VMSimInt: A Network Simulation Tool Supporting Integration of Arbitrary Kernels and Applications

Thomas Werthmann, Matthias Kaschub, Mirja Kühlewind, Sebastian Scholz, David Wagner
2014 Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Simulation Tools and Techniques  
Integrating realistic behavior of end systems into simulations is challenging since the mechanisms used in protocols and applications such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) are complex and continuously evolving. In this paper, we present VMSimInt, a new approach which allows the INTegration of arbitrary Operating Systems (OSs) and application code into an event-driven network SIMulator by using Virtual Machines (VMs). In contrast to existing approaches which integrate parts of OS kernels,
more » ... ur approach uses unmodified OS kernels, which eases maintenance and provides additional flexibility. By controlling the time and all I/O of the VMs, our approach guarantees that external factors such as the performance of the host do not influence the simulation outcome, so that simulations are exactly reproducible. We validated our system against the Network Simulation Cradle (NSC) by simulating the same models and comparing the system behavior. In addition, we show that our approach provides sufficient performance for usage in day-to-day research.
doi:10.4108/icst.simutools.2014.254623 dblp:conf/simutools/WerthmannKKSW14 fatcat:hc37grginbhrnk4ts5v2yec4za