wiki:GeniNewcomersWelcome

Version 4 (modified by Vic Thomas, 12 years ago) (diff)

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Experimentation with GENI

1. What is GENI?

GENI (Global Environment for Network Innovations) provides a virtual laboratory for networking and distributed systems research and education. It is well suited for exploring networks at scale, thereby promoting innovations in network science, security, services and applications. GENI allows you the experimenter to:

  • Obtain compute resources from locations around the United States;
  • Connect compute resources using Layer 2 networks in topologies best suited to your experiments;
  • Install custom software or even custom operating systems on these compute resources;
  • Control how how network switches handle your traffic flows;
  • Run your own Layer 3 and above protocols by installing protocol software in your compute resources and providing flow controllers for your switches.
Resources available to GENI experimenters include GENI Racks , regional and national backbone networks and !WiMAX base stations

2. Why should I use GENI?

GENI might be right for you if your experiment requires:

  • More resources than would ordinarily be found in your lab. Since GENI is a suite of infrastructures it can potentially provide you with more resources than is typically found in any one laboratory. GENI give you access to hundreds of widely distributed resources including compute resources, network resources including links, switches and WiMax base stations.
  • Non-IP connectivity across resources. GENI allows you to set up Layer 2 connections between between compute resources and run your own Layer 3 and above protocols on these resources.
  • Reproducibility. You can get exclusive access to certain GENI resources including CPU resources and network resources. This gives you control over your experiment's environment and hence the ability for you and others to repeat experiments under identical or very similar conditions.
  • Instrumentation and Measurement tools. GENI has two instrumentation and measurement tool suites that you can use to instrument your experiments.

3. Where can I learn more about GENI?

For a quick introduction to key GENI concepts, see the Key GENI Concepts page.

Go get started with GENI as an experimenter, see the GENI Experimenters page.

To use GENI in your networking or distributed systems class, see the page for instructors using GENI.

For a GENI FAQ, see the GENI FAQ

For additional information, email help@geni.net.