Active Probing Testbed Infrastructure
The testbed includes a number of machines (workstations)
which can be used both as probing senders and
receivers. It also includes a GPS antenna and receiver, a GPS synchronised
hardware capture card, and hubs, switches,
routers and taps that can be used to configure a variety of small network routes in the laboratory.
This page describes the hardware in the testbed, and lists the main probing specific
software components installed in each of the probing machines. The different kernels
listed below belong to the different probing packages as described on
the software page.
Two machines support a particular
project involving RIPE NCC, and are described separately.
In addition to the infrastructure on site at CUBINlab, we have access to measurement points
at other locations, as detailed on the
External Node page.
Machines
The core active probing machines are
potoroo,
wallaby,
numbat,
morse,
bandicoot,
rtsender,
snapshot,
bilby,
wombat.
| Host |
potoroo |
| Specifications |
DELL Workstation 410 MT; 256MB ECC SDRAM 600 MHz Pentium III |
| NIC |
3Com 3C905B-TX (rev 0) 00:C0:4F:A0:4D:5B |
| Operating System |
FreeBSD 5.3
|
| Installed Kernels |
5.3-RC2
|
| Probing Software |
TSC-FreeBSD: yes;
Linux: no;
TSC-Linux: no;
RT-Linux: no;
|
| Host |
wallaby |
| Specifications |
DELL Workstation 410 MT; 256MB ECC SDRAM 600 MHz Pentium III |
| NIC |
3Com 3C905B-TX (rev 0) 00:C0:4F:A0:4D:58 |
| Operating System |
FreeBSD 5.3 |
| Installed Kernel |
5.3-RC2 |
| Probing Software |
TSC-FreeBSD: yes;
Linux: no [yes];
TSC-Linux: no;
RT-Linux: no;
|
| Host |
numbat |
| Specifications |
DELL Workstation 410 MT; 256MB ECC SDRAM 600 MHz Pentium III |
| NIC |
3Com 3C905B-TX (rev 0) 00:C0:4F:A0:4D:49 |
| Operating System |
Ubuntu Edgy Eft (6.10)
|
| Installed Kernels |
2.6.17 - 2.6.17-tsc
|
| Probing Software |
Linux: yes;
TSC-Linux: no [yes];
RT-Linux: no;
|
| Host |
morse |
| Specifications |
DELL PowerEdge 600SC; 512MB ECC DDR SDRAM 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 |
| NIC |
Intel PRO/1000 adapter Gigabit Ethernet Card TP 00:C0:9F:22:A4:0F |
| Operating System |
Debian Sarge (3.1) |
| Installed Kernels |
2.6.8 |
| Probing Software |
TSC-FreeBSD: yes;
Linux: no;
TSC-Linux: no;
RT-Linux: no; |
| Misc |
DAG Card 3.7GP |
| Host |
bandicoot |
| Specifications |
DELL Optiplex GX1 ; 256MB SDRAM; Pentium 3 600 MHz |
| NIC |
3Com00:00:00:00:00:00 |
| Operating System |
FreeBSD 6.1
|
| Installed Kernels |
6.1-tsc |
| Probing Software |
TSC-FreeBSD: yes;
Linux: no;
TSC-Linux: no;
RT-Linux: no;
|
| Host |
green |
| Specifications |
DELL Precision Workstation 410; 256MB SDRAM 600 MHz Pentium III |
| NICs |
3Com 3C905b-TX ? |
| Operating System |
FreBSD 6.1 |
| Installed Kernels |
6.1-tsc |
| Host |
wombat |
| Specifications |
DELL Optiplex GX1 550L+; 256MB ECC SDRAM 550 MHz Pentium III |
| NICs |
 3Com 3C905B-TX (rev 36) 00:B0:D0:31:22:02
Unknown 00:04:76:92:52:21 (unused)
|
| Operating System |
Debian Etch (4.0) |
| Installed Kernels |
2.6.18 - 2.6.18-tsc |
Troubleshooting |
The 2 NICs can cause troubles when booting with non-tsc kernels!!
With the 2.2.5-15 one, the 3Com NIC is eth0 (which is down on boot) instead of eth1 (the default "up" NIC).
