Toward Scalable Emulation of Future Internet Applications with Simulation Symbiosis

Mininet is a popular container-based emulation environment built on Linux for testing Open Flow applications. Using Mininet, one can compose an experimental network using a set of virtual hosts and virtual switches with flexibility. However, it is well understood that Mininet can only provide a limited capacity, both for CPU and network I/O, due to its underlying physical constraints. We propose a method for combining simulation and emulation to improve the scalability of network experiments. This is achieved by applying the symbiotic approach to effectively integrate emulation and simulation for hybrid experimentation. In this case, one can use Mininet to directly run Open Flow applications on the virtual machines and software switches, with network connectivity represented by detailed simulation at scale.