User-mode Linux based MPLS emulator

MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS)is a key technology able to enhance IP networks with advanced Traffic Engineering and QoS functionalities. It introduces a connection-oriented forwarding plane based on a label switching paradigm. Development of network applications for commercial purposes over the Internet requires extensive verification and validation in large networks. Real networks are however commonly limited in size, number of network devices and in topology configurations supported. Such limitations make large-scale verification and validation tests hard to accomplish. By emulating a network, the size, router specifications and topology can be controlled. This allows for more flexible and larger scale testing than in a real network. Also, costs are reduced since no expensive network devices are needed. This paper presents design and implementation procedures for User-Mode Linux (UML) based MPLS network emulator. The designed emulator is useful for testing on real-time the MPLS network planned to implement in an organization with a specified network traffic. The designed emulator has been tested with standard test suite under various traffic conditions.