Network simulator

A network simulator is a piece of software or hardware that predicts the behavior of a network, without an actual network being present.

Uses of network simulators

Network simulators serve a variety of needs. Compared to the cost and time involved in setting up an entire test bed containing multiple networked computers, routers and data links, network simulators are relatively fast and inexpensive. They allow engineers, researchers to test scenarios that might be particularly difficult or expensive to emulate using real hardware - for instance, simulating a scenario with several nodes or experimenting with a new protocol in the network. Network simulators are particularly useful in allowing researchers to test new networking protocols or changes to existing protocols in a controlled and reproducible environment.

Network simulators, as the name suggests are used by researchers, developers and engineers to design various kinds of networks, simulate and then analyze the effect of various parameters on the network performance. A typical network simulator encompasses a wide range of networking technologies and can help the users to build complex networks from basic building blocks such as a variety of nodes and links. With the help of simulators, one can design hierarchical networks using various types of nodes like computers, hubs, bridges, routers, switches, links, mobile units etc.

Various types of Wide Area Network (WAN) technologies like TCP, ATM, IP etc and Local Area Network (LAN) technologies like Ethernet, token rings etc., can all be simulated with a typical simulator and the user can test, analyze various standard results apart from devising some novel protocol or strategy for routing etc.

There are a wide variety of network simulators, ranging from the very simple to the very complex. Minimally, a network simulator must enable a user to represent a network topology, specifying the nodes on the network, the links between those nodes and the traffic between the nodes. More complicated systems may allow the user to specify everything about the protocols used to handle network traffic. Graphical applications allow users to easily visualize the workings of their simulated environment. Text-based applications may provide a less intuitive interface, but may permit more advanced forms of customization. Others, such as GTNets, are programming-oriented, providing a programming framework that the user then customizes to create an application that simulates the networking environment to be tested.

Examples of network simulators

Examples of notable network simulation software are:

NOTE: Ordered after how often they are mentioned in research papers.

1. ns2/ns3
2. OPNET
3. NetSim

See also

• Monte carlo simulation
• Network simulation
• Simulation language
• Simulation software
• Traffic generation model

References

• List of Network Simulation Tools

This computer networking article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Computer network analysis Simulation software Computer network stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную? João Azevedo The House of Sleeping Beauties Look at other dictionaries: Network simulator — ou plus communément NS est un logiciel libre de simulation par événements discrets très largement utilisé dans la recherche académique et dans l industrie. Il est considéré par beaucoup de spécialistes des télécommunications comme le meilleur… …   Wikipédia en Français Network Simulator — ns 3 Développeur (en) …   Wikipédia en Français Stuttgart Neural Network Simulator — (Abkürzung: SNNS) ist ein Softwarepaket für künstliche neuronale Netze das zunächst an der Universität Stuttgart entwickelt wurde und zur Zeit (2009) an der Universität Tübingen gepflegt wird. Das Projekt wurde 1991 mit dem Deutschen… …   Deutsch Wikipedia Network emulation — is a technique where the properties of an existing, planned and/or non ideal network are simulated in order to assess performance, predict the impact of change, or otherwise optimize technology decision making. Contents 1 Methods of emulation 2… …   Wikipedia Network traffic simulation — is a process used in telecommunications engineering to measure the efficiency of a communications network. Contents 1 Overview 2 Simulation methods 3 Advantages of simulation 4 …   Wikipedia Network simulation — In communication and computer network research, network simulation is a technique where a program models the behavior of a network either by calculating the interaction between the different network entities (hosts/routers, data links, packets,… …   Wikipedia Network congestion avoidance — is a process used in computer networks to avoid congestion.The fundamental problem is that all network resources are limited, including router processing time and link throughput. Eg.: *today s (2006) Wireless LAN effective bandwidth throughput… …   Wikipedia Network congestion — In data networking and queueing theory, network congestion occurs when a link or node is carrying so much data that its quality of service deteriorates. Typical effects include queueing delay, packet loss or the blocking of new connections. A… …   Wikipedia Ns (simulator) — ns or the network simulator (also popularly called ns 2, in reference to its current generation) is a discrete event network simulator. It is popular in academia for its extensibility (due to its open source model) and plentiful online… …   Wikipedia ns (simulator) — ns 2 redirects here. For the fictional robot from the works of Isaac Asimov, see NS 2 (literary character). For other uses of NS , see NS (disambiguation). ns 3 Initial release June 30, 2008 (2008 06 30) …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”