Communication networks and the systems they interconnect are going through a phase of tremendous change. The former agnostic delivery of content between endpoints has given way to networks increasingly adding functionality beyond moving data. Softwarization technologies including network function virtualization (NFV) and soft-ware-defined networking (SDN) are key enablers that introduce computing into the network. This revolution, especially for mobile communication networks, represents a major paradigm shift away from agnostic data delivery. Subsequently, there is a significant need to provide well-defined environments offering replicability to effectively test and evaluate protocols and mechanisms that integrate computing into networks. This article presents the Communication Networks Emulator (ComNetsEmu), which provides an SDN and NFV network emulation environment based on community-embraced open source packages and enables replicable research and development on limited resource commodity hardware. In this article, we describe the underlying ComNetsEmu architecture and provide a hands-on description of its use for researchers, practitioners, and educators alike.

中文翻译：

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虚拟通信网络的开源测试平台

通信网络及其互连的系统正经历着巨大的变化。端点之间以前不可知的内容交付方式已经让位于网络，而这些网络越来越多地增加了移动数据之外的功能。包括网络功能虚拟化（NFV）和软件定义的网络（SDN）在内的软化技术是将计算引入网络的关键推动力。这场革命，特别是对于移动通信网络而言，代表了从不可知论的数据传递方式的重大转变。随后，迫切需要提供定义明确的环境，以提供可复制性，以有效地测试和评估将计算集成到网络中的协议和机制。本文介绍了通信网络仿真器（ComNetsEmu），它提供了基于社区包容的开源程序包的SDN和NFV网络仿真环境，并能够在有限资源的商品硬件上进行可复制的研究和开发。在本文中，我们描述了底层的ComNetsEmu体系结构，并为研究人员，从业人员和教育工作者提供了动手操作的描述。