Lotos BINARIES Readme

June  2007

1. Overview

This is the Readme file for the ZIP archive of the binaries for the Lotos (Logical Topology Simulator)  simulation package.   The Lotos simulator has an interactive GUI for simulating the overlay  protocols of HyperCast. Lotos runs the HyperCast overlay protocols from the implementation in hypercast.jar.

See the Chapter "Logical Topology Simulator (Lotos)" available from www.hypercast.org for additional information. 
Lotos requires  Java version 1.4.x or higher (but may also be compilable with earlier versions of Java).

Lotos requires that the JAR file hypercast.jar and pastry.jar files (in addition to other class libraries).  These class files are obtained 

2. Extract the ZIP archive

The ZIP archive for the binaries are usually  distributed in a file  with  the name 

      lotos-BINARIES-xxx-yyyymmdd.zip

where xxx is a tag that identifies who created  the archive and yyyymmdd is the date when the archive was created.  Copy the file to a directory where you want to run Lotos, and extract ('unzip') the archive with a utility such as WinZip (on Windows) or the unzip command (on Unix or Cygwin). 

NOTE: This package requires that  hypercast.jar is located in the the /lib directory. Should hypercast.jar not be included in the ZIP archive,  it can be copied form the /lib directory of a hypercast BINARIES directory.

3. Versions

Java Version: The binaries are compiled to Java version 1.4, and run on a JRE with version 1.4 or higher. (The source files of Lotos can be compiled with Java version 1.2 or higher)

Lotos Version. The Version program   works similarly as in the hypercast module. Assuming that the classpath is set correctly, the Lotos version is displayed with: 
    >java lotos.Version

HyperCast Version. The version of the HyperCast  module, which is used by Lotos, is displayed with: 
    >java hypercast.util.Version

4. Files in Lotos BINARIES  ZIP file

The contents of the archive is this file, XML configuration files, JAR files,  and command scripts.

Readme files:

lotos-BINARIES-Readme.html   - this file

Libraries:

lib/lotos.jar            - Lotos simulation software
lib/hypercast.jar    - HyperCast software
    Note: Currently, Lotos requires that the hypercast.jar includes the Pastry extensions of HyperCast. 
lib/bcprov-jdk14-122.jar Java implementation of cryptographic algorithms (www.bouncycastle.org)
lib/xalan.jar            - XSLT processor for processing XML documents

NOTE:  Currently, Lotos requires that the hypercast.jar includes the Pastry extensions of HyperCast.  If hypercast.jar or hypercast-pastry.jar are not in the ZIP archive, you need to copy them from the HyperCast ZIP archive or the HyperCast-Pastry archive, respectively.

XML files:

SimHypercast.xml       - Configuration file for Lotos..
DemoMenuConfig.xml     - Configuration file for Lotos (configures the Demo button).
demo1.xml, demo2.xml, demo3.xml -Configures the  topology  associated with a Examples button).
lib/lotos.html            - HTML file that starts the Lotos Applet.

NOTE: Lotos assumes that these files are in the directory where Lotos is started. If  the files are not found, Lotos accesses the files from the lotos.jar archive.

Certificate:

testcert.cer  - A self-signed digital certificate for security settings
.keystore     - Java Keystore file that contains private key for public key in testcert.cer

Note: These files are used for the security protocols of HyperCast.They contain a self-signed certificate and a private key for the certificate.  If these files are replaced, the file SimHyperCast.xml must be updated accordingly.

Scripts:

bin/lotos.sh, bin/lotos.bat - starts the Lotos application
bin/version.sh,  version/gui.bat  - displays the version of HyperCast

5. Configuration files

There is no need to edit the configuration files to run the Lotos application.

6. Starting a Simulation

6.1. Running Lotos as Java application

Windows Explorer: 
Click on the file lotos.bat in /bin.


To display the version of Lotos run  lotos.Version

6.2 Running Lotos as Java Applet

Note: Some features of Lotos and HyperCast (e.g., security protocols) are not available through the Applet.

6.3.  Starting Lotos with scripts

There is a set of Unix Shell scripts (*.sh) and DOS scripts (*.bat) that can  help with starting the above applications. 

Unix/CYGWIN: 
Starting the simulator:  >bin/lotos.sh
Displaying the version of Lotos:  >bin/version.sh

Windows Explorer: 
From the Windows Explorer click on the files lotos.bat  or version.bat in the /bin directory.