QualNet Tutorial

DR.NARMADA ALAPARTHI
 Contents

1 Introduction

2 Using QualNet

3 Writing protocols in QualNet

4 Example

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 QualNet

Part I
Introduction

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 Introduction

What’s QualNet?
 Commercial derivative of GlomoSim
 Rapid prototyping of protocols
 Comparative performance evaluation of alternative
protocols at each layer
 Built-in measurements on each layer
 Modular, layered stack design
 Standard API for composition of protocols across
different layers
 Scalability via support for parallel execution
 GUI Tools for system/protocol modeling

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 Introduction

Installation
 Make a local copy of QualNet in your home directory
• % mkdir ~/qualnet
• % cp –r /cs/local/packages/qualnet/4.0 ~/qualnet

 Set environment variables in ~/.cshrc

• setenv QUALNET_HOME ~/qualnet/4.0
• setenv PATH ${PATH} :${QUALNET_HOME}/bin

 Test installation
• % cd ~/qualnet/4.0/bin
• % qualnet default.config

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 Introduction

Directory Structure
 addons Components developed as custom add-on modules
 bin Executable and other runtime files
 data Data files for the Wireless Model Library
 documentation User’s Guide, Release Notes, etc.
 gui Graphical components
 include QualNet kernel header files
 interfaces Code to interface QualNet with third party tools
 kernel QualNet kernel objects used in the build process
 lib Third party libraries used in the build process
 libraries Source code for models in QualNet model libraries
 license_dir License files required for the build process
 main Kernel source files and Makefiles
 scenarios Sample scenarios

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 Introduction

Simulation experiment life cycle

 Startup
• Read configuration files
• Initialize wireless environment
• Create/initialize nodes
 Execution
• Execute events
 Shutdown
• Finalize nodes
• Produce statistics files

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 QualNet

Part II
Using QualNet

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 Configuration File (1)

Configuration files
 Plain-text explanation for configuration file
• $QUALNET_HOME/scenarios/default/default.config
 Global Parameters
• Experiment name
• Simulation time
• Coordinate system and terrain
• Random seed
 Topology and subnets
 Layer/Protocol related parameters

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 Configuration File (2)
 EXPERIMENT-NAME default
 Name of experiment. Results are written to default.stat.
 SIMULATION-TIME 15M
 SEED 1
 Value used to seed the random number generator.
 COORDINATE-SYSTEM CARTESIAN
 TERRAIN-DIMENSIONS (1500, 1500)
 Cartesian xy terrain dimensions in meters
 SUBNET N16-1.0 { 1 thru 30 }
 30 nodes whose IP addresses range from 0.0.1.1 to 0.0.1.30
 Format: N<# host bits>-<address with front end 0’s omitted>
 N16-1.0 allows hosts with IP address numbered from 0.0.1.1 through
0.0.1.65534, it is equivalent to N16-0.0.1.0

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 Configuration File (3)
 NODE-PLACEMENT UNIFORM/GRID/RANDOM/FILE

GRID RANDOM UNIFORM

 MULTICASTGROUPFILE ./default.member
 multicast membership file
 See $QUALNET_HOME/scenarios/default/default.member for more details.
 APPCONFIGFILE ./default.app
 Specifies a file with a list of apps/traffic generators to run
 CBR <src> <dest> <items to send> <size> <interval> <start time> <end time>
 See $QUALNET_HOME/scenarios/default/default.app for more details.

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 Configuration File (4)
 ROUTING-PROTOCOL AODV
 Unicast routing protocol

 MULTICAST-PROTOCOL SPTM
 Multicast routing protocol

 Layer Statistics
 APPLICATION-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
 TCP-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
 UDP-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
 ROUTING-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
 NETWORK-LAYER-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
 QUEUE-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
 MAC-LAYER-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
 PHY-LAYER-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
 MOBILITY-STATISTICS (YES|NO)

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 Using QualNet

 Step 1: Prepare config files for your protocol

 Step 2: Run QualNet on the config files

 Step 3: Examine the output statistics file

Use script language (perl/awk) to
process it.

 Step 4: Use plotting tools (gnuplot) to

create graphs from above results.

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 Using QualNet

 Find fast computers in our department

 Checkout /proc/cpuinfo, /proc/meminfo, etc.
 Use “top” to check no other people is using that computer

 Some new(fast) computers

 cse2017-pc01 ~ cse2017-pc12: E8400 3G 6M cache
 cse2027-pc01 ~ cse2027-pc08: E8400
 cse2023-pc01 ~ cse2023-pc08: E8400
 jun01 ~ jun24: E6750 2.66G 4M cache
 navy
 Don’t run QualNet on Indigo/Red
 Only one process in one computer.
 Our QualNet license only supports 30 processes simultaneously.

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 Using QualNet

 Use the powerful tool: screen

 a terminal multiplexer that allows a user to access multiple

separate terminal sessions inside a single terminal window.

 allows the user to start applications from one computer, and then
reconnect from a different computer and continue using the
same application without having to restart it.

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 Tip

More Information

 Read manuals in $QUALNET_HOME/documents

 Read source codes

 Visit community forums

• http://www.scalable-networks.com/support/forums

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 QualNet

Part III
Writing protocols in QualNet

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 Writing Protocols

Message
 A message is a unit defining an interaction between
protocols and between nodes.

