Differentiated services: an experimental vs. simulated case study

This paper aims to provide a proof of concept of the accuracy of simulations for studying advanced networking. The particular target technology is the differentiated services (DiffServ) architecture. The method has been to apply experimental activities conducted in a real network to a simulation environment, to gather the same performance parameters and to compare results. A worthy re-engineering of the DiffServ module of the deployed software program has been carried out and significant contribution have been made to overcome the encountered limitations and to enrich its modeling capabilities. Final results give useful suggestions for a more critical approach to simulations targeted at studying advanced networking.