wiki:GENIExperimenterWelcome/Repository/WiMax

Version 19 (modified by nriga@bbn.com, 11 years ago) (diff)

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This page describes how to run experiments in the GENI WiMAX testbeds. The The steps you would like to follow are :

  • Learn more about the GENI WiMAX testbeds
  • Get an account. Currently the WiMAX testbeds use a separate set of accounts other than the GENI credentials.
  • Run an experiment on a WiMAX testbed.

GENI WiMAX

Currently there are two WiMAX testbeds that are open to experimenters :

For support using these testbeds look here.

Resources

A GENI WiMAX testbed includes a number of components :

Login to Flack Video
  • A console that runs a set of services that help you manage and execute your experiment
  • A WiMAX base station
  • A set of nodes, which may include laptop computers, Android phones, or special PCs colloquially referred to as yellow boxes

WiMAX configuration

The WiMAX base stations are designed to "just work" in their default configuration. However, if you would like to change the settings on the base station, you can find the syntax here (refer to the TOC on the right of the page for links to specific settings).

Testbed Reservation

Each site might have one ore more testbeds. As these are wireless testbeds, it is difficult to run multiple experiments without interference. Therefore, we currently only support one experiment at a time on each testbed. Read the section for each individual testbed for instructions on how to reserve it.

Existing testbeds

NYU Poly testbed

The NYU-Poly facility only has a single testbed. When you make a reservation at NYU-Poly, you have reserved the entire testbed, including all nodes and the WiMAX base station. You can read more about the specific resources of the NYU-Poly testbed here.

In order to reserve a testbed you may visit the following links (using the account you have set up on a GENI WiMAX testbed) to reserve WiMAX resources:

The WINLAB testbed

The WINLAB facility includes multiple testbeds. WiMAX nodes are available on the following testbeds:

  • grid (make a reservation for grid and wimax)
  • outdoor (make a reservation for outdoor and wimax)
  • sb6 (make a reservation for sb6 and wimax)
  • sb7 (make a reservation for sb7 and wimax)
  • sb8 (make a reservation for sb8 and wimax)
  • sb4 (make a reservation for sb4 - you do not need to also reserve wimax, because sb4 has its own base station that is reserved automatically).

You can read more about the specific resources of the WINLAB testbed here.

In order to reserve a testbed you may visit the following links (using the account you have set up on a GENI WiMAX testbed) to reserve WiMAX resources:

Tools and Services

OMF - Instrumenting your experiment

OMF is a platform to support rigorous and repeatable experiments in a wireless environment. It provides an unambiguous way to describe an experiment, thus enabling repeatability.

One OMF experiment can run on any GENI WiMAX testbed with minimal modifications.

You don't have to use OMF to run experiments on a GENI WiMAX testbed - you may also run experiments manually by logging on to each node via SSH and executing commands on the nodes yourself. However, once you have figured out exactly how you want to configure your resources and what commands you want to run on them, OMF makes it much easier to run, refine, and repeat your experiment.

OML - Measurement for your experiment

OML is a measurement library and framework that provides a method for instrumenting experiments to stream measurements to a storage server during execution. The measurements are saved in a standard database format, which you can retrieve later for data analysis and visualization.

Supported Applications

A number of commonly used applications and utilities (e.g. iperf, VLC) have been instrumented with OML to enable their use in OMF experiments. More information about these applications is available at:

GIMI - Visualize/Archive your experiment

GIMI is an instrumentation and measurement framework, capable of supporting the needs of both GENI experimenters and GENI infrastructure operators. For instructions on archiving experiment data and visualizing results for WiMAX expeirments, please refer to these GIMI-WiMAX instructions.

Get a WiMAX account

Currently the WiMAX testbeds require separate accounts from the GENI accounts. The WiMAX testbeds

if you would like to create an account for your later use, you can register at either of the open-access GENI WIMAX testbeds:

After you create your accounts and they are approved, you will receive a few emails, make sure you save them, since they contain information about how to login to the console node.

Run a WiMAX experiment

A set of simple tutorial exercises have been prepared to help familiarize you with the process of running an experiment on a GENI WiMAX testbed.

To run these exercises, you will need an SSH client (such as Putty for Windows).

Example experiment at NYU-Poly testbed

In order to run your first WiMAX experiment in this testbed you will need to :

  1. Get a WiMAX account on the NYU-Poly testbed
  2. Find a time that the testbed is available and reserve the whole testbed
  3. When the testbed is assigned to you, login to the console using ssh :
       ssh <username>@witestlab.poly.edu
    
    Use the password that was emailed to you after the creation of your account.

Once you have successfully logged in to the console you can follow the following steps :

Example experiment at WINLAB testbed

In order to run your first WiMAX experiment in this testbed you will need to :

  1. Get a WiMAX account on the WINLAB testbed 1a. [setup the ssh keys]
  2. Find a time that the testbed is available and reserve the sb4 testbed
  3. When the testbed is assigned to you, login to the console using ssh :
       ssh -i <private_key> <username>@witestlab.poly.edu
    

Once you have successfully logged in to the console you can follow the following steps :

User Support

Use these links to get more information about:

Use these addresses to get support for: