A Networkless Data Exchange and Control Mechanism for Virtual Testbed Devices

Virtualization has become a key component of network testbeds. However, transmitting data or commands to the test nodes is still either a complicated task or makes use of the nodes’ network interfaces, which may interfere with the experiment itself. This paper creates a model for the typical lifecycle of experiment nodes, and proposes a mechanism for networkless node control for virtual nodes in such a typical experiment lifecycle which has been implemented in an existing testbed environment.