COMPASS: Composable and Parallel Simulation of Internetworks

COMPASS：互联网络的可组合和并行模拟

• 批准号: 9977544
• 负责人: Richard Fujimoto
• 金额: $ 66.59万
• 依托单位: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-09-15 至 2003-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9977544&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COMPASS; Composable; Parallel; Simulation; Internetworks

The unprecedented, exponential growth of the Internet has far outstripped the capacity of thetools needed to analyze modern networks. Simulation remains the method of choice for networkdesigners, researchers, and managers for many analysis problems. However, modern simulationtools are typically limited to analyzing tens to hundreds of network nodes, while studies ofcurrent and future networks such as the next generation Internet call for analyses of thousands tomillions. New, practical approaches to network modeling and simulation are needed to addressthis growing problem. Two frequently heard problems with simulation technology today are (1) the excessive amountof time required to construct a model for a large network, and (2) the inordinate amount ofcomputer time required to execute the resulting simulation program. This project, calledCOMPASS (COMposable and PArallel Simulation of internetworkS), will attack the firstproblem by defining and realizing an approach to enable rapid construction of network modelsby reusing model components developed by others, possibly using different simulation softwarepackages. The second problem will be attacked through execution of the model on paralleland/or distributed computers. In this regard, this project will focus on realizing a practical,flexible, approach to parallelization that can be widely exploited by the networking community.This approach, based on composing (federating) autonomous simulators executing on differentprocessors, cleanly separates the parallel and sequential portions of the simulation, allowingconcurrent optimization and refinement of each. A related problem that will be studied concernsexecution of models over a geographically distributed area in situations where modelcomponents cannot be easily co-located. To demonstrate this approach, an optimized parallel/distributed implementation of the ns2simulator will be realized as part of this project. This software will be realized on widelyavailable computing platforms and will be made freely available to the networking community incollaboration with the VINT/ns group at USC/ISI. Because ns2 is widely used in the networkingcommunity, the potential impact of this project is large. Moreover, the ability to easily reusenetwork models developed by others using different simulation packages can lead to a paradigmshift in the way modeling and simulation is routinely practiced in the networking community.Finally, simulation of multicast protocols will be used as a vehicle to evaluate and refine theparallel simulation designs and demonstrate their effectiveness. Multicast protocols have aparticularly strong need for scalable simulation tools. It is an area where new ideas andproposals are still being generated. Research in this project will focus on multicast protocols thatare of current interest to the Internet community; reliable multicast, layered video multicast anddata dissemination applications will be studied. This work will not only provide a proof ofconcept for the parallel simulation research, but will also provide an improved evaluationcapability to the networking community for solutions to problems of current interest.

互联网前所未有的指数级增长已经远远超过了分析现代网络所需的工具的能力。模拟仍然是网络设计人员、研究人员和管理人员解决许多分析问题的首选方法。然而，现代仿真工具通常仅限于分析数十到数百个网络节点，而对当前和未来网络(如下一代互联网)的研究需要数千到数百万个节点的分析。需要新的、实用的网络建模和仿真方法来解决这一日益严重的问题。当今关于模拟技术的两个常见问题是(1)为大型网络构建模型所需的过多时间，以及(2)执行所产生的模拟程序所需的过多的计算机时间。该项目名为COMPASS(Composable And Parallel Simulation Of InternetworkS)，它将通过定义和实现一种方法来解决第一个问题，该方法通过重用其他人开发的模型组件来快速构建网络模型，可能使用不同的仿真软件包。第二个问题将通过在并行/或分布式计算机上执行该模型来攻击。在这方面，该项目将致力于实现一种实用的、灵活的、可被网络社区广泛利用的并行化方法，该方法基于在不同处理器上执行的自主仿真器的组合(联邦)，将仿真的并行部分和顺序部分清晰地分开，允许对每个部分进行并发优化和精化。将研究的一个相关问题涉及到在模型组件不容易共存的情况下，在地理上分布的区域上执行模型。为了演示这一方法，将作为该项目的一部分实现ns2模拟器的优化并行/分布式实现。该软件将在广泛可用的计算平台上实现，并将与南加州大学/三军情报局的VINT/NS小组合作，向网络社区免费提供。由于NS2在网络社区中的广泛应用，该项目的潜在影响很大。此外，使用不同的仿真包可以很容易地重用其他人开发的网络模型，这将导致网络社区中建模和仿真的常规方式发生转变。最后，多播协议的仿真将被用作评估和改进并行仿真设计的工具，并展示其有效性。组播协议尤其需要可扩展的仿真工具。这是一个仍在产生新想法和建议的领域。本项目的研究将集中在当前互联网社区感兴趣的组播协议上，将研究可靠组播、分层视频组播和数据分发的应用。这项工作不仅将为并行模拟研究提供概念证明，而且还将为网络社区提供更好的评估能力，以解决当前感兴趣的问题。