Using PlanetLab for network research: myths, realities, and best practices
Neil T. Spring, Larry Peterson, Andy C. Bavier, Vivek S. Pai · 2005
PlanetLab is a continuously-evolving global network re-search 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 exper-iment, it has been changing over time, and the base of knowl-edge of how to best utilize it has also been growing. As a re-sult, 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. 1