The GINI router : a routing element for user-level micro internet

Most routers, to our knowledge, are difficult for researchers and students without root privileges to implement or modify, because their implementation is in kernel space. GINI is an innovative platform on conventional PCs, which brings the whole functionality of a router into user space. GINI is able to create a complex virtual network consisting of User-Mode Linux (UML), virtual switches and routers. GINI is far more than a simulation engine, because packets on a virtual link may experience real networks by going through UDP tunnels. This thesis also presents a new architecture for building flexible and configurable routers in GINI. They have a modular structure and are easy to extend. Our evaluation shows that the GINI router has a much better performance than UML to be a router. Since the GINI routers are lightweight and configurable, it is easy to run hundreds of them by a simple script on one or more PCs, without crashing them