Who can request an account?

Any researcher, ​anywhere in the world can apply to use DETER. DETER accounts are grouped by projects, so typically the first step to getting started with DETER is to request a project.

DETER can also be used as a teaching tool and has been used by classes at universities such as UCLA, Colorado State, and USC. For more information on using DETER for education, please refer to the ​DETER Teacher's Guide.

Requesting a Project

To request a project account on DETERlab, a researcher uses the DETERlab web interface to submit a project description. If you are a student (graduate or undergraduate), please have your advisor request a project and join his/her project.

You will be asked a number of questions about your project and how you intend to use DETER so that the DETER executive committee can verify that your experiment will . Please be as detailed as possible when describing your project with particular attention to possible risks it may pose. Your application will be read by real people.

When you submit your project application, it will be reviewed by the DETER executive committee, discussed, and voted on. This usually only takes a few days and you may be contacted for additional information during this time.

Get started now and ​request a new project on DETER!

Getting an Account

If you submitted a request for a project, you have also created an account on DETER. If you are looking to join an existing project, you can simply use the ​Apply for Project Membership form. Your project leader will be informed via email of your join request and will have to log in to approve your account.

The Basics

Once your project has been approved, you can create experiments.

To start an experiment, you'll need to provide an NS file that describes its topology. We've provided a number of sample topologies? that should be enough to get you started.

After your experiment has been created you can swap it in, swap it out, and terminate it. Swapping in allocates nodes and connects them according to the topology file. Swapping an experiment out releases the nodes and LANs that have been allocated to it. Terminating it removes all trace of the experiment from the testbed.

Once your experiment is swapped in, you can access your nodes through SSH?.

See the DeterResources for a more detailed list of our software and further documentation.

Getting Help

If you run into trouble, please contact us and we'll be happy to assist.