Large-Scale Realistic Network Data Generation on a Budget

Many novel problems in computer networking require relevant network trace data during the research process. Unfortunately, such data can often be hard to find, which becomes a problem within itself. While generating appropriate data using in-lab network testbeds and simulators are feasible solutions, the former has limitations in terms of network scale, while the latter has limitations in the generated data. To help address these issues, we present an approach for the generation of realistic network trace data in a contained, large-scale network environment. We use network emulation to enable large-scale, in-lab networking, and a software framework we developed to support autonomous client-side protocols and services, including user-behavioral models which scale in a shared CPU environment. Our framework also enables quick experiment setup and monitoring. We show through experimentation on a low-end laptop that our approach enables network scale into the hundreds of nodes, allowing anyone with even basic hardware to generate potentially relevant, realistic network data.