ns-3 RELEASE NOTES

This file contains ns-3 release notes (most recent releases first).  

All of the ns-3 documentation is accessible from the ns-3 website: 

http://www.nsnam.org including tutorials: http://www.nsnam.org/tutorials.html

Consult the file CHANGES.html for more detailed information about changed

API and behavior across ns-3 releases.

Release 3.7

===========

Availability

------------

Supported platforms

-------------------

ns-3.7 has been tested on the following platforms:

  - cygwin gcc 3.4.4 (debug only), gcc 4.3.2 (debug and optimized)

Not all ns-3 options are available on all platforms; consult the

wiki for more information:

http://www.nsnam.org/wiki/index.php/Installation

New user-visible features

-------------------------

  a) Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing model (RFC 3561)

  b) IPv6 extensions support to add IPv6 extensions and options.  Two 

     examples (fragmentation and loose routing) are available.

  c) NetAnim interface: Provides an interface to the Qt-based NetAnim 

     animator, which supports static, point-to-point topology-based 

     packet animations.

  d) New topology helpers have been introduced

     - PointToPointDumbbellHelper

     - PointToPointGridHelper

     - PointToPointStarHelper

     - CsmaStarHelper

  e) Equal-cost multipath for global routing: Enables quagga's equal 

     cost multipath for Ipv4GlobalRouting, and adds an attribute that

     can enable it with random packet distribution policy across 

     equal cost routes.

  f) Binding sockets to devices:  A method analogous to a SO_BINDTODEVICE

     socket option has been introduced to class Socket

  g) Object::DoStart: Users who need to complete their object setup at 

     the start of a simulation can override this virtual method, perform their 

     adhoc setup, and then, must chain up to their parent.

  h) Ipv4::IsDestinationAddress method added to support checks of whether a 

     destination address should be accepted as one of the host's own 

     addresses.  

  i) UniformDiscPositionAllocator added; distributes uniformly the nodes 

     within a disc of given radius. 

  j) ChannelNumber attribute added to YansWifiPhy. Now it is possible to 

     setup wifi channel using WifiPhyHelper::Set() method.

  k) WaypointMobilityModel provides a method to add mobility as a set of 

     (time, position) pairs

API changes from ns-3.6

-----------------------

API changes for this release are documented in the file CHANGES.html. 

Bugs fixed

----------

The following lists many of the bugs that were fixed since ns-3.6, in

many cases referencing the Bugzilla bug number

   - bug 752: Object::DoStart is not executed for objects created at t > 0

   - bug 767:  Incorrect modulation for 802.11a modes

   - bug 725: wifi fragmentation and RTS cannot be used at the same time

   - bug 782: CreateTap () requires IP address in modes other than 

     CONFIGURE_LOCAL.

   - bug 769: Queue::GetTotalReceived{Bytes,Packets}() broken

   - bug 738 ReceiveErrorModel called too late

   - Fix NSC improper response to FIN

   - Fixed bug in serialization of PbbAddressBlock.

   - Fix bug 780 (problem in RoutingTableComputation with asymetric links), 

     while adding debugging methods to OLSR.  

   - bug 759: Ipv6 uses wrong outgoing interface.

   - bug 770: IPv6 size calculation for unknown options is wrong.

   - bug 771: Radvd does not set ttl value.

   - Fix bug 606:  Arp depends on IP routing system

   - pad out CSMA payloads to 46 bytes if needed

   - Drop CSMA packets with CRC errors, rescan, dox tweaks

   - Add FCS capability to CSMA

   - Mesh:Dot11s: fixed airtime metric

   - Get emu working again:  Add Dix/Llc option, add and use contextual 

     realtime schedule ops, don't refcount realtime simulator impl

   - bug 695 - DcfManager::UpdateBackoff () uses slow HighPrecision::Div()

   - bug 674 - EIFS is not handled correctly in DcfManager::GetAccessGrantStart

   - bug 739 -  OLSR: Strange HTime value in HELLO messages 

   - bug 746 -  UDP source address is not set to bound address

   - bug 735 Update Olsr for local delivery

   - bug 740 OLSR MprCompute () works wrong: fixed

   - bug 729 Enable IPv6 over PPP.

   - bug 645: fixes for opening stats file with OMNeT++

   - bug 689: default energy detection and CCA thresholds are changed to be 

     more realistic.

