  The recent developments and research in distributed ledger technologies and
blockchain have contributed to the increasing adoption of distributed systems.
To collect relevant insights into systems' behavior, we observe many evaluation
frameworks focusing mainly on the system under test throughput. However, these
frameworks often need more comprehensiveness and generality, particularly in
adopting a distributed applications' cross-layer approach. This work analyses
in detail the requirements for distributed systems assessment. We summarize
these findings into a structured methodology and experimentation framework
called METHODA. Our approach emphasizes setting up and assessing a broader
spectrum of distributed systems and addresses a notable research gap. We
showcase the effectiveness of the framework by evaluating four distinct systems
and their interaction, leveraging a diverse set of eight carefully selected
metrics and 12 essential parameters. Through experimentation and analysis we
demonstrate the framework's capabilities to provide valuable insights across
various use cases. For instance, we identify that a combination of Trusted
Execution Environments with threshold signature scheme FROST introduces minimal
overhead on the performance with average latency around \SI{40}{\ms}. We
showcase an emulation of realistic systems behavior, e.g., Maximal Extractable
Value is possible and could be used to further model such dynamics. The METHODA
framework enables a deeper understanding of distributed systems and is a
powerful tool for researchers and practitioners navigating the complex
landscape of modern computing infrastructures.
