PlanetLab was a group of computers available as a
testbed
A testbed (also spelled test bed) is a platform for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of scientific theories, computing tools, and new technologies.
The term is used across many disciplines to describe experimental research ...
for
computer networking
A computer network is a collection of communicating computers and other devices, such as printers and smart phones. In order to communicate, the computers and devices must be connected by wired media like copper cables, optical fibers, or b ...
and
distributed systems
Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems, defined as computer systems whose inter-communicating components are located on different computer network, networked computers.
The components of a distribu ...
research. It was established in 2002 by Prof.
Larry L. Peterson and Prof.
David Culler, and by 2005 it had been deployed at 252 sites in 28 countries. Each research project had a "slice", or
virtual machine
In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization or emulator, emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide the functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve ...
access to a subset of the nodes.
Accounts were limited to persons affiliated with corporations and universities that hosted PlanetLab nodes. However, a number of free, public services have been deployed on PlanetLab, including
CoDeeN, the Coral Content Distribution Network, and Open DHT.
PlanetLab was officially shut down in May 2020 but continues in Europe.
References
External links
PlanetLabPlanetLab Europe
Software testing
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