Tutorial: Using the GENI Networking Testbed

(including a hands-on tutorial component using live GENI resources)

When: March 6 (Wed), 2013: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Where: Governors Square 15

Speakers and Organizers:

Jay Aikat, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, aikat@cs.unc.edu (your questions are welcome!)

Kevin Jeffay, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Mark Berman, GENI Project Office, BBN Technologies

Niky Riga, GENI Project Office, BBN Technologies

Brief Description of Material:

For over a decade now, networking researchers have built small and large research testbeds using hardware in their laboratories, or using software tools like the Network Simulator (NS) as the primary means for performance evaluation experiments. More recently, through the largely NSF-funded Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI) project, we have witnessed the initial deployment of customizable testbeds with vast CyberInfrastructure capabilities spread across the United States.

GENI is a virtual laboratory at the frontiers of network science and engineering, enabling educators and researchers to build and tear down networks and run experiments with several options for testbed topologies, instrumentation and measurement, and models for traffic generation. Through this tutorial, we would like to introduce the SIGCSE community to the vast testbeds, tools and resources openly available through the GENI project. This project, while continuing to be developed and enhanced, is ready for classroom use for running experiments for demonstration and as student assignments and projects.

This tutorial will answer the following questions:

o What is GENI?

o What are the distributed computing resources available on GENI for educators interested in using simulation and network experiments as part of their curriculum?

o Where and how do you get started if you want to include GENI experiments in your curriculum?

o What are the kinds of experiments you can run on the GENI testbeds?

o What are the specific traffic generation tools available for such experiments?

Hands-on component:

We will demonstrate simple experiments that can be run using the GENI CyberInfrastructure. We will also have a hands-on tutorial component.

** Come prepared with your laptops! **

Tutorial wiki page: http://groups.geni.net/geni/wiki/GENIExperimenter/Tutorials/SIGCSE13Tutorial

Assumed Background of Attendees:

We expect the attendee to have basic knowledge of computer networking and distributed systems, and to be interested in the research and education of distributed systems and networking. 

Speakers and Organizers:

o Jay Aikat, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, aikat@cs.unc.edu

o Kevin Jeffay, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

o Mark Berman, GENI Project Office, BBN Technologies

o Niky Riga, GENI Project Office, BBN Technologies

Jay Aikat is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her interests include computer networking, measurement and modeling of Internet traffic, experimental design and evaluation, and research and education of measurement-based network experimentation.

Kevin Jeffay is the Gillian T. Cell Distinguished Professor of Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests include computer networking, operating systems, real-time systems, multimedia networking, and performance evaluation.

Mark Berman is the Experimentation Director for the GENI Project Office (GPO). Through outreach to GENI experimentalists and educators and advocacy for their requirements, he is responsible for ensuring the successful integration and execution of a rich variety of experiments that make meaningful us of GENI capabilities. He is also Vice President of Technology Development at BBN Technologies.

Niky Riga is a Network Scientist for the GENI Project Office (GPO). Niky is responsible for supporting GENI users in integrating and deploying their experiments within the GENI infrastructure, and ensuring that the deployment makes the best use of GENI resources.

Jeffay and Aikat are currently working on a three-year NSF-funded project to develop education and training resources for GENI experiments, in collaboration with the GENI Project Office.