   - bug 733: OLSR MPR Computation give incorrect result

   - Mesh: HWMP: fixed proactive routes

   - Mesh: fixed FLAME PATH_UPDATE procedure, fixed mesh.cc 

Known issues

------------

ns-3 builds have been known to fail on the following platforms:

  - gcc 3.3 and earlier

  - optimized builds on gcc 3.4.4 and 3.4.5

  - optimized builds on linux x86 gcc 4.0.x

Release 3.6

===========

Availability

------------

This release is immediately available from:

http://www.nsnam.org/releases/ns-allinone-3.6.tar.bz2

Supported platforms

-------------------

ns-3.6 has been tested on the following platforms:

  - linux x86 gcc 4.4.1, 4.2, 4.1, and, 3.4.6.

  - linux x86_64 gcc 4.4.0, 4.3.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.1, 4.1.3, 3.4.6

  - MacOS X ppc and x86 (gcc 4.0.x and 4.2.x)

  - cygwin gcc 3.4.4 (debug only), gcc 4.3.2 (debug and optimized)

Not all ns-3 options are available on all platforms; consult the

wiki for more information:

http://www.nsnam.org/wiki/index.php/Installation

New user-visible features

-------------------------

  a) 802.11 models:

     - Add an implementation of the minstrel rate control algorithm 

       (Duy Nguyen for gsoc)

     - AthstatsHelper: enables the wifi device to produce periodic 

       reports similar to the ones generated by madwifi's

       athstats tool (Nicola Baldo)

     - 10MHz and 5MHz channel width supported by 802.11a model 

       (Ramon Bauza and Kirill Andreev)

     - Channel switching support. YansWifiPhy can now switch among 

       different channels (Ramon Bauza and Pavel Boyko)

  b) IPv6 models:

    - IPv6 interface;

    - IPv6 layer;

    - IPv6 raw socket;

    - Static IPv6 routing;

    - ICMPv6 layer;

    - Some ICMPv6 error messages (destination unreachable, ...);

    - Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NS/NA, RS/RA, redirection);

    - Ping6 application (send Echo request);

    - Radvd application (send RA);

    - Examples (ping6, simple-routing-ping6, radvd, radvd-two-prefix,

      icmpv6-redirect).

  c) Wireless Mesh Networking models:

    - General multi-interface mesh stack infrastructure (devices/mesh module).

    - IEEE 802.11s (Draft 3.0) model including Peering Management Protocol and HWMP.

    - Forwarding Layer for Meshing (FLAME) protocol.

  d) Nix-vector routing:  

    - Ipv4NixVectorHelper

    - Examples (nix-simple, nms-p2p-nix)

  e) New Test Framework

    - Use test.py instead of ./waf check or ./waf --regression

    - Previous unit tests have been ported to new framework.

    - Examples are tested for run-ability.

  f) A new Flow Monitor module

   - To very easily measure flow metrics in a simulation

   - No need to use trace callbacks or parsing trace files

API changes from ns-3.5

-----------------------

API changes for this release are documented in the file CHANGES.html. 

Known issues

------------

ns-3.6 build is known to fail on the following platforms:

  - gcc 3.3 and earlier

  - optimized builds on gcc 3.4.4 and 3.4.5

  - optimized builds on linux x86 gcc 4.0.x

Release 3.5

===========

Availability

------------

This release is immediately available from:

http://www.nsnam.org/releases/ns-allinone-3.5.tar.bz2

Supported platforms

-------------------

ns-3.5 has been tested on the following platforms:

  - linux x86 gcc 4.2, 4.1, and, 3.4.6.

  - linux x86_64 gcc 4.4.0, 4.3.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.1, 4.1.3, 3.4.6

  - MacOS X ppc and x86 (gcc 4.0.x and 4.2.x)

  - cygwin gcc 3.4.4 (debug only), gcc 4.3.2 (debug and optimized)

  - mingw gcc 3.4.5 (debug only)

Not all ns-3 options are available on all platforms; consult the

wiki for more information:

http://www.nsnam.org/wiki/index.php/Installation

New user-visible features

-------------------------

  a) 802.11 MAC:

     - EDCA multi-qos-class support (Mirko Banchi)

     - 802.11n initial support for A-MSDU frame aggregation (Mirko Banchi)

     - aarf-cd and cara rate control algorithms (Federico Maguolo)

  b) 802.11 PHY:

