NetPilot

Academic Network Research Lab

Describe a multi-vendor topology in plain English and NetPilot deploys a reproducible cloud lab on real device CLIs in about two minutes.

Try It Free

← Network Research Lab

app.netpilot.io

See It in Action

Watch NetPilot build a 5-node FRR mesh, deploy it to the cloud, inject random link loss, and run an end-to-end test — all from one plain-English prompt. The same flow applies to thesis labs, paper reproducibility, and protocol experimentation.

~2 min
From prompt to a running multi-vendor lab
9+
Network OSes and growing — multi-vendor in one topology
1 prompt
Becomes the reproducible artifact a reviewer can re-run

What makes NetPilot different

Cloud-native + AI-designed in one product — minutes-to-lab on real multi-vendor CLIs, so graduate researchers spend time on the experiment, not on environment setup.

Cloud-native

Browser only. Nothing to install.

The alternative

GENI / CloudLab / FABRIC: federation accounts + project approval; ns-3 / Mininet: a local VM, build toolchain, and dependency pinning per machine.

AI-designed

Describe any topology in plain English — AI designs, configures, and deploys it; SSH in to verify.

The alternative

Hand-write the ns-3 simulation script or per-device vendor configs, then debug setup before the experiment even starts.

Multi-turn iteration

“Add an Arista spine, move OSPF to area 0.0.0.1” → AI updates across all devices.

The alternative

Edit the topology script, re-provision the testbed slice, and re-run setup for every variant in the experiment sweep.

2 minutes vs days/weeks

~2 minutes from prompt to working multi-vendor lab.

The alternative

Days-to-weeks to source hardware, match firmware, and onboard a federated testbed slice before the first measurement.

From paper to reproducible experiment

The same describe → deploy → SSH flow that turns a published topology into a re-runnable artifact.

Describe the experiment, or import a config

Type the paper's topology, vendor NOSes, and protocol stack in plain English — or paste an existing config. NetPilot reads intent and proposes the multi-vendor design before deploying anything.

app.netpilot.io

AI designs and deploys the cloud lab in ~2 minutes

NetPilot generates per-vendor configurations, wires the topology, and deploys the running lab to the cloud. The prompt plus the generated ContainerLab YAML becomes the reproducible artifact a reviewer can re-run.

app.netpilot.io

SSH into real vendor CLIs to verify behavior

Drop into real network-OS CLIs over SSH — Nokia SR Linux and FRR built in, Cisco/Juniper/Arista via BYOI — dual-path with the AI agent. Capture packet traces, CLI output, and convergence baselines exactly as the experiment requires.

app.netpilot.io

What you can model

Real multi-vendor protocol behavior for thesis labs, paper reproduction, and protocol experimentation — extractable coverage across the research stack.

Reproduce a published-paper topology

Describe a SIGCOMM / NSDI / IMC / CoNEXT topology in plain English; the prompt + generated YAML becomes a re-runnable artifact for the artifact-evaluation committee.

PhD / master's thesis lab

Cross-vendor EVPN interop, multi-vendor BGP convergence, protocol-behavior comparisons under failure — real NOS code for the defense, not a simulation approximation.

BGP convergence research

eBGP/iBGP, route reflectors, confederations — measure convergence baselines across implementations with reproducible link-flap impairments.

EVPN-VXLAN data-center fabric

Type-2/3/5 routes, symmetric/asymmetric IRB, multi-homing — model leaf-spine fabric behavior across Nokia SR Linux, FRR, and BYOI vendors.

Segment routing & MPLS experiments

SR-MPLS, SRv6 uSID, SR-TE, MPLS L3VPN (RFC 4364), VPLS, EVPN-VPWS — service-provider protocol research on real CLIs.

Impairment & failure studies

tc netem packet loss, latency, jitter, reordering, rate limit, and link flap — reproducible failure injection for protocol-resilience papers.

Custom & experimental protocols

FRR (BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, Babel, EVPN, SRv6, PIM) plus Scapy on Linux endpoints for packet crafting and user-space protocol prototypes.

