Simulation with real world network stacks

Network simulation is used widely in network research to test new protocols, modifications to existing protocols and new ideas. The tool used in many cases is ns-2. The nature of the ns-2 protocols means that they are often based on theoretical models that might not behave in the same way as real networks. This paper presents the network simulation cradle which allows real world network stacks to be used in a wrapper that allows the stacks protocols to be used in the ns-2 network simulator. The network stacks from the open source operating systems Linux, FreeBSD and OpenBSD are included in the simulation cradle as well as a stack designed for embedded systems, 1wIP. Our results show that ns-2's TCP implementations do not match observed behaviour from real machines in some respects and using the network simulation cradle produces results closer to real world network stacks.