%0 Conference Paper %1 Font1511:Mininet %A Fontes, Ramon %A Afzal, Samira %A Brito, Samuel %A Santos, Mateus %A Esteve Rothenberg, Christian %B 2nd International Workshop on Management of SDN and NFV Systems, 2015(ManSDN/NFV 2015) %C Barcelona, Spain %D 2015 %K mininet openflow sdn wireless %T Mininet-WiFi: Emulating Software-Defined Wireless Networks %X As the density of wireless networks continues to grow with more clients, more base stations, and more traffic, designing cost-effective wireless solutions with efficient resource usage and ease to manage is an increasing challenging task due to the overall system complexity. A number of vendors offer scalable and high-performance wireless networks but at a high cost and commonly as a single-vendor solution, limiting the ability to innovate after roll-out. Recent Software-Defined Networking (SDN) approaches propose new means for network virtualization and programmability advancing the way networks can be designed and operated, including user-defined features and customized behaviour even at runtime. However, means for rapid prototyping and experimental evaluation of SDN for wireless environments are not yet available. This paper introduces Mininet-WiFi as a tool to emulate wireless OpenFlow/SDN scenarios allowing high-fidelity experiments that replicate real networking environments. Mininet-WiFi augments the well-known Mininet emulator with virtual wireless stations and access points while keeping the original SDN capabilities and the lightweight virtualization software architecture. We elaborate on the potential applications of Mininet-Wifi and discuss the benefits and current limitations. Two use cases based on IEEE 802.11 demonstrate available functionality in our open source developments.

@inproceedings{Font1511:Mininet, abstract = {As the density of wireless networks continues to grow with more clients, more base stations, and more traffic, designing cost-effective wireless solutions with efficient resource usage and ease to manage is an increasing challenging task due to the overall system complexity. A number of vendors offer scalable and high-performance wireless networks but at a high cost and commonly as a single-vendor solution, limiting the ability to innovate after roll-out. Recent Software-Defined Networking (SDN) approaches propose new means for network virtualization and programmability advancing the way networks can be designed and operated, including user-defined features and customized behaviour even at runtime. However, means for rapid prototyping and experimental evaluation of SDN for wireless environments are not yet available. This paper introduces Mininet-WiFi as a tool to emulate wireless OpenFlow/SDN scenarios allowing high-fidelity experiments that replicate real networking environments. Mininet-WiFi augments the well-known Mininet emulator with virtual wireless stations and access points while keeping the original SDN capabilities and the lightweight virtualization software architecture. We elaborate on the potential applications of Mininet-Wifi and discuss the benefits and current limitations. Two use cases based on IEEE 802.11 demonstrate available functionality in our open source developments.}, added-at = {2015-09-20T17:01:56.000+0200}, address = {Barcelona, Spain}, author = {Fontes, Ramon and Afzal, Samira and Brito, Samuel and Santos, Mateus and {Esteve Rothenberg}, Christian}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2b4f6ac6538a6228f2eb78e24db7cdc2c/chesteve}, booktitle = {2nd International Workshop on Management of SDN and NFV Systems, 2015(ManSDN/NFV 2015)}, days = {13}, interhash = {618d4f4975b8452dae3fc1f32186b309}, intrahash = {b4f6ac6538a6228f2eb78e24db7cdc2c}, keywords = {mininet openflow sdn wireless}, month = nov, timestamp = {2015-09-20T17:01:56.000+0200}, title = {{Mininet-WiFi:} Emulating {Software-Defined} Wireless Networks}, year = 2015 }