Graduate course teaching labs

Advanced multi-vendor interop and service-provider protocol labs — real CLI exposure for every student without per-student hardware.

Academic research tools compared

Honest positioning. NetPilot is not a replacement for ns-3 (different category: simulator vs emulator) or for GENI/CloudLab/FABRIC (different category: federated testbeds vs cloud platform). NetPilot is the real-CLI multi-vendor layer that fills a specific gap.

Real NOS CLI behavior
NetPilot
multi-vendor
ns-3 (simulator)
simulation
Mininet
Linux tools
GENI / CloudLab / FABRIC
bare-metal
Vendor free tiers
single vendor
Multi-vendor in one topology
NetPilot
Yes
ns-3 (simulator)
No
Mininet
No
GENI / CloudLab / FABRIC
BYO software
Vendor free tiers
No
Setup time
NetPilot
~2 minutes
ns-3 (simulator)
Days (scripts)
Mininet
Hours
GENI / CloudLab / FABRIC
Days–weeks (onboarding)
Vendor free tiers
Hours
Reproducible artifact (prompt)
NetPilot
prompt = artifact
ns-3 (simulator)
scripts
Mininet
Python
GENI / CloudLab / FABRIC
profiles
Vendor free tiers
No
Cloud self-serve
NetPilot
Yes
ns-3 (simulator)
local
Mininet
local
GENI / CloudLab / FABRIC
federated
Vendor free tiers
varies
Single-user self-serve
NetPilot
Yes
ns-3 (simulator)
Yes
Mininet
Yes
GENI / CloudLab / FABRIC
onboarding
Vendor free tiers
Yes
Best for
NetPilot
Real multi-vendor iteration
ns-3 (simulator)
Simulation scale
Mininet
SDN + teaching
GENI / CloudLab / FABRIC
Bare-metal experiments
Vendor free tiers
Single-vendor study
Anchor scenario

Reproducing a paper that depended on vendor hardware

Networking research reproducibility is harder than the field would like. ACM-surveyed reproducibility rates sit around 32% in networking, and SIGCOMM / NSDI / MobiSys / CoNEXT artifact-evaluation programs consistently flag hardware-dependent artifacts as the hardest to reproduce.

The bottleneck is rarely the research itself. It's the environment setup — finding or buying the vendor hardware, matching firmware versions, recreating the topology, scripting the impairment, hitting the same convergence baseline.

The NetPilot pattern: describe the published experiment in plain English. The prompt + generated configurations become the artifact. Reviewers re-deploy in minutes on real Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia, or FRR CLIs — no hardware sourcing, no firmware archaeology. For experiments that depend on specific commercial vendor code paths, BYOI supports the researcher's own licensed image.

BGP convergence research methodology

Complement to ns-3, Mininet, and NSF testbeds

Each existing tool solves a specific problem well. NetPilot fills a specific gap without trying to replace any of them.

ns-3 (discrete-event simulator)

Simulation fidelity at massive scale. Rich protocol abstractions. Use for simulation-layer experiments where thousands of nodes matter more than real vendor CLI behavior.

Mininet

Linux-namespace emulation — the teaching default. Excellent for SDN research and CS networking courses. NetPilot covers the multi-vendor real-NOS gap Mininet doesn't address.

GENI / CloudLab / FABRIC

NSF-funded federated bare-metal testbeds. Rigorous hardware experiments. Onboarding and provisioning take days to weeks — NetPilot takes minutes for research that fits on cloud infrastructure.

NetPilot

Real multi-vendor NOS CLIs, AI-built topologies from prompts, cloud self-serve, minutes-to-lab, artifact-ready reproducibility. The real-CLI multi-vendor layer.

Use all of them. The research question determines the tool.

Use cases for academic networking research

Four research workflows where real multi-vendor CLIs + artifact reproducibility matter.

Reproduce published-paper experiments

Read a SIGCOMM, NSDI, IMC, or CoNEXT paper that depended on vendor hardware. Describe its topology to NetPilot in plain English. Re-run the experiment in minutes on real multi-vendor CLIs — the hardware-dependent artifact problem that artifact-evaluation programs flag as hardest becomes tractable.