 Two types of messages

• Packets used for communication between nodes
• Timers allow protocols to schedule events in a future
time

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 Writing Protocols
 MESSAGE_Alloc()
 Allocate a message and provide it with standard event, layer,
protocol info

 MESSAGE_PacketAlloc()
 Allocate space for the packet within the message

 MESSAGE_InfoAlloc()
 Allocate additional user-specified space for optional information
about the event (info field)

 MESSAGE_Send()
 Send the message as an event to the specified layer

 MESSAGE_Free()
 Free the message, once it has reached its final destination

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 Writing Protocols
 Implement five main functions in routing protocol
 Initialization function
• Create an instance of the protocol
• Read configuration parameters
• Initialize the state variables
• register the router function
• Schedule a timer event
 Packet/Event handling function
• Modify state variables
• Generate/forward packets
• Process packet/event based on packet/event type
 Router function
• Determine the next hop and outgoing interface for the packet
 Finalization function
• Print statistics
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 Writing Protocols

 Example : Simplified routing information

protocol (SRIP)

 Table-driven, distance vector protocol

 Periodic route update

 Will be Explained in Part IV

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 Writing Protocols

Add your routing protocol to QualNet

 Let QualNet know it is a network layer protocol
• Modify $QUALNET_HOME/include/network.h
– typedef enum
– {
– NETWORK_PROTOCOL_IP = 0,
– NETWORK_PROTOCOL_MOBILE_IP,
– :
– :
– ROUTING_PROTOCOL_IGRP,
– ROUTING_PROTOCOL_SRIP,
– //InsertPatch ROUTING_PROTOCOL_TYPE
– :
– ROUTING_PROTOCOL_ALL,
– ROUTING_PROTOCOL_NONE
– }
– NetworkRoutingProtocolType;

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 Writing Protocols

Add your routing protocol to QualNet

 Let IP module know it is an IP protocol
• Modify libraries/developer/src/network_ip.h
– //
– // IP protocol numbers for network- and transport-layer protocols.
– //
– #define IPPROTO_ICMP 1
– #define IPPROTO_IGMP 2
– :
– #define IPPROTO_DVMRP 200
– #define IPPROTO_SRIP 234
– //InsertPatch ROUTING_IPPROTO

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 Writing Protocols

Add your routing protocol to QualNet

 Let IP module recognize the five entry functions
• Modify libraries/developer/src/network_ip.cpp
• Include routing_srip.h
– #include <stdio.h>
– #include <stdlib.h>
– #include <string.h>
– #include <math.h>
– :
– :
– #include “routing_srip.h"
– //InsertPatch HEADER_FILES

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 Writing Protocols

Add your routing protocol to QualNet

 Have IP initialize SRIP if specified in the configuration
file
• Modify libraries/developer/src/network_ip.cpp, function
NetworkIpInit()
– else if (strcmp(protocolString, "SRIP") == 0) {
NetworkIpAddUnicastRoutingProtocolType(node,
ROUTING_PROTOCOL_SRIP, i);
if (!NetworkIpGetRoutingProtocol(node, ROUTING_PROTOCOL_SRIP)) {
SripInit(node,(SripData **) &ip->interfaceInfo[i]->routingProtocol,nodeInput,
i);
}
else {
NetworkIpUpdateUnicastRoutingProtocolAndRouterFunction(node,
ROUTING_PROTOCOL_SRIP, i);
}
– }

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 Writing Protocols

Add your routing protocol to QualNet

 When the network layer receives an event for SRIP,
dispatch it to SRIP's event handling function
• Modify libraries/developer/src/network_ip.cpp, function
NetworkIpLayer()
– switch (msg->protocolType)
– {
– :
– case ROUTING_PROTOCOL_SRIP:
– {
SripHandleProtocolEvent(node, msg);
break;
– }
– //InsertPatch NETWORK_IP_LAYER
– :
– }

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 Writing Protocols

Add your routing protocol to QualNet

 When IP receives an SRIP route advertisement
packet, dispatch it to SRIP's packet handling function
• Modify libraries/developer/src/network_ip.cpp, function
DeliverPacket()
– switch (ipProtocolNumber)
– {
– :
– case IPPROTO_SRIP:
– {
SripHandleProtocolPacket(node,msg, sourceAddress);
break;
– }
– //InsertPatch NETWORK_HANDLE_PACKET
– :
– }

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 Writing Protocols

Add your routing protocol to QualNet

 Call SRIP's finalizing function when IP is terminating
• Modify libraries/developer/src/network_ip.cpp, function
NetworkIpFinalize()
– switch (NetworkIpGetUnicastRoutingProtocolType(node, i))
– {
– :
– case ROUTING_PROTOCOL_SRIP:
– {
SripFinalize(node);
break;
– }
– //InsertPatch FINALIZE_FUNCTION
– :
– }

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 Writing Protocols

Compile QualNet with the new code

 Modify libraries/developer/src/Makefile-common
– DEVELOPER_SRCS = \
– :
– $(DEVELOPER_SRCDIR)/routing_srip.cpp \
– :

 Rebuild QualNet
• cd $QUALNET_HOME/main
• make

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 QualNet

Part IV
Example: SRIP

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