ClassBench is a legacy program that generates filter sets and traces matching these filter sets. It was created almost two decades ago and no longer maintained. In spite of this, many researchers in academia still use it for experiments related to routers/switches. If you download the source code and try to run it, you will be met with errors (compilation ones and others). This is probably because it was developed some 20 years ago. I was in the same situation and asked around for help. Finally, a friend who is a Linux expert offered a solution. His suggestion was to set up an environment as if we were in the early 2000’s. We tested this approach separately and it has worked well.

In short, one should set up a legacy Linux distribution in a virtual machine and compile the source code to run the program there. It seemed simple but turned out to be quite difficult. The main challenge was that we needed a way to transfer the source files onto the legacy Linux distribution whose web browser is too old to download the source files directly from a website. Eventually, we used SCP to bypass this issue.

Here are a list of steps you can follow:

<1>Download an old Ubuntu server from Ubuntu_old_release.

<2>Create a VM in VirtualBox with the downloaded .iso file

<3>In order to transfer files from your host OS to the guest OS (legacy Linux), we need to set up SSH server on Linux.

    sudo apt-get install openssh-server
    #You will be asked to insert a CD-rom. Click the CD-ROM icon and choose the iso file you used for installing       #the Linux server.

<4>Configure the Virtual Box with port forwarding. In Virtual Box, choose Settings»Network»Advanced»port forwarding; add a new rule “ssh” for ssh:

    host IP: 0.0.0.0
    host port: 2233
    guest IP: blank
    guest port:22
    #NAT is used for Adapter 1: attached to NAT

<5>SCP files from host (e.g., a windows laptop) to the guest Linux, assuming you’ve downloaded db_generator.tar.gz and parameter_files.tar.gz from ClassBench.

    scp -P 2233 db_generator.tar.gz user_name@127.0.0.1:/home/user_name
    #Replace user_name as your user name for the Linux
    #scp all other files similarly;

<6>On (guest Linux) unzip all the files received

    tar -zxvf db_generator.tar.gz
    tar -zxvf parameter_files.tar.gz

<7>Install make and other packages on guest OS

    sudo apt-get install make
    sudo apt-get install g++
    sudo apt-get install build-essential

<8>Modify makefile under db_generator (a folder)

    CFLAGS = -g -pg
    ##CFLAGS = -O2

<9>Use “make all” to compile db_generator

    make all

<10>Use db_generator to generate a file test1000acl

    db_generator -bc ../parameter_files/acl1_seed 10000 2 -0.5 0.1 test1000acl

<11>On host OS copy test1000acl from the Linux

    scp -P 2233 user_name@127.0.0.1:/home/user_name/db_generator/test1000acl .