So, you'll have to change the ONBOOT option in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 (and ifcfg-eth1 as well)
With the RT-kernels, the same problem might appear. (?)
|
| Host |
rtsender |
| Specifications |
DELL Optiplex GX1 550L+; 256MB ECC SDRAM 550 MHz Pentium III |
| NICs |
3Com 3C905C-TX (rev. 116) (00:50:DA:8A:B5:CA) (used by Linux)
3Com 3C905B-TX (rev. 36) (00:B0:D0:31:22:01) (used by RTnet) |
| Operating System |
RedHat 6.1 |
Installed Kernels
& Drivers |
| Version | 3c59x | 3c59x_tsc | 3c59x_rt_old | 3c59x_rt_old_tsc | rtl8139_rt |
|---|
| 2.2.5-15 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
| 2.2.14 |
|
|
|
|
|
| 2.2.14-rtl2.2 |
|
|
|
|
|
| 2.4.14-tsc |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Probing Software |
Linux: yes;
TSC-Linux: yes;
RT-Linux: yes;
|
| Host |
snapshot |
| Specifications |
DELL Optiplex GX1 550L+; 256MB ECC SDRAM 550 MHz Pentium III |
| NIC |
3Com 3C905B-TX (rev 36) (00:B0:D0:31:26:8B) |
| Installed Kernels |
2.2.14-5.0 - 3c59x
|
| Operating System |
RedHat 6.2
|
| Probing Software |
Linux: yes;
TSC-Linux: no;
RT-Linux: no;
|
| Misc |
DAG3.2E, Xilinx image: dag32eth_ajax.bit 4062xlabg432 2001/04/19, GPS synchronised |
| Host |
bilby |
| Specifications |
DELL Optiplex GX240; 512MB SDRAM 1.8 GHz Pentium IV |
| NICs |
? |
| Operating System |
Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10 |
| Installed Kernels |
?? |
Ripe Project
The machine ripe is a fully functional `test box' node tt74 in
the RIPE NCC's Test Traffic
Measurement network. It is one of the few nodes in this network
outside of Europe. Measurements between the test boxes are made on a
daily basis measuring such things as loss, delay, and availability.
The test box is on loan to the testbed to support a project where the
functionality of the TSC and TSC-Linux active probing infrastructure
(see software page), included timing,
timestamping, probe sending and receiving will be incorporated into
the RIPE software. The aim is to provide equivalent functionality,
with sufficient (or for some purposes enhanced) accuracy, without the
need for the GPS receiver currently used by the box to provide
synchronisation.
Network Devices
Most of the devices below are housed in the CUBINlab rack.
- Routers: firewall machine fw with internal and external NICs acting as an IP router.
- Switches: 24 port Cisco 10/100 Ethernet.
- Hubs: Two 16 port 10/100Mbps Ethernet, Two 8 port 10 Mbps Ethernet.
- Taps: One 'D and C Passive
Tap', One `Attila-Tap',
and the hubs if used with no other machines connected.
- Hardware capture: purpose built high capacity
high precision passive monitoring card, the DAG 3.2E
(more recent model is the DAG 3.5E).
- GPS: GPS receiver and antenna is the Acutime 2000.
It is mounted permanently on the roof of the building just a few
metres above the testbed. It feeds the Ripe machine as well as
the DAG card.
External Nodes of the Testbed
At a small but growing number of sites around the world, the
testbed has a measurement node with at least one of the
accurate timing infrastructures installed (see the software page for details of
these). With these collaborating nodes, accurate
measurements can be made over long representative routes
across the Internet.
On this page the network of collaborating sites is given, with
basic information on the hardware and software infrastructure
available.
Computer Science Department, UoM
Also at the University of Melbourne, but in the
Computer Science department, is
a full featured measurement point. The node is important as it
allows us to conduct experiments over a route which is `real', yet
quite short at approximately 6 IP hops (10 hops total), and essentially
fully known. The route between CUBINlab and this machine is given
on the
internal page (CUBINlab users only).
| Machine Owner |
CUBINlab Active Probing Testbed |
| Machine |
DELL GX1 450L+; 128MB RAM 450 MHz Pentium III |
| Installed Kernels |
| Version | 3c59x | 3c59x_tsc | 3c59x_rt_old | 3c59x_rt_old_tsc | rtl8139 | rtl8139_tsc |
|---|
| 2.2.14-rtl2.2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2.4.14-tsc |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2.4.14 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2.4.18-14 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| NICs |
Realtek RT8139 (rev. 16) (00:48:54:D2:27:3C) (used by linux)
3Com 3C905b-TX [Cyclone] (rev. 36) (00:C0:4F:87:E4:2B) (used by rtnet) |
| DAG card? |
yes, DAG3.5E, Xilinx image dag35epp_eth-erf_pp_v2_2 2s200fg256 2001/04/06 01:04:43, GPS synchronised.
|
| Operating System |
RedHat 8.0
|
| File System |
ext3
|
| Probing Software |
Linux: yes
TSC-Linux: yes
RT-Linux: yes
|
| Network Diagram |
4 hops known
|
| Misc |
Possibility of attachment to Gigabit Etherlink link.
