I was reading a whitepaper on an idea called OpenFlow. In short, it's a proposed specification to allow campus networks to run both traditional and experimental architecture side-by-side, allowing researchers to experiment with real data in real networks while not disrupting normal users'...well, usage. They focused on experiments with traffic controlled by one researcher, but I believe this could be expanded.
It looks like the OpenFlow switch could be configured to replicate traffic on the production network. If this is the case (and the traffic in question is not sensitive/whatever other privacy concerns there be are addressed), it seems like it shouldn't be too difficult to set up a replica network with virtual users. A few more powerful machines (each representing a number of actual and potential users) could be dedicated to simulating the same traffic that occurs on the production network and thus help determine how an experimental protocol or architecture idea would perform in the real world. What could be a better test than real data?
No comments:
Post a Comment