Mininet vs Ostinato

Mininet is a free network emulator that creates virtual hosts, switches, controllers and links on one machine. Its hosts run standard Linux network software on the real Linux kernel and network stack, while switches support OpenFlow. The project describes uses including research, development, learning, prototyping, testing and debugging, including experiments with SDN systems using OpenFlow and P4. A topology-aware and OpenFlow-aware command-line interface supports debugging and network-wide tests. Users can select parameterized topologies or create custom ones, and an extensible Python API supports network creation and experimentation. Mininet networks can connect to real networks, and code developed in Mininet can move to real systems with minimal changes. Installation options include a pre-packaged virtual machine, native installation from source and packages for recent Ubuntu or Debian 11 and later; Fedora support is experimental. Mininet depends on the Linux kernel, while its VM can run through VMware or VirtualBox on Mac, Windows and Linux. Its networks are constrained by a single server's CPU and bandwidth, and it cannot currently run non-Linux-compatible OpenFlow switches or applications. Mininet is released under a permissive BSD open source license.

Ostinato generates and customizes network traffic, or replays PCAP files, to help validate throughput, QoS, multicast, routing, switching, protocol behavior, and network performance. Users can edit supported protocol headers, set frame sizes, and create custom headers with hexdumps or scripts. PCAP replay can preserve or alter packet timing, loop traffic, or reorder packets. Native protocols include Ethernet, VLAN, QinQ, IPv4/IPv6, UDP, stateless TCP, ICMP, ARP/NDP, IGMP/MLD, and GRE; other methods can support headers such as MPLS and VXLAN. Reports show transmit and receive statistics, per-stream packet loss, and latency and jitter measured with software timestamps. A Python API supports stream and scenario creation, run control, counter collection, and CI/CD integration. Ostinato lists GNS3, EVE-NG, Cisco CML, and Containerlab as supported lab environments, and says it works on AWS and Azure cloud VMs. It runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, and self-hosted or API setups. Plans start at $12 a month billed annually; an active subscription is required.