     - 802.11b PHY support (Gary Pei)

     - Nakagami propagation loss model (Timo Bingmann)

     - radiotap and prism headers for PCAP output (Nicola Baldo)

  c) RandomVariable:

     - GammaVariable and ErlangVariable (Timo Bingmann)

     - ZipfVariable (Francesco Malandrino)

  d) UdpEcho: allows setting the payload of echo packets

  e) Ipv4/Ipv4RoutingProtocol: allow fine-grained control over

     routing policy and arbitrary composition of routing protocols

API changes from ns-3.4

-----------------------

API changes for this release are documented in the file CHANGES.html.  The

internal API and composition of the IPv4 stack underwent significant

refactoring in this release cycle.

Known issues

------------

ns-3 build is known to fail on the following platforms:

  - gcc 3.3 and earlier

  - optimized builds on gcc 3.4.4 and 3.4.5

  - optimized builds on linux x86 gcc 4.0.x

Future releases

---------------

Our next release, which is expected to happen in 2 to 4 months from now, will

feature the merging of some of our projects currently in development including

fuller IPv6 support, some smaller features such as a new Global ARP 

package, and possibly a new Testing and Validation suite.

Release 3.4

===========

Availability

------------

This release is immediately available from:

http://www.nsnam.org/releases/ns-allinone-3.4.tar.bz2

Supported platforms

-------------------

ns-3.4 has been tested on the following platforms:

  - linux x86 gcc 4.2, 4.1, and, 3.4.6.

  - linux x86_64 gcc 4.3.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.1, 4.1.3, 3.4.6

  - MacOS X ppc and x86

  - cygwin gcc 3.4.4 (debug only)

Not all ns-3 options are available on all platforms; consult the

wiki for more information:

http://www.nsnam.org/wiki/index.php/Installation

New user-visible features

-------------------------

  a) Wifi models: Timo Bingman contributed a ThreeLogDistance and a Nakagami

     propagation loss model based on the ns-2 models. Fabian Mauchle contributed

     multicast support.

  b) Object Name Service:  A facility allowing ns-3 Objects to be assigned

     names has been added.

  c) Tap Bridge:  A second option for integrating ns-3 with real-world hosts

     has been added.  This allows for real hosts to talk over ns-3 net devices

     and simulated networks.

  d) A new build option (ns-3-allinone) has been provided to make it easier for

     users to download and bulid commonly used ns-3 configurations.

  e) The ns-3 calendar queue scheduler has been ported to ns-3.

  f) XML support has been added to the ConfigStore.

API changes from ns-3.3

-----------------------

API changes for this release are documented in the file CHANGES.html

Known issues

------------

ns-3 build is known to fail on the following platforms:

  - gcc 3.3 and earlier

  - optimized builds on gcc 3.4.4 and 3.4.5

  - optimized builds on linux x86 gcc 4.0.x

  - optimized builds on Ubuntu 8.10 alpha 5 x86 gcc4.3.2

  - MinGW

The IPv4 API defined in src/node/ipv4.h is expected to undergo major changes 

in preparation of the merge of the IPv6 API and implementation.

Future releases

---------------

Our next release, which is expected to happen in 2 to 4 months from now, will

feature the merging of some of our projects currently in development including

fuller IPv6 support, and IPv4 and routing protocol refactoring, and some smaller

features such as a new Global ARP package and possibly a new Testing and Validation

suite,

Release 3.3

===========

Availability

------------

This release is immediately available from:

http://www.nsnam.org/releases/ns-3.3.tar.bz2

Supported platforms

-------------------

ns-3.3 has been tested on the following platforms:

  - linux x86 gcc 4.2, 4.1, and, 3.4.6.

