Tutorial I: Simulation for large-scale distributed computing research

This tutorial will provide attendees with clear perspectives on the challenges for experimental research in the area of parallel and large-scale distributed computing, and on current technology for conducting experiments with real-world testbeds, emulated testbeds, or simulated testbeds. The first part of the tutorial will present and contrast current experimental methodologies, giving attendees in-depth understanding of the scientific and technological issues at hand. The second part of the tutorial will focus on simulation, giving a state of the art of current simulation technology and discussing challenges for the development of sound simulation models. The tutorial will use the SimGrid simulation framework as an exemple since it implements sophisticated and validated simulation models. The last part of the tutorial will focus on an in-depth presentation of the different simulation approaches enabled by SimGrid, each with its specific range of applications and goals. SimGrid has been used to obtain results published in over 50 research articles and has thus emerged as one of the key tools for simulation in the area of parallel and large-scale distributed computing. Tutorial attendees will have the opportunity to gain some hands-on experience with SimGrid, by witnessing step-by-step development of small simulation projects. By the end of this tutorial attendees should have a clear understanding of current technology and best practice for experimental parallel large-scale distributed computing research, and in particular on the use of simulation.