08). IEEE: Los Alamitos, pp 1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews J (2003). Linux: Running At 10,000 HZ. http://kerneltrap.org/node/1766.

  • Barham P et al (2003). Xen and the art of virtualization. ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review 37 (5): 164–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellard F (2005). QEMU, a fast and portable dynamic translator. Proceedings of the USENIX Annual Technical Conference, FREENIX track, pp 41–46, http://static.usenix.org/event/usenix05/tech/freenix/full_papers/bellard/bellard.pdf, accessed 23 August 2011.

  • Benvenuti C (2005). Understanding Linux Network Internals. O'Reilly Media: Sebastopal, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biswas P et al (2009). An integrated testbed for virtual ad hoc networks. In: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Testbeds and Research Infrastructures for the Development of Networks and Communities Internet (TridentCom’09), IEEE, pp 1–10.

  • Chun B et al (2003). Planetlab: An overlay testbed for broad-coverage services. ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review 33 (3): 3–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dickens P, Heidelberger P and Nicol D (1994). A distributed memory LAPSE: Parallel simulation of message-passing programs. ACM SIGSIM Simulation Digest 24 (1): 32–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erazo M, Li Y and Liu J (2009). SVEET! A scalable virtualized evaluation environment for TCP. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Testbeds and Research Infrastructures for the Development of Networks and Communities (TridentCom’09), IEEE, pp 1–10.

  • Fujimoto R (1990). Parallel discrete event simulation. Communication of the ACM 33 (10): 30–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grau A, Maier S, Herrmann K and Rothermel K (2008). Time jails: A hybrid approach to scalable network emulation. In: Proceedings of the 22th Workshop on Principles of Advanced and Distributed Simulation (PADS’08), IEEE, pp 7–14.

  • Gupta D et al (2011). DieCast: Testing distributed systems with an accurate scale model. ACM Transactions on Computer Systems 29 (2): 4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IEEE (1999). Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications: High-Speed Physical Layer in the 5 GHz Band. Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems—Local and Metropolitan Area Networks—Specific Requirements. IEEE Standard for Information Technology, http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/mostRecentIssue.jsp?punumber=6606, accessed 23 August 2011.

  • Mayo J, Minnich R, Rudish D and Armstrong R (2009). Approaches for scalable modeling and emulation of cyber systems: LDRD final report Sandia report, SAND2009-6068, Sandia National Lab.

  • Nicol D (1993). The cost of conservative synchronization in parallel discrete event simulations. Journal of the ACM 40 (2): 304–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicol D (2006). Tradeoffs between model abstraction, execution speed, and behavioral accuracy. European Modeling and Simulation Symposium.

  • Nicol D, Jin D and Zheng Y (2011). S3F: The scalable simulation framework revisited. In: Proceedings of the 2011 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC’11), IEEE, pp 3283–3294.

  • NS-2 (2011). The network simulator—ns-2, http://nsnam.isi.edu/nsnam/index.php/Main_Page, accessed 23 August 2011.

  • NS-3 (2011). The ns-3 project. http://www.nsnam.org/.

  • OpenVZ (2011). OpenVZ: A container-based virtualization for Linux. Project website available at http://wiki.openvz.org/Main_Page.

  • OPNET (2011). OPNET modeler: Scalable network simulation. http://www.opnet.com/solutions/network_rd/modeler.html.

  • Padala P et al (2007). Performance evaluation of virtualization technologies for server consolidation Technical Report HPL-2007-59, HP Labs, April 2007.

  • Sobeih A et al (2006). J-Sim: A simulation and emulation environment for wireless sensor networks. IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine 13 (4): 104–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soekris (2011). Soekris engineering box. http://www.soekris.com/.

  • SSF (2011). Scalable simulation framework (SSF). http://www.ssfnet.org.

  • Tanenbaum A (2007). Modern Operating Systems. 3rd edn, Prentice Hall: New Jersey.

    Google Scholar 

  • UML (2011). The user-mode linux Kernel. http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/.

  • Vahdat A et al (2002). Scalability and accuracy in a large-scale network emulator. ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review 36 (SI): 271–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaidya N et al (2005). Illinois Wireless Wind Tunnel: A testbed for experimental evaluation of wireless networks. In: Proceeding of the 2005 ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Experimental Approaches to Wireless Network Design and Analysis, ACM, pp 64–69.

  • Virtuozzo (2011). Virtuozzo containers. http://www.parallels.com/products/pvc46/.

  • VMware (2011). VMware virtualization software. http://www.vmware.com/.

  • Walters B (1999). VMware virtual platform. Linux Journal 1999 (63): 6.

    Google Scholar 

  • White B et al (2002). An integrated experimental environment for distributed systems and networks. ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review 36 (SI): 255–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng Y and Nicol D (2010). Validation of radio channel models using an anechoic chamber. In: Proceedings of the 24th Principles of Advanced and Distributed Simulation (PADS’10), IEEE, pp 1–8.

  • Zheng Y and Nicol D (2011). A virtual time system for openvz-based network emulations. In: Proceedings of the 25th Workshop on Principles of Advanced and Distributed Simulation (PADS’11), IEEE, pp 1–10.

  • Zheng Y and Vaidya N (2008). Repeatability of Illinois Wireless Wind Tunnel Technical Report, Wireless Networking Group, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 2008.

Download references

Acknowledgements

This material is based upon worked supported under Dept. of Energy under Award Number DE-0E00000097, and under support from the Boeing Corporation. This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favouring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Zheng, Y., Nicol, D., Jin, D. et al. A virtual time system for virtualization-based network emulations and simulations. J Simulation 6, 205–213 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/jos.2012.12

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/jos.2012.12

Keywords

Navigation