  Network slicing plays a crucial role in the progression of 5G and beyond,
facilitating dedicated logical networks to meet diverse and specific service
requirements. The principle of End-to-End (E2E) slice includes not only a
service chain of physical or virtual functions for the radio and core of 5G/6G
networks but also the full path to the application servers that might be
running at some edge computing or at central cloud. Nonetheless, the
development and optimization of E2E network slice management systems
necessitate a reliable simulation tool for evaluating different aspects at
large-scale network topologies such as resource allocation and function
placement models. This paper introduces Slicenet, a mininetlike simulator
crafted for E2E network slicing experimentation at the flow level. Slicenet
aims at facilitating the investigation of a wide range of slice optimization
techniques, delivering measurable, reproducible results without the need for
physical resources or complex integration tools. It provides a well-defined
process for conducting experiments, which includes the creation and
implementation of policies for various components such as edge and central
cloud resources, network functions of multiple slices of different
characteristics. Furthermore, Slicenet effortlessly produces meaningful
visualizations from simulation results, aiding in comprehensive understanding.
Utilizing Slicenet, service providers can derive invaluable insights into
resource optimization, capacity planning, Quality of Service (QoS) assessment,
cost optimization, performance comparison, risk mitigation, and Service Level
Agreement (SLA) compliance, thereby fortifying network resource management and
slice orchestration.
