Method and system for network emulation

A system and method for emulation of a network link include an application programming interface (API) for testing distributed applications by way of a network emulator. According to aspects of the invention, a method and computer program product are disclosed for providing an interface to a user application for configuring a network emulator. According to another aspect of the invention, a system for configuring a network emulator by way of a user application is provided. The API includes exposed functions for creating a virtual channel, creating a virtual link in the virtual channel, deleting the virtual channel, deleting the virtual link, obtaining trace data, obtaining a packet filter for the virtual channel, obtaining a link rule and the number of instances of the virtual link, initializing the emulator, modifying the virtual channel, modifying the virtual link, setting trace information for the emulator, shutting down the emulator, and stopping the emulation.