Mininet is a software tool that allows an entire OpenFlow network to be emulated on a single computer. Mininet uses lightweight process-based virtualization (Linux network namespaces and Linux container architecture) to run many hosts and switches (for instance, 4096) on a single OS kernel. It can create kernel or user-space OpenFlow switches, controllers to control the switches, and hosts to communicate over the emulated network.
Mininet connects switches and hosts using virtual ethernet (veth) pairs. It considerably simplifies the initial development, debugging, testing, and deployment process. New network applications can be first developed and tested on an emulation of the anticipated deployment network. It can then be moved to the actual operational infrastructure. Mininet currently depends on the Linux kernel; future deployments may...
