Software-Driven Definition of Virtual Testbeds to Validate Emergent Network Technologies

The lack of privileged access to emergent and operational deployments is one of the key matters during validation and testing of novel telecommunication systems and technologies. This matter jeopardizes the repeatability of experiments, which results in burdens for innovation and research in these areas. In this light, we present a method and architecture to make the software-driven definition of virtual testbeds easier. As distinguishing features, our proposal can mimic operational deployments by using high-dimensional activity patterns. These activity patterns shape the effect of a control module that triggers agents for the generation of network traffic. This solution exploits the capabilities of network emulation and virtualization systems, which nowadays can be easily deployed in commodity servers. With this, we accomplish a reproducible definition of realistic experimental conditions and the introduction of real agent implementations in a cost-effective fashion. We evaluate our solution in a case study that is comprised of the validation of a network-monitoring tool for Voice over IP (VoIP) deployments. Our experimental results support the viability of the method and illustrate how this formulation can improve the experimentation in emergent technologies.