BGP convergence research →

PhD / master's thesis lab

Thesis experiments that need real multi-vendor protocol behavior — EVPN interop studies, BGP convergence across implementations, cross-protocol comparisons. Reproducible prompts, real CLIs, artifact-ready for committee review.

Graduate course teaching labs

Advanced networking courses covering multi-vendor interop, service-provider protocols, or data-center fabric research. Students get real CLI exposure without per-student hardware. Course-pack licensing available for institutions — contact sales.

Artifact-evaluation-ready submissions

The prompt + generated configs + deployable topology is the artifact. Reviewers reproduce in minutes, not weeks. Addresses the environment-setup bottleneck that drives reproducibility rates below one-third in networking research (per ACM surveys).

For institutions

Course packs, dedicated environments, institutional access

For departmental research labs, graduate course packs, or institutional research-group deployments, NetPilot offers dedicated environments, isolated tenancy, instructor oversight patterns, and SSO / audit integration under enterprise plans.

Pricing and access mechanics are handled case-by-case for academic institutions — the goal is to match the workflow, not force it into a SaaS plan shape. Reach out to the team.

Protocols and tooling supported

Real vendor code paths for research. Pair with ns-3 for simulation-scale experiments; pair with GENI/CloudLab/FABRIC for bare-metal experiments.

  • FRR (BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, Babel, EVPN, SRv6, RIP, PIM) — reference open-source routing stack
  • Multi-vendor NOS: Nokia SR Linux and Linux built in; Cisco IOL, Juniper cRPD, and Arista cEOS via BYOI (your licensed image)
  • EVPN-VXLAN (Type-2/3/5 routes, symmetric/asymmetric IRB, multi-homing)
  • SR-MPLS and SRv6 (SR-TE, uSID, SR-MPLS-LSP)
  • MPLS L3VPN (RFC 4364), L2VPN, VPLS, EVPN-VPWS
  • BGP convergence research topologies (EBGP, IBGP, route reflectors, confederations)
  • Impairments (tc netem): packet loss, latency, jitter, duplication, reordering, rate limit, link flap
  • Scapy for custom packet crafting and experimental protocol research
  • BFD, LACP, LLDP for realistic data-center and service-provider fabric modeling

Category note

NetPilot is a real-NOS cloud emulation platform. It is not a discrete-event simulator (that is ns-3's category) and not a bare-metal federated testbed (that is GENI/CloudLab/FABRIC's category). Choose the tool that matches the research question.

Which research tool should you use?

Pick ns-3 / Mininet / GENI / CloudLab / FABRIC when you need:

  • •ns-3: simulation-scale experiments (thousands of nodes) and custom protocol models
  • •Mininet: SDN controller research and Linux-namespace teaching labs
  • •GENI / CloudLab / FABRIC: bare-metal timing fidelity and specific hardware characteristics

Pick NetPilot when you need:

  • •Real multi-vendor NOS CLIs (9+ OSes and growing) in one topology
  • •Minutes-to-lab — describe it, deploy in ~2 min, no hardware sourcing
  • •Prompt + generated configs = a reproducible, shareable artifact
  • •Dual-path: AI agent designs and configures, you SSH in to verify

Verdict:Use ns-3 for simulation scale, Mininet for SDN teaching, and GENI/CloudLab/FABRIC when bare-metal fidelity is the experiment. Reach for NetPilot when the research question turns on real multi-vendor protocol behavior and reproducibility — and minutes-to-lab matters more than bare-metal timing. They are complementary; the question picks the tool.

Academic Research FAQ

Scenario-phrased questions from graduate researchers and networking faculty.

