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Dockemu: An IoT Simulation Framework Based on Linux Containers and the ns-3 Network Simulator — Application to CoAP IoT Scenarios

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Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications (SIMULTECH 2018)

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 947))

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Abstract

Large-scale and realistic simulations have been a pending issue in IoT research and development, hampering the design and optimization of networked systems. This paper presents new features added to the Dockemu open-source project, aimed at making it a valuable framework for such studies. The framework is based on the use of Linux Docker containers for the individual constrained nodes, and the ns-3 network simulator to emulate the network and connect the nodes during the simulation. Both technologies combined enable the capacity to simulate a huge number of lightweight nodes under realistic network conditions. The Linux interface mechanism used to interconnect the containers and the ns-3 simulation are described in detail. We also explain how LTE and LR-WPAN network technologies were added to the framework in order to cover a wide range of scenarios. Details on how Ansible has been used to orchestrate the setup and execution of the testing framework are given, too, showing how this widely-used devops tool can replace different programming and scripting languages for the orchestration of a simulation framework. Finally, the paper includes an example of IoT scenario simulation, using a real implementation of the CoAP protocol and involving a relevant number of nodes.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.nsnam.org/.

  2. 2.

    https://github.com/chepeftw/NS3DockerEmulator.

  3. 3.

    Security is a key point in IoT deployments since it normally controls and monitors critical infrastructures, and also due to the huge number of devices and the difficulties to update the software in many constrained devices. An extensive report of MQTT and CoAP vulnerabilities and attack patterns detected in production devices can be found at [14].

  4. 4.

    The Ansible version of Dockemu framework presented in this paper is publicly available under GPLv3 license at: https://github.com/antonroman/dockemu-ansible. In doing so, we try to follow good practices [15] in terms of research impact and reproducibility.

  5. 5.

    https://github.com/contiki-ng/contiki-ng/wiki/Docker.

  6. 6.

    https://github.com/megakilo/FreeRTOS-Sim.

  7. 7.

    https://p4.org/.

  8. 8.

    We started to use the term hybrid in [27] to refer to simulations where some of the elements is not simulated but a real element, like the client/server software in Dockemu. With ‘pure simulation’ we refer to simulations where all the elements (nodes, IoT software, networks, etc.) are simulated.

  9. 9.

    ns-3 supports distributed simulations as explained in Sect. 7.1.

  10. 10.

    http://www.smplsft.com/SimpleIoTSimulator.html.

  11. 11.

    https://www.tetcos.com/.

  12. 12.

    http://www.cupcarbon.com/.

  13. 13.

    https://github.com/bounceur/CupCarbon.

  14. 14.

    https://nodered.org/.

  15. 15.

    https://js.foundation/.

  16. 16.

    https://www.iot-lab.info/.

  17. 17.

    Ansible Best Practices to write playbooks and organize the files can be found in Ansible doc site: https://docs.ansible.com/.

  18. 18.

    The roles are the way that Ansible separates groups of actions to be performed in the server.

  19. 19.

    Please note that it is a .cc which must be re-compiled even when we refer to it as a script.

  20. 20.

    The container can not execute the client or server daemon just after being started but it must start with a few-second (at least 10 s) delay to make sure the network interfaces are connected to ns-3.

  21. 21.

    /var/run/netns.

  22. 22.

    eNodeB comes from E-UTRAN Node B and it is the name given to base stations in LTE, the hardware which connects the mobile devices (UE in LET terminology) and the rest of the network.

  23. 23.

    The name of the module used to simulate wired Ethernet networks in ns-3 is called CSMA.

  24. 24.

    This means in Virtual Box terminology that a full physical CPU is assigned to the virtual CPU.

  25. 25.

    Please note that modern hypervisors does not consume all the reserved RAM when the virtual machine is launched but it is used under demand, however the RAM required to keep the system up and running.

  26. 26.

    glibc is the GNU C Library used by most Linux distributions.

  27. 27.

    This page contains a very detailed comparison of performance and characteristics of the main C libraries http://www.etalabs.net/compare_libcs.html.

  28. 28.

    Playbook is the name given by Ansible framework to the scripts where all the instruction needed to carry out a task are written.

  29. 29.

    The CSMA model can be considered very close to a Ethernet cabled network.

  30. 30.

    International Electrotechnical Comission.

  31. 31.

    IKEA smartlights are one of the most well-known examples of CoAP usage in mass market products: https://learn.pimoroni.com/tutorial/sandyj/controlling-ikea-tradfri-lights-from-your-pi.

  32. 32.

    https://github.com/antonroman/dockemu-ansible.

  33. 33.

    In our case the packet loss can be simulated by both ns-3 and also by the libcoap reference applications [23] used for the tests.

  34. 34.

    This scenario is not recommended by [11] however is neither forbidden by the RFC nor the current CoAP libraries.

  35. 35.

    https://www.nsnam.org/docs/models/html/distributed.html.

  36. 36.

    https://www.open-mpi.org/.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Quobis, O Porriño, Spain

    Antón Román Portabales

  2. AtlantTIC Research Center for Information and Communication Technologies, University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain

    Martín López Nores

Authors
  1. Antón Román Portabales
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  2. Martín López Nores
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antón Román Portabales .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. King Abdullah II School of Information Technology, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan

    Mohammad S. Obaidat

  2. School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Tuncer Ören

  3. University of Calabria, Rende, Cosenza, Italy

    Floriano De Rango

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Portabales, A.R., Nores, M.L. (2020). Dockemu: An IoT Simulation Framework Based on Linux Containers and the ns-3 Network Simulator — Application to CoAP IoT Scenarios. In: Obaidat, M., Ören, T., Rango, F. (eds) Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications. SIMULTECH 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 947. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35944-7_4

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