Flaky Network Simulator

This repository is used to maintain the flakynetworksimulator package hosted on pypip.org.

Version 0.0.4

Problem Statement

We observed the need to create a technique/tool to simulate real-life network conditions while testing any particular sync API. It is often observed that the app crashes if there are frequent network drops or bad network conditions. The challenge faced by our team was that there didn't exist any textbook application to simulate actual life network conditions, like when we are traveling or when we are at home, but there are frequent switches between wifi and Mobile Data.

Installation

pip3 install flakynetworksimulator

Quickstart

1. Install flakynetworksimulator package

2. Create run.py file

3. Paste the following code in run.py file

   import  flakynetworksimulator.flakynetwork  as  f
   from time import sleep
   fn = f.FlakyNetwork()
   fn.start(mode = 0)
   sleep(10)
   fn.stop()
   

4. Start the terminal and run the following command ping 8.8.8.8

5. Run the python file using another terminal tab sudo python3 run.py

6. Check the terminal 1 if the ping is changed or not

Features

When you define the FlakyNetwork object, you need to declare DNS and Default Profile By default DNS= 8.8.8.8 & Default Profile = MOBILE_DATA Refer to implementation guidelines, it is advised to implement the functions using multithreading

Function	Params	Function
throttle()	tout = timeout	Throttle the network based on the default profile declared in object declaration
randomBandwidth()	bw_var, tout	Varies the bandwidth withing the given % range of parameter
networkSwitch()	switch_profile, tout	Simulates network switches between specified profile and default profile
normalVariation()	jitter, bw_dev	Simulates the behaviour of a normally distributed bandwidth and ping
random()	bw_deg, ping_deg	Simulates the behaviour of randomly distributed bandwidth and ping based on degree of flakiness
drops()	dropout	Random network drop offs (% wise)
realWorldSimulation()	tout	Simulates a travelling network for a specified time

realWorldSimulation() - Currently we have one profile. We arrived at this profile by travelling from Kota to Delhi on Shatabdi Express. We noted down the network parameters, like ping variation, network drops, jitter, etc. and simulated this through realWorldSimulation().

Default Params

Param	Value
SWITCH_PROFILE	lte
MOBILE_DATA	4g
TEST_DNS	127.0.0.1
PING_DNS	8.8.8.8
DROPOUT	0
BANDWIDTH_VAR	0.2
PING_COUNT	5
DEFAULT_MODE	0
DEBUG_MODE	False
TOUT	120
JITTERVALUE	10

Tech Stack

MacOS	Windows	Linux
Python	Python	Python
	C++

Note: Currently MacOS(python) version is in production, windows is in progress and support for linux can be extended if required

Normal Variate Profile

Testing Locally

Follow the steps to test the flaktnetworksimulator locally by simulating network on localhost

1. Create a file run.py

2. Paste the following code for quickstart

   import flakynetworksimulator.flakynetwork as f from time import sleep fn = f.FlakyNetwork() fn.test(mode = 0) sleep(10) fn.stop()

3. Open a 2 terminals

4. Run ping 127.0.0.1 on terminal 1 and sudo python3 run.py in terminal 2

5. Replace fn.test() with testing functions

Test functions are same as legacy function, just add Test to the function name For eg. throttle() has test function named thorttleTest()

Contributing

Contributions are welcomed! Read the Contributing Guide for more information.

Licensing

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.