Cougaar "Mesh" Demos

NOTE: This file and all referenced files are included in the demo-mesh.zip of the latest Cougaar release.

This module contains the Cougaar "mesh" demos, which are designed for scalability and performance testing.

The mesh benchmark is similar to a distributed clock. At startup every peer sends a relay with a "1" counter to all its peers. When a peer has received all the "1"s from its peers, that peer sends out a "2". All peers run asynchronously but are effectively throttled by the slowest peer. No peer can get far ahead of any other peer; they are limited by the "distance" between one another. Note that, although the slowest peer is random, the aggregate throughput will be correct.

In a fully connected mesh, every peer lists all the peers in its "targets" parameter. This will create an "N^2" connection topology. Other topologies (rings, trees, etc) are supported, as illustrated in the configs directory.

A peer will log a warning if it receives a duplicate counter, or if it has waited more than 30 seconds for an input counter. The plugins also support several other benchmark-friendly options:

• A "maxIteration" for when the test should end.
• A "bloatSize" to increase the relay message sizes.

For additional information, please see the Cougaar Overview Slides:
  http://cougaar.org/docman/view.php/17/196/CougaarOverview.ppt.

Index:

• Contents
• Installation
• Usage
• Support

Contents:

1. configs/*.xml:
   The society files.
2. run/*.xml:
   The runtime files.
3. run/logging.props:
   The Log4j logging configuration file.
4. src/org/cougaar/demo/mesh/*.java:
   The Java source code consists of:
   • A "mesh plugin" (javadoc, code)
   • A "mesh servlet" (javadoc, code)

Installation:

The "Hello World" README is available online at:
   http://cougaar.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/hello/doc/README.html?rev=1.1.1.1&cvsroot=tutorials#installation
and in the "demo-hello.zip" produced by the nightly build:
   http://build.cougaar.org/auto/HEAD/latest_success/

Usage:

1. A basic 3-agent "mesh" test:
   1. Run:
        cd $COUGAAR_RUNTIME_PATH
  cougaar $COUGAAR_SOCIETY_PATH/configs/BasicSociety.xml BasicRuntime.xml
      This should print:
        [MeshPlugin] - A: Parsed 2 targets: [B, C]
  [MeshPlugin] - A: Sending counter 1 to 2 targets
  [MeshPlugin] - B: Parsed 2 targets: [A, C]
  [MeshPlugin] - B: Sending counter 1 to 2 targets
  [MeshPlugin] - C: Parsed 2 targets: [A, B]
  [MeshPlugin] - C: Sending counter 1 to 2 targets
  [DOTS] - ++-+-+-+--+-
  [MeshPlugin] - B: Received 1 from C
  [MeshPlugin] - A: Received 1 from C
  [MeshPlugin] - A: Received 1 from B
  [MeshPlugin] - A: Will send counter 1 in 5 seconds
  [MeshPlugin] - C: Received 1 from A
  [MeshPlugin] - C: Received 1 from B
  [MeshPlugin] - C: Will send counter 1 in 5 seconds
  [MeshPlugin] - B: Received 1 from A
  [MeshPlugin] - B: Will send counter 1 in 5 seconds
  [DOTS] - .
  [MeshPlugin] - C: Sending counter 2 to 2 targets
  [DOTS] - +-+-
  [MeshPlugin] - B: Sending counter 2 to 2 targets
  [DOTS] - +-+-
  [MeshPlugin] - A: Sending counter 2 to 2 targets
  [MeshPlugin] - A: Received 2 from C
  [MeshPlugin] - A: Received 2 from B
  [MeshPlugin] - A: Will send counter 2 in 5 seconds
  [DOTS] - +-+-
  [MeshPlugin] - B: Received 2 from C
  [MeshPlugin] - B: Received 2 from A
  [MeshPlugin] - B: Will send counter 2 in 5 seconds
  [MeshPlugin] - C: Received 2 from B
  [MeshPlugin] - C: Received 2 from A
  [MeshPlugin] - C: Will send counter 2 in 5 seconds
  [DOTS] - .
        ...
      
   2. Optionally view the servlet at
        http://localhost:8800/$A/mesh
   3. Press CTRL-C to stop the run.

2. A benchmark 3-agent "mesh" test:
   1. Run:
        cd $COUGAAR_RUNTIME_PATH
  cougaar $COUGAAR_SOCIETY_PATH/configs/BasicSociety.xml BenchmarkRuntime.xml
      Note that the above runtime XML file has been modified to disable the logging output.
   2. Optionally view the servlet at
        http://localhost:8800/$A/mesh
      Note the high "relays-per-second" throughput, due to the "delayMillis=0" setting in the society XML file.
   3. Press CTRL-C to stop the run.

3. More topologies tests: The benchmark can be configured into other topologies, such as rings, trees, etc. See configs/*.xml. The usage is similar to the above examples.

Support:

1. Subscribe to the cougaar-developers mailing list:
     http://cougaar.org/mailman/listinfo/cougaar-developers
2. Then send email to:
     cougaar-developers@cougaar.org