article

Using PlanetLab for network research: myths, realities, and best practices

Authors:

Larry Peterson,

Vivek PaiAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review, Volume 40, Issue 1

Pages 17 - 24

https://doi.org/10.1145/1113361.1113368

Published: 01 January 2006 Publication History

Abstract

PlanetLab is a continuously-evolving global network research testbed that is simultaneously used by hundreds of researchers for diverse tasks, ranging from short-term self-contained experiments among PlanetLab nodes to continuously-running Web-accessible services with tens of thousands of non-PlanetLab users. While PlanetLab cannot provide a perfectly-customized environment for every experiment, it has been changing over time, and the base of knowledge of how to best utilize it has also been growing. As a result, many of the early observations researchers made about PlanetLab would change if rechecked today. In this paper, we discuss these issues and explain whether they remain, have been addressed via PlanetLab's evolution, or can be avoided by the use of best practices. Where possible, we provide quantitative evidence showing the realities of PlanetLab and possible research avenues to further broaden the opportunities for using PlanetLab in network research.

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Cited By

Yan TZhang ZHuffaker BMok Rclaffy kLevchenko K(2025)Marionette Measurement: Measurement Support Under the PacketLab ModelPassive and Active Measurement10.1007/978-3-031-85960-1_4(77-105)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2025
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Piraux MNavarre LRybowski NBonaventure ODonnet BBarakat CPelsser CBenson TChoffnes D(2022)Revealing the evolution of a cloud provider through its network weather mapProceedings of the 22nd ACM Internet Measurement Conference10.1145/3517745.3561462(298-304)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2022
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Papadopoulos AVersluis LBauer AHerbst NKistowski JAli-Eldin AAbad CAmaral JTuma PIosup A(2021)Methodological Principles for Reproducible Performance Evaluation in Cloud ComputingIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/TSE.2019.292790847:8(1528-1543)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2021
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Index Terms

Using PlanetLab for network research: myths, realities, and best practices
1. Computer systems organization
  1. Architectures
    1. Distributed architectures
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software organization and properties
    1. Contextual software domains
      1. Operating systems
    2. Software system structures
      1. Distributed systems organizing principles

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Published In

cover image ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review

ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review Volume 40, Issue 1

January 2006

101 pages

ISSN:0163-5980

DOI:10.1145/1113361

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2006 Authors.

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 January 2006

Published in SIGOPS Volume 40, Issue 1

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https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-85960-1_4
Piraux MNavarre LRybowski NBonaventure ODonnet BBarakat CPelsser CBenson TChoffnes D(2022)Revealing the evolution of a cloud provider through its network weather mapProceedings of the 22nd ACM Internet Measurement Conference10.1145/3517745.3561462(298-304)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3517745.3561462
Papadopoulos AVersluis LBauer AHerbst NKistowski JAli-Eldin AAbad CAmaral JTuma PIosup A(2021)Methodological Principles for Reproducible Performance Evaluation in Cloud ComputingIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/TSE.2019.292790847:8(1528-1543)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2021
https://doi.org/10.1109/TSE.2019.2927908
Sohaib Ajmal MIqbal ZZeeshan Khan FBilal MMajid Mehmood R(2021)Cost-based Energy Efficient Scheduling Technique for Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling System in cloud computingSustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments10.1016/j.seta.2021.10121045(101210)Online publication date: Jun-2021
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Miao ZWang YHan Z(2019)A Supplier-Firm-Buyer Framework for Computation and Content Resource Assignment in Wireless Virtual NetworksIEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications10.1109/TWC.2019.292134418:8(4116-4128)Online publication date: 9-Aug-2019
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Morandi IBronzino FTeixeira RSundaresan S(2019)Service Traceroute: Tracing Paths of Application FlowsPassive and Active Measurement10.1007/978-3-030-15986-3_8(116-128)Online publication date: 27-Mar-2019
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Cappos JZhuang YRafetseder ABeschastnikh I(2018)Tsumiki: A Meta-Platform for Building Your Own TestbedIEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems10.1109/TPDS.2018.284624229:12(2863-2881)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2018
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Vasques TMoura Pde Almeida A(2018)A review on energy efficiency and demand response with focus on small and medium data centersEnergy Efficiency10.1007/s12053-018-9753-212:5(1399-1428)Online publication date: 29-Nov-2018
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