Rattan: An Extensible and Scalable Modular Internet Path Emulator
🤖 AI Summary
Existing network path simulators struggle to cope with the growing heterogeneity, scale, and dynamism of Internet paths. To address this, we propose a modular and scalable network path simulation platform built upon a novel “Unit”-based architecture: simulation functionalities are decomposed into lightweight, asynchronously interfaced modules that support hierarchical composition and user-defined extensions. Integrated with multi-level linking mechanisms and a distributed communication design, the platform enables concurrent simulation of hundreds of gigabit-speed paths on a single machine and scales seamlessly to multi-node clusters. This design significantly enhances simulation flexibility, maintainability, and experimental scale. The platform has already facilitated efficient validation of multiple modern transport protocols and serves as a high-fidelity, accessible infrastructure for large-scale network research and systems development.
Application Category
📝 Abstract
The rapid growth of Internet paths in heterogeneity, scale, and dynamics has made existing emulators increasingly insufficient in flexibility, scalability, and usability. To address these limitations, we present Rattan, an extensible and scalable software network path emulator for modern Internet conditions. Rattan's core innovation lies in its cell-based architecture: by splitting emulation functions into modular "cells" with well-documented asynchronous interfaces, users are allowed to easily compose different cells by hierarchically linking them and easily construct new cells by using standard cell interfaces. This design enables: (1) scalability, supporting hundreds of concurrent gigabit-level paths on a single machine and cluster-level experiments composed of multiple machines; (2) extensibility, simulating new network conditions by constructing new cells. Rattan empowers developers and researchers to efficiently and confidently evaluate, validate, and diagnose diverse network transport innovations for online services.
Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
Addressing insufficient flexibility in Internet path emulators
Enabling scalable emulation of diverse network conditions
Providing modular design for extensible network path simulation
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Cell-based architecture for modular emulation
Hierarchical linking of cells for scalability
Standard interfaces for constructing new cells
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