Building an operation support system for a fast reconfigurable network experimentation testbed

We discuss in this paper the emerging need for an operation support system to support fast, reconfigurable, time-shared testbeds. We articulate the needs for building an operation support system for such testbeds in order to provide better utilization of testbed resources, enable testers to closely examine and analyze tests, streamline the process of test setup and execution, as well as enhance the efficacy of tests and the throughput of the testbed. In addition, the progress that we have made so far, our current research and development road map, along with foreseeable research challenges are also discussed.