Measuring experiments in GENI

Experimentation with new network architectures and protocols is one of the primary motivations for building future Internet testbeds such as the Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI) testbed. A key part of experimentation is the ability to observe, measure, evaluate, and compare these new architectures and protocols. Observing an experiment’s network performance requires setting up the measurement infrastructure needed to monitor and record the behavior of the network. It also requires a full set of tools and user interfaces that enable access to the measurement data both while the experiment is running and later during post-analysis.To simplify the task of measuring experiments in future Internet testbeds like GENI, we developed an instrumentation and measurement system called INSTOOLS. It automates the process of setting up the measurement infrastructure, tailoring the measurement infrastructure and the data capture to the experimental network’s topology and configuration. In addition, INSTOOLS provides a suite of tools via its “portal” service that make it easy for users to observe, measure, format, and archive data from their experiments. This paper describes the INSTOOLS system and the set of interfaces/tools it offers to users. INSTOOLS has been in use for several years, and we provide performance results that illustrate its scalability. We also present our second-generation portal, the GENI One Stop Portal, that offers a comprehensive interface to a wide range of tools.