How to get started

First, you need an account. In order to get an account please ​register here.

A typical experiment requires the following three steps:

• Reservation
• Running the experiment
• Analyzing the results

Reservation

As this is a wireless testbed, it is difficult to run multiple experiments without interference. Therefore, we currently only support one experiment at a time on any of the grids. In Orbit speak, a grid is a set of nodes on which to run experiments. In the present setup, the testbed consists of a 20*20 grid of nodes, and an array of sandboxes (1*2 grids).

Reservations for any of these resources can be made ​here.

Note, that a reservation is just a request. You will receive an email when your slot is approved.

Running the Experiment

During your approved time slot, you will be able to log into the console of the respective grid. Currently, this requires a two step process. You first need to log into gateway.orbit-lab.org with your Orbit credentials using ​SSH. From there you then can log into the console corresponding to the following table:

Main grid	console.grid.orbit-lab.org
Sandbox 1	console.sb1.orbit-lab.org
Sandbox 2	console.sb2.orbit-lab.org
Sandbox 5	console.sb5.orbit-lab.org
Sandbox 6	console.sb6.orbit-lab.org

When you are logged in, you can start an experiment using NodeHandler. First time users are highly encouraged, to start with the built-in Hello World experiment which can be started with:

user#> nodehandler -t

This experiment will send UDP datagrams of 1024 bytes from node 1-1 to node 1-2 at 300 kbps CBR traffic. Both, sender and receiver, report measurements to a database, using our OML measurement framework.

More information on writing experiment scripts can be found in the Tutorial.

When

they can log using ssh and then access the grid using their account.

In order to run the default experiment, simply type the following at the console:

user# > nodehandler –t

This will launch the default tutorial experiment. The tutorial experiment uses nodes 1-1 and 1-2 on the grid. Node 1-1 sends UDP datagrams of 1024 bytes to Node 1-2 at 300 Kbps CBR. The receiver reports the measured throughput.

To run any experiment that has been defined by the user simply type the following at the console:

user# > nodehandler <test_script_name>

Here, “test_script_name” is the user’s own script. More information on running experiments is available here.

V Additional Information

a) The ORBIT FAQ, has answers to all plausible questions. If you have any suggestions on adding additional information to the FAQ, please send email to faq@….

b) ORBIT Overview

c) Presentations addressing the overview, architecture and the main components of the ORBIT test-bed. d) A helpful description of the ORBIT Hardware Components and the ORBIT Software Components can be found here and here respectively. e) Publications for further references.