Network simulation: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:37, 7 November 2023

Revision as of 04:37, 7 November 2023

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{{Short description|Simulating computer networks}}

{{Short descriptio

{{Use American English|date = March 2019}}

{{More citations needed|date=September 2023}}

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==Simulations==

Most of the commercial [[Simulation|simulators]] are [[GUI]] driven, while some network simulators are [[Command-line interface|CLI]] driven. The network model/configuration describes the network (nodes, routers, switches, links) and the events (data transmissions, packet error, etc.). Output results would include network-level metrics, link metrimetrics, device metrics etc. Further, drill down in terms of simulations [[tracing (software)|trace]] files would also be available. Trace files log every packet, every event that occurred in the simulation and is used for analysis. Most network simulators use [[discrete event simulation]], in which a list of pending "events" is stored, and those events are processed in order, with some events triggering future events—such as the event of the arrival of a packet at one node triggering the event of the arrival of that packet at a [[Downstream (networking)|downstream]] node.<section end=transclusionLabelG20170307T1400GMT1 />

==Network emulation==

[[Network emulation]] allows users to introduce real devices and applications into a test network (simulated) that alters packet flow in such a way as to mimic the behavior of a live network. Live traffic can pass through the simulator and be affected by objects within the simulation.

The typical methodology is that real packets from a live application are sent to the emulation server (where tthe virtual network is simulated). The real packet gets 'modulated' into a simulation packet. The simulation packet gets demodulated into a real packet after experiencing effects of loss, errors, delay, [[jitter]] etc., thereby transferring these network effects into the real packet. Thus it is as-if the real packet flowed through a real network but in reality it flowed through the simulated network.

Emulation is widely used in the design stage for validating communication networks prior to deployment.

==List of network simulators==

==L

There are both free/open-source and proprietary network simulators available. Examples of notable network simulators / emulators include:

<!-- Only add simulators that have a wp article, and are mentioned in many research papers. Search at http://scholar.google.com. Do not add external links here. -->

* [[ns (simulator)|ns simulator]]

* OPNET (Riverbed)

* NetSim (Tetcos)

* [[GloMoSim]]

All of these are open source code editable while some of these are commercial.

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* [[Machine Learning]]: Testing ML algorithms for optimizing network parameters, generating synthetic data training ML algorithms on networks

* Education: Online courses, Lab experimentation, and R & D. Most universities use a network simulator for teaching / R & D since it is too expensive to buy hardware equipment

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

* Model the [[network topology]] specifying the nodes on the network and the links between those nodes

* Model the application flow (traffic) between the nodes

* Providing network performance metrics as output

* Visualization of the packet flow

* Technology/protocol evaluation and device designs

* Logging of packet/events for drill-down analyses/debugging

==See also==

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[[Category:Computer networking]]

[[Category:Telecommunications engineering]]

[[Categ

[[Category:Computer network analysis]]

[[Category:Simulation]]

[[Category:Military radio systems]]