Packet tracking in planetLab europe - A use case

Abstract

Making observations is fundamental for experimental research. Experimental facilities have to provide sophisticated and flexible tools to support scientific experiments by logging experiment results and monitoring environment conditions. Standardized measurements in experimental facilities can also provide consistent input for experiments with adaptive algorithms. In this paper we present a packet tracking architecture for PlanetLab Europe. Packet tracking correlates information from multiple observation points to observe the packet's path and experienced transmission quality. In our approach we use statistical sampling to control the measurement resource consumption and show how data selection processes at multiple observation points can be synchronized. As an example use case we show how the packet tracking architecture is used to support experiments on functional composition. © Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2011.