Time delay and its effect in a virtual lab created using cloud computing

The emergence of Cloud Computing, as a model of virtualized physical resources and virtualized infrastructure, offers the opportunity of outsourcing the implementation of a Virtual Lab Manager. Virtual Lab Management has come to be considered the Holy Grail in the deployment and administration of Labs created in a Virtual Environment. With the advent of Cloud Computing new opportunities are developing that promise to cover much of the future in Virtual Labs. Designing network and information labs with real equipment and tools does not make sense from a cost benefit standpoint, as hardware gets obsolete in a short gap of time, therefore replacing real labs with labs in a Virtual environment this days is a must for teaching in information, security and network classes. Choosing an adequate Virtual Lab Environment solves the problem of creating an adequate academic environment where teachers can serve as effective guides for students which will have a lot of freedom and first hand on experience in the learning subject under consideration. A Virtual Lab Manager in a Cloud Computing environment reduces cost even further, but creates some doubts about the time delays inherent in such a technology. After choosing to use the one created by VMLogix for Amazonaws ec2, it was decided to answer a question in this paper: being Virtual Labs a real time application, how it is affected by time delays and bandwidth when accessed from remote places? The same criteria used for video on demand, voice-over-IP or on line business system as used in networks are going to be applied in the presented work although the much interactivity in a Virtual Lab of any kind

Queuing analysis and optimization techniques for energy efficiency in packet networks

Energy efficiency in all aspects of human life has become a major concern, due to its significant environmental impact as well as its economic importance. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays a dual role in this; not only does it constitute a major consumer itself (estimated 2-10% of the global consumption), but is also expected to enable global energy efficiency through new technologies tightly dependent on networks (smart grid, smart homes, cloud computing etc.). To this purpose, this work studies the problem of energy efficiency in wired networks. As this subject has recently become very active in the research community, there is parallel research towards several research directions. In this work, the problem is being examined from its foundations and a solid analytical approach is presented. Specifically, a network model based on G-network queuing theory is built, which can incorporate all the important parameters of power consumption together with traditional performance metrics and routing control capability. This generalized model can be applied for any network case to build optimization algorithms and estimate the performance of different policies and network designs. Composite optimization goals functions are proposed, comprising both power consumption and performance metrics. A gradient descent optimization algorithm that can run in O(N3) time complexity is built thereof. Using power consumption characteristics of current and future equipment, several case studies are presented and the optimization results are evaluated. Moreover, a faster gradient-descent based heuristic and a decentralized algorithm are proposed. Apart from the routing control analysis, the case of a harsher energy saving solution, namely turning o the networking equipment, is also experimentally explored. Applying a tradeoff study on a laboratory testbed, implementation challenges are identified and conclusions significant for future work are drawn. Finally, a novel admission control mechanism is proposed and experimentally evaluated, which can monitor and manage the power consumption and performance of a network.Open Acces

Performance improvement for mobile ad hoc cognitive packets network

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonIn this thesis, focusing on the quality of service (QoS) improvement using per-packet power control algorithm in Ad Hoc Cognitive Packet Networks (AHCPN). A power control mechanism creates as a network-assisted function of ad hoc cognitive packet-based routing and aims at reducing both energy consumption in nodes and QoS requirements. The suggested models facilitate transmission power adjustments while also taking into account the effects on network performance. The thesis concentrate on three main contributions. Firstly, a power control algorithm, namely the adaptive Distributed Power management algorithm (DISPOW) was adopted. Performance of DISPOW was compared to existing mechanisms and the results showed 27, 13, 9, and 40 percent improvements in terms of Delay, Throughput, Packet Loss, and Energy Consumption respectively. Secondly, the DISPOW algorithm was enhanced, namely a Link Expiration Time Aware Distributed Power management algorithm (LETPOW). This approach periodically checks connectivity, transmission power, interference level, routing overhead and Node Mobility in AHCPN. The results show that LETPOW algorithm improves the performance of system. Results show further improvement from DISPOW by 30,25,30,42 percent in terms of delay, packet loss ratio , path lengths and energy consumption respectively. Finally,Hybrid Power Control Algorithm (HLPCA) has presented is a combination of Link Expiration Time Aware Distributed Power management algorithm (LETPOW) and Load Power Control Algorithm (LOADPOW); deal with cross-layer power control applied for transmitting information across the various intermediate layers. LOADPOW emphasis on the concept of transmission Power, Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), and the suitable distance between the receiver and the sender. The proposed algorithm outperforms DISPOW and LETPOW by 31,15,35,34,44 percent in terms of Delay, Throughput, Packet Loss,path length and Energy Consumption respectively. From this work, it can be concluded that optimized power control algorithm applied to Ad-hoc cognitive packet network results in significant improvement in terms of energy consumption and QoS

Admission of QoS aware users in a smart network

Smart networks have grown out of the need for stable, reliable, and predictable networks that will guarantee packet delivery under Quality of Service (QoS) constraints. In this article we present a measurement-based admission control algorithm that helps control traffic congestion and guarantee QoS throughout the lifetime of a connection. When a new user requests to enter the network, probe packets are sent from the source to the destination to estimate the impact that the new connection will have on the QoS of both the new and the existing users. The algorithm uses a novel algebra of QoS metrics, inspired by Warshall's algorithm, to look for a path with acceptable QoS values to accommodate the new flow. We describe the underlying mathematical principles and present experimental results obtained by evaluating the method in a large laboratory test-bed operating the Cognitive Packet Network (CPN) protocol

Admission of QoS aware users in a smart network

Smart networks have grown out of the need for stable, reliable, and predictable networks that will guarantee packet delivery under Quality of Service (QoS) constraints. In this article we present a measurement-based admission control algorithm that helps control traffic congestion and guarantee QoS throughout the lifetime of a connection. When a new user requests to enter the network, probe packets are sent from the source to the destination to estimate the impact that the new connection will have on the QoS of both the new and the existing users. The algorithm uses a novel algebra of QoS metrics, inspired by Warshall's algorithm, to look for a path with acceptable QoS values to accommodate the new flow. We describe the underlying mathematical principles and present experimental results obtained by evaluating the method in a large laboratory test-bed operating the Cognitive Packet Network (CPN) protocol

Admission of QoS aware users in a smart network

Smart networks have grown out of the need for stable, reliable, and predictable networks that will guarantee packet delivery under Quality of Service (QoS) constraints. In this article we present a measurement-based admission control algorithm that helps control traffic congestion and guarantee QoS throughout the lifetime of a connection. When a new user requests to enter the network, probe packets are sent from the source to the destination to estimate the impact that the new connection will have on the QoS of both the new and the existing users. The algorithm uses a novel algebra of QoS metrics, inspired by Warshall's algorithm, to look for a path with acceptable QoS values to accommodate the new flow. We describe the underlying mathematical principles and present experimental results obtained by evaluating the method in a large laboratory test-bed operating the Cognitive Packet Network (CPN) protocol