Network research experiments have traditionally been conducted in emulated or
simulated environments. Emulators are frequently deployed on physical networks.
Network simulators provide a self-contained and simple environment that can be
hosted on one host. Simulators provide a synthetic environment that is only an
approximation of the real world and therefore the results might not be a true
re
ection of reality.
Recent progress in virtualisation technologies enable the deployment of multiple
interconnected, virtual hosts on one machine. Virtual hosts run real network
protocol stacks and therefore provide an emulated environment on a single host.
The rst objective of this dissertation is to build a network emulator (viNEX)
using a virtualisation platform (XEN). The second objective is to evaluate whether
viNEX can be used to conduct some network research experiments. Thirdly, some
limitations of this approach are identifiedComputingM. Sc. (Computer Science