  - linux x86_64 gcc 4.3.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.1, 4.1.3, 3.4.6

  - MacOS X ppc and x86

  - cygwin gcc 3.4.4 (debug only)

Not all ns-3 options are available on all platforms; consult the

wiki for more information:

http://www.nsnam.org/wiki/index.php/Installation

New user-visible features

-------------------------

  a) Emulated Net Device

     A new net device has been added as enabling technology for ns-3 emulation

     scenarios.  See src/devices/emu and examples/emu-udp-echo.cc for details.

  b) ICMP Support

     Support for several ICMP messages has been added to ns-3.  See 

     src/internet-stack/icmpv4.h for details.

  c) IPv6 Address Support

     New clases to support IPv6 addresses has been added to the system.  This

     is enabling technology for fuller IPv6 support scheduled for ns-3.4.

  d) A flow-id tag has been added to the contributed code section

  e) Star topologies can be created from the topology helper functions

  f) The global routing code has been made dynamic (not just limited to

     (pre-simulation computation) and supports stub network interfaces and 

     bridge net devices 

  g) A MatchContainer has been added to the configuration subsystem

API changes from ns-3.2

-----------------------

API changes for this release are documented in the file CHANGES.html

Known issues

------------

ns-3 build is known to fail on the following platforms:

  - gcc 3.3 and earlier

  - optimized builds on gcc 3.4.4 and 3.4.5

  - optimized builds on linux x86 gcc 4.0.x

  - optimized builds on Ubuntu 8.10 alpha 5 x86 gcc4.3.2

  - MinGW

The IPv4 API defined in src/node/ipv4.h is expected to undergo major changes 

in preparation of the merge of the IPv6 API and implementation.

Future releases

---------------

Our next release, which is expected to happen in 2 to 4 months from now, will

feature the merging of some of our projects currently in development including

fuller IPv6 support, and IPv4 and routing protocol refactoring, and some smaller

features such as an object naming facility and a new Global ARP package.

Release 3.2

===========

Availability

------------

This release is immediately available from:

http://www.nsnam.org/releases/ns-3.2.tar.bz2

Supported platforms

-------------------

ns-3.2 has been tested on the following platforms:

  - linux x86 gcc 4.2, 4.1, and, 3.4.6.

  - linux x86_64 gcc 4.3.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.1, 4.1.3, 3.4.6

  - MacOS X ppc and x86

  - cygwin gcc 3.4.4 (debug only)

Not all ns-3 options are available on all platforms; consult the

wiki for more information:

http://www.nsnam.org/wiki/index.php/Installation

New user-visible features

-------------------------

  a) Learning bridge (IEEE 802.1D)

    It is now possible to bridge together multiple layer 2 devices to

    create larger layer 2 networks. The Wifi and Csma models support

    this new mode of operation. (contributed by Gustavo Carneiro)

  b) Python bindings

    It is now possible to write simulation scripts in python using our 

    python bindings (contributed by Gustavo Carneiro).

  c) Real-time simulator

    It is now possible to run simulations synchronized on the real-world

    wall-clock time (contributed by Craig Dowell).

  d) Network Simulation Cradle

    It is now possible to use the Network Simulation Cradle 

    (http://www.wand.net.nz/~stj2/nsc/) in ns-3 and run simulations 

    using various versions of kernel TCP network stacks. (contributed

    by Florian Westphal as part of his Google Summer of Code work)

  e) A statistics framework

    Joseph Kopena contributed a statistics framework which can be used

    keep track of simulation data in persistent storage across multiple 

    runs (database and ascii file backends are available).

    More information on the wiki:

    http://www.nsnam.org/wiki/index.php/Statistical_Framework_for_Network_Simulation

API changes from ns-3.1

-----------------------

API changes for this release are documented in the file CHANGES.html

Known issues

------------

ns-3 build is known to fail on the following platforms:

  - gcc 3.3 and earlier

  - optimized builds on gcc 3.4.4 and 3.4.5

  - optimized builds on linux x86 gcc 4.0.x

  - optimized builds on Ubuntu 8.10 alpha 5 x86 gcc4.3.2

  - MinGW

The IPv4 API defined in src/node/ipv4.h is expected to undergo major changes 

in preparation of the merge of the IPv6 API and implementation.

Future releases

---------------

Our next release, which is expected to happen in 2 to 4 months from now, will

feature the merging of some of our projects currently in development: IPv6, 

emulation, and synchronous posix sockets.

Release 3.1 (2008/06/30)

========================

The first ns-3 stable release

-----------------------------

This release is immediately available from:

http://www.nsnam.org/releases/ns-3.1.tar.bz2

We dedicate this initial ns-3 release to our late contributor and friend, 

Federico Maguolo.

What is ns-3 ?

--------------

ns-3 is a new discrete-event network simulator designed for supporting network

research and education. ns-3 features a solid, well documented C++ core and 

models for TCP/IP (IPv4), several link types including WiFi, and mobility 

models.