run network experiments on different experimentation platforms
(e.g. Planetlab, OMF wireless testbeds, network simulators, etc).
-Imagine that you want to run an experiment to test a distributed
-application you just coded, on the Internet.
-You can use NEPI to deploy your application on PlanetLab
-nodes, run the experiment, and collect result files
-you might have generated during the
-experiment (e.g. pcap files from tcpudmps).
-
-Sure, you could do this by coding your own BASH script, but
-it will probably take more time and painful hours of debugging
-if you want to do it right.
+Imagine that you want to run an experiment to test on the Internet
+a distributed application you just implemented.
+You can use NEPI to automate deployment of your application on
+the PlanetLab testbed, run the experiment, and then collect result files
+to your local machine.
NEPI aims at providing a re-usable code base to run network
-experiments on target experimentation platforms, so to
-decrease the time you spend in developing platform specific
-scripts or programs, and debugging them.
-
-In a nut-shell, NEPI is a network experiment
-management framework which provides a simple way of
-describing network experiments, and the logic to automatically
-deploy those experiments on the target experimentation environments.
+experiments on target experimentation platforms, and in this
+way decrease the time you spend developing platform-specific
+scripts and debugging them.
+
+NEPI is a network experiment management framework that provides a
+simple way of describing network experiments, and the logic to
+automatically deploy those experiments on the target experimentation
+environments.
It also provides the means to control the resources used in the experiment
(e.g. Nodes, applications, switches, virtual machines, routing table entries,
-etc ) during experiment execution, and to collect results generated by
+etc) during experiment execution, and to collect results generated by
the experiment to a local repository.
-The experiment deployment and control is done by the
-Experiment Controller (EC) entity, which is responsible for the
+The experiment deployment and control are done by the
+ExperimentController (EC), which is the entity responsible for the
global orchestration of the experiment.
The EC knows nothing about how to manage specific resources
(e.g. how to configure a network interface in a PlanetLab node),
-instead it delegates those tasks to entities called Resource Manager (RM).
-
-The RMs are responsible of controlling single resources
-(e.g. a Linux host, an Open vSwitched on PlanetLab
-nodes, etc). Different types of resources will be controlled by
-different RMs, specifically adpated to control them.
-All RMs implement a same external interface, that the EC uses
-to control them in a uniform way.
-
-NEPI is not magical, it can not control all existing resources
+instead it delegates resource management to platform-specific
+entities called Resource Manager (RM).
+The RMs are responsible for controlling resources
+(e.g. Linux hosts, Open vSwitches on PlanetLab
+nodes, etc). Different types of resources are be controlled by
+specific RMs.
+All RMs implement a same API that the EC uses to communicate
+with them in a uniform way.
+
+NEPI can not control all existing resources
on all existing experimentation platforms by default.
-However, potentially any resource could be controlled by
-NEPI if the adequate Resource Manager is implemented for it.
-Fortunately, NEPI already provides several Resource Managers for
-different resources on a variety of testbeds, and new
-Resource Manager classes can be extended from existing ones,
-to control new types of resources.
-
-The idea behind NEPI is to enable runing network experiments on
+However, arbitrary resources can be controlled in NEPI if the
+corresponding Resource Manager is implemented for it.
+Fortunately, NEPI already provides several ResourceManagers to
+manage different resources on a variety of testbeds, and new
+Resource Manager classes can be extended from existing ones by
+the experimenters.
+The idea behind NEPI is to support running network experiments on
potentially any experimentation platform, using a single
-software tool, as opposite to using a dedicated software for
-each platform. An additional perk is that you don't have to deal
-with a lot of platform-specific gory details of setting up and
-configuring the resources (e.g. Creating a TAP device on Planetlab.
-If you ever had to do that, you know what I mean). Also,
-you could combine resources from different platforms in a same
-experiment, using just one script.
-
-So, 'One ring to rule them all', sorry I meant, 'One tool to
-control them all'... or something like that.
-We though it was a good idea to abstract platform details
-behind a common resource management interface, and let
-NEPI deal with the details and give you back the results.
-
-\section{What does a NEPI script look like ?}
+software tool, instead of using a dedicated software for
+each platform.
+
+\section{What does a NEPI script look like?}
\label{faq:ping_example}
Here is a very simple experiment example, which runs a PING
\begin{lstlisting}[language=Python]
from nepi.execution.ec import ExperimentController
-ec = ExperimentController(exp_id = "myexperiment")
+ec = ExperimentController(exp_id="myexperiment")
hostname = # Host that can be accessed with an SSH account
username = # SSH user account on host
\section{What does NEPI stands for?}
-It stands for: Network Experiment Programming Interface.
+It stands for Network Experiment Programming Interface.
\section{Who developed NEPI?}
NEPI was developed at INRIA, Sophia Antipolis France.
A first prototype was implemented in 2010.
Versions 1.0 and 2.0 were released in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
-The current version is 3.0, and it was completely redesigned and
-rewritten to broaden the scope, and to include several
-new features, which will be described in detail in this document.
-The following people has contributed to the project:
+The current NEPI version is 3.0.
+
+The following people have contributed to the project:
\begin{itemize}
\item NEPI version 3.0: Alina Quereilhac, Julien Tribino, Lucia Guevgeozian Odizzio, Alexandros Kouvakas
\section{Is it free?}
Yes, NEPI is free software. It is free to use, free to modify, free to share.
-NEPI v3.0 is licensed under GPL v3, so you can do whatever you want with it,
+NEPI v2.0 is licensed under GPL v2, so you can do whatever you want with it,
as long as you keep the same license.
\section{How can I contribute?}
\url{http://nepi.inria.fr/bugzilla} \\
-\section{Where can I get more information ?}
+\section{Where can I get more information?}
-For more information visit NEPI web site at :
+For more information visit NEPI web site at:
\url{http://nepi.inria.fr} \\
git://git.onelab.eu / nepi.git / blobdiff