The kernel 2.4.18-14 was the original RedHat 8.0 kernel and does not have any TSC-based modifications.
Use the 3COM card as the RT-Sender using 3c59x_rt_old driver. |
Waikato
The node here is at the
WAND group in the Computer
Science Department of the University of Waikato, New Zealand, home
of the DAG cards. This machine and DAG card have been kindly
supplied for our use by the WAND group.
| Machine Owner |
WAND |
| Machine |
32MB SDRAM Celeron 333MHz |
| Installed Kernels |
Linux 2.2.16, 2.2.15 (with or without DAG support), 2.2.7, and others, TSC-linux 2.2.14-tsc (default); RT-linux 2.2
|
| NICs |
3Com 3C905b-TX ? (used by Linux)
3c59x ? (used by RTnet) |
| DAG card? |
yes, DAG3.2E, Xilinx image ??, GPS synchronised.
|
| Operating System |
RedHat 5.1 ?
|
| File System |
ext2 ?
|
| Probing Software |
Linux: yes
TSC-Linux: yes
RT-Linux: yes
|
| Network Diagram |
100Mbps LAN, with an unknown number of 100Mbps hubs
|
| Misc |
|
Budapest
The node here, in the process of being upgraded to support DAG
based monitoring, is at the Communication Networks Laboratory Eotvos
University in
Hungary in collaboration with
Ericsson R&D Hungary.
| Machine Owner |
CNL Eotvos University |
| Machine |
128MB RAM 750 MHz AMD Duron |
| Installed Kernels |
linux 2.2.19; linux 2.4.14-tsc; linux 2.2.14-rtl2.2
|
| NICs |
3Com 3c905C Tornado (used by Linux)
3Com 3c905C Tornado: 3c59x (used by RTnet) |
| DAG card? |
not yet. DAG card has been ordered.
|
| Operating System |
Debian Linux
|
| File System |
ext2
|
| Probing Software |
Linux: yes
TSC-Linux: yes
RT-Linux: yes
|
| Network Diagram |
100Mbps LAN
|
| Misc |
|
Paris
The node here is in the
Theorie des Reseaux Et Communications group
at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, France.
Note that an other machine with a 64-bits PCI DAG card might be set up soon.
| Machine Owner |
Ecole Normale Superieure, DI (Computer science department) |
| Machine |
512MB DDR 1.67GHz AMD Athlon XP+ |
| Installed Kernels |
Linux 2.4.20-8 (default); Linux 2.4.14-tsc (not working yet)
|
| NICs |
3Com 3c905C-TX Tornado using 3c59x driver (3c59x_tsc not present yet) |
| DAG card? |
no
|
| Operating System |
RedHat Linux 9.0
|
| File System |
ext3
|
| Probing Software |
Linux: yes
TSC-Linux: not yet
RT-Linux: no
|
| Network Diagram |
100Mbps LAN, detailled map coming soon
|
| Misc |
|
Other Participating Probers
In addition to the nodes above there are a number of other
groups which, whilst not forming part of the accurate probing
infrastructure as such, nonetheless make use of facilities to
perform network measurements and experiments in the spirit
of an open `probing' community. These groups/researchers include:
- Francois Baccelli and
Dohy Hong: TCP
performance.
- Balachander Krishnamurthy:
I have used nodes to measure the ability of a Web server to better serve its
clients based on the client's connectivity. Now I am capturing P2P
request response information via a modified gtk-gnutella client to classify
them for a variety of uses ranging from aiding a P2P proxy (being developed
concurrently) and to examine the potential of routing P2P queries over other
protocols.
- Milan Vojnovic:
This ongoing work aims to obtain a through empirical study whether an
equation-based rate control, in particular TFRC, is TCP-friendly. The
targeted empirical results should serve as a validation of some
analysis results reported on in an ACM Sigcomm 2002 paper.
- Lihao Xu and Cheng Huang:
The multiple-source streaming project at Washington University in St. Louis
is investigating the congestion and flow control of streaming media delivery.
Error recovery mechanisms in streaming transfer are also
experimented with using the node in the CUBINlab testbed.
- Constantinos Dovrolis:
Tests of the pathrate and pathload tools,
and some TCP-based measurement tools, are performed using nodes
around the world including one in Melbourne.
