How to Implement Network Containerized Services in NS2

To implement the containerized services using NS2 (Network Simulator 2) in a replicated network that needs to modeling the concept of containers and the orchestration of this services. Because NS2 is usually used to simulate the networking protocols, we will require to expand its capabilities to simulate containerized service that includes defining containers, handling their lifecycle, and mimicking their interactions over the network.

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We provided step-by-step protocol on how to execute the containerized network services in NS2:

  1. Understand Containerized Services Concepts
  • Containers: Lightweight, portable, and effective software units which a package code and dependencies. For specimens, Docker or Kubernetes containers.
  • Container Orchestration: Handling the lifecycle of containers, like deploying, scaling, and terminating containers over the network nodes such as Docker Swarm, Kubernetes.
  • Service: A service can contain one or more containers collaboration to give a network function such as a web server, database service, etc.
  1. Set up NS2 Environment

Make sure NS2 is appropriately installed on the system and we can download NS2 from the NS2 official site. After installation, we setup that the simulation environment is running efficiently.

  1. Model Containers as Lightweight Services

The containers within NS2 can be modeled as entities which are deployed on network nodes. Every container will have attributes like:

  • Container Type (e.g., web server, database)
  • Resource Requirements (e.g., CPU, memory)
  • State (active, idle, or terminated)
  • Deployment Node (the network node where the container is hosted)

We can execute this attributes in C++ as new classes within NS2.

Example Container Class in C++:

class Container {

public:

std::string containerType;   // Type of service (e.g., web server, database)

int cpu;                     // CPU resources required

int memory;                  // Memory required

bool isActive;               // Container state (active or not)

// Constructor for creating a container

Container(std::string type, int c, int mem) {

containerType = type;

cpu = c;

memory = mem;

isActive = true;

}

// Activate the container

void activate() {

isActive = true;

}

// Deactivate the container

void deactivate() {

isActive = false;

}

};

  1. Extend NS2 Nodes to Host Containers

Every NS2 node (e.g., server, router) can perform as a host for containers. We will require to expand the node functionality to manage and display containers, same to how a physical server runs containers in the real environments.

Example Node Extension for Hosting Containers:

class ContainerHost {

public:

int nodeId;                       // Node ID in the network

std::vector<Container> containerList;  // List of containers running on the node

int totalCPU;                     // Total CPU available on the host

int totalMemory;                  // Total memory available on the host

int availableCPU;                 // Available CPU after deploying containers

int availableMemory;              // Available memory after deploying containers

// Constructor for a container host

ContainerHost(int id, int cpu, int mem) {

nodeId = id;

totalCPU = cpu;

totalMemory = mem;

availableCPU = cpu;

availableMemory = mem;

}

// Method to deploy a container on the host

bool deployContainer(Container newContainer) {

if (availableCPU >= newContainer.cpu && availableMemory >= newContainer.memory) {

containerList.push_back(newContainer);

availableCPU -= newContainer.cpu;

availableMemory -= newContainer.memory;

return true;  // Container deployed successfully

}

return false;  // Insufficient resources

}

// Method to remove a container from the host

void terminateContainer(Container container) {

availableCPU += container.cpu;

availableMemory += container.memory;

container.deactivate();

}

};

  1. Simulate Container Orchestration

We will want to replicate the orchestration of containerized services over numerous nodes in the network. It contains:

  • Deploying containers on various nodes according to the resource availability.
  • Scaling containers by set up extra examples based on the demand.
  • Terminating containers to free up resources while demand decreases.

Example Container Orchestrator in C++:

class ContainerOrchestrator {

public:

std::vector<ContainerHost> hosts;  // List of container hosts

// Constructor to initialize orchestrator with host nodes

ContainerOrchestrator(std::vector<ContainerHost> h) {

hosts = h;

}

// Deploy a container on an appropriate host

void deployContainer(Container container) {

for (auto& host : hosts) {

if (host.deployContainer(container)) {

std::cout << “Container deployed on host ” << host.nodeId << std::endl;

return;

}

}

std::cout << “Failed to deploy container due to insufficient resources.” << std::endl;

}

// Scale up by deploying another instance of the container

void scaleContainer(Container container) {

deployContainer(container);  // Deploy another instance of the same container

}

// Terminate a container on a specific host

void terminateContainer(Container container) {

for (auto& host : hosts) {

host.terminateContainer(container);

}

}

};

  1. OTcl Script for Containerized Services Deployment

The OTcl script within NS2 that controls the network simulation. We will expand the script to describe the container hosts, deploy containers, and handle their lifecycle.

Example OTcl Script:

# Create a Simulator object

set ns [new Simulator]

set nf [open out.nam w]

$ns namtrace-all $nf

# Create network nodes that will act as container hosts

set host1 [$ns node]

set host2 [$ns node]

set host3 [$ns node]

# Define links between the hosts

$ns duplex-link $host1 $host2 100Mb 10ms DropTail

$ns duplex-link $host2 $host3 100Mb 10ms DropTail

# Define containers and deploy them on the hosts

$ns at 1.0 “deployContainer host1 web_server”

$ns at 1.5 “deployContainer host2 database”

$ns at 2.0 “deployContainer host3 cache”

# Scale up container deployment dynamically

$ns at 3.0 “scaleContainer host1 web_server”

# Terminate a container to free resources

$ns at 4.0 “terminateContainer host2 database”

# End the simulation

$ns at 10.0 “finish”

proc finish {} {

global ns nf

$ns flush-trace

close $nf

exit 0

}

$ns run

  1. Run the Simulation

After writing the OTcl script and changing the C++ code to manage the containerized services then we can run the simulation using:

ns your_script.tcl

  1. Analyse the Results

The simulation will produce the trace files which encompass information regarding container deployment, scaling, and termination events. We can examine these records to assess how successfully the container orchestration acts and verify the network resource utilization.

  1. Further Enhancements

We can improve the simulation of containerized services in NS2 by:

  • Dynamic Resource Allocation: Execute a dynamic resource allocation in which containers can migrate to other hosts while resource thresholds are met.
  • Service Discovery: Execute a service discovery so as to containers can discover and communicate with other services such as a web server finds the database.
  • Load Balancing: Allocate traffic over numerous containers of the similar service (e.g., web servers) that to develop performance and resilience.
  • Container Security: Replicate the security mechanisms like container isolation and sandboxing to make sure that secure service deployment.
  • Fault Tolerance: Execute a fault tolerance in which failed containers are consequentially redeployed or restarted on other hosts.

Thus, we had provided necessary procedure to implement and simulate the Network Containerized Services using the simulation NS2. Additional details will offer in another manual, if required.