Describe the paper's topology, vendor NOSes, and protocol stack in plain English. NetPilot deploys the equivalent multi-vendor topology in ~2 minutes on real network-OS CLIs — Nokia SR Linux and FRR built in; Cisco, Juniper, and Arista via BYOI (your licensed image, uploaded once). The prompt + generated configs become a reusable artifact that another researcher can re-run — the environment-setup bottleneck that drives low reproducibility rates goes away.
No — they're different categories. ns-3 is a discrete-event simulator; Mininet is a Linux-namespace emulator for teaching and SDN research. NetPilot runs actual vendor NOS code (real FRR, real Cisco, real Junos) on cloud infrastructure. Use ns-3 for simulation-scale experiments; Mininet for SDN controller research and CS teaching; NetPilot when you need real protocol behavior on real vendor CLIs in a multi-vendor topology.
Yes. NetPilot is well-suited for thesis experiments that need real multi-vendor NOS interaction — cross-vendor EVPN interop, multi-vendor BGP convergence studies, protocol-behavior comparisons under failure. The prompt-as-artifact pattern also supports thesis defense requirements for reproducibility. For simulation-scale experiments (thousands of nodes), pair with ns-3.
GENI, CloudLab, and FABRIC are federated bare-metal research testbeds — gold standard for experiments needing specific hardware characteristics or bare-metal timing fidelity. They take days to weeks to onboard and provision. NetPilot is a real-NOS emulation platform that deploys in minutes. Use GENI/CloudLab/FABRIC for bare-metal experiments; use NetPilot for protocol iteration and multi-vendor research where minutes-to-lab matters more than bare-metal fidelity.
Yes. The NetPilot prompt + generated per-vendor configurations form a portable artifact. A reviewer can re-deploy the exact same topology in minutes, without sourcing hardware or recreating setup scripts. This aligns with SIGCOMM / NSDI / IMC / CoNEXT artifact-evaluation program expectations. Several AE programs specifically flag hardware-dependent artifacts as the hardest to reproduce — the prompt-as-artifact pattern addresses that directly.
NetPilot offers a free tier suitable for individual-researcher exploration and small thesis-scale experiments. For departmental, course-pack, or large-scale research use, contact sales to discuss dedicated environments, isolated tenancy, and instructor oversight patterns. Pricing and access mechanics are handled case-by-case for academic institutions — reach out to the team.
Course-pack and classroom access for graduate-level networking instruction is available under enterprise plans — contact sales to discuss. The platform already supports the multi-vendor configurations commonly used in advanced courses (EVPN-VXLAN, SR-MPLS, BGP convergence, multi-vendor OSPF). Instructor oversight, student access patterns, and dedicated environments are part of the institutional plan.
Yes, within scope. FRR includes BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, Babel, EVPN, SRv6, RIP, and PIM. Linux endpoints support Scapy for experimental packet crafting and custom protocol implementations at user space. For research protocols that require patching vendor NOS code or custom data-plane development, pair NetPilot with FRR source builds or BYOI for your custom image.
Yes. NetPilot's enterprise plan includes a self-hosted / on-prem deployment option for universities with institutional hosting, research-grant compliance, or data-residency requirements. Run the lab on your own infrastructure and retain full control of measurement data. On-prem is available via Contact Sales.

Related reading

Comparison

Best Network Research Lab Platforms in 2026

Tier-ranked comparison of 10 platforms with a 6-row segment routing guide.

Guide

BGP Convergence Research: From Paper to Validated Experiment

Reproducibility methodology for BGP convergence research — prompt-as-artifact pattern.

Segment

Defense & Government Research

MANET and mesh protocol research — sibling segment with shared reproducibility workflows.

Segment

Network Equipment R&D

RFC conformance + pre-release regression — research rigor applied to vendor workflows.

Tutorial

Scale Testing 100-Node Network Fabrics

Large-scale experiments without physical hardware.

Tutorial

BGP Fuzzing with Scapy

Security research methodology with reproducible labs.

Guide

AI-Powered MANET Research Labs

Reproducible mesh-network experiments — crossover between academic and defense research.

Comparison

Keysight vs VIAVI vs NetPilot: Research Lab Comparison

Honest comparison across research tooling categories.

Hub

Network Research Lab

The parent hub — all six research segments.

Ready to make your next experiment reproducible?

Spin up a free lab and try the prompt-as-artifact pattern yourself. For course packs, research-group access, or institutional deployments, contact sales.