Three commonly used Simulators: Web, IOS & Network Simulators

A number of simulation systems are being developed, every day. Needless to mention their applications and uses! For example, flight simulators are used for training pilots to be able to respond quickly in critical flight situations. They are equipped with features that are aimed for pilots to think that they are actually driving a real plane; or the prevailing flight situation is actually a real one. Similarly, military simulation systems make the troops believe that they are interfacing with real opponents in a real battle.

Today, a number of simulators have come up related to testing and verifying the networking applications and day-to-day functions. We are highlighting only three of the most important simulators here.

Web Simulator

One of the main simulators that is used today is the Web simulator. This is used to simulate a real web server. It is mainly used for the developers of web based applications. Actually, most of the projects that are based on this simulator are aimed at coming up with testing the scalability of the web based applications that is capable of managing thousands of web services. The main essence of having the simulator is to make sure that all the necessary requirements of the web application have been met. There are numerous features that come with this simulator. Most of the features are aimed at starting, stopping and changing various fields for web app developers to easily come up with high performance applications with no errors. There are tools for debugging web based systems and to check their performance before they can be in operation.

IOS Simulator

Another important simulator that is commonly used today is the Cisco IOS Simulator. This is one of the most popular simulators that are available today. It comes with a number of features that have been incorporated for purposes of replicating a real IOS. The IOS is the operating system for Cisco. IOS simulator works on Cisco devices which include the 3640, 7206, 6260, 6500 and works seamlessly with, Cisco Prime Infrastructure, GSR manager, Cisco works 2000 and other network management applications. The simulator can replicate thousands of Cisco devices and then Telnet/SSH in to those devices. Then send “Show” commands to get the configuration and “Configure” commands to set the configurations, just like real Cisco devices.

Network Simulator

Another simulator that is also used on a wide scale is the Network Simulator. It boasts of many features that make it suitable for simulating a real network. The network simulator is actually software that is mainly used for predicting the behaviour and performance of any network applications. Under normal circumstances, it is difficult to analyse computer networks due to their complex nature. Therefore, network simulators are used to study their behaviour. It can simulate thousands of networking devices to try various scenarios to make sure applications manage those correctly.

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SNMP explained in great detail

The word SNMP are often talked about by people who have studied networking and other related computer network studies. But, they are not often explained in detail to lay people who may not easily understand what is being talked about. However, a concise explanation of what the word really refer to is given in this passage. The information is accurate enough to provide an understanding of the word and what it represent. One good thing about the information that has been presented in the passage is the fact that it can easily be understood by anyone who has a unique interested in computer networks. This also applies to any individual who is studying an academic program that is related to computer networks.

First of all what is SNMP? In simple terms, this is simple network management protocol. It is a means of network management that is based on a network protocol. The management protocol is mainly used to manage networks based on IP or TCP. A number of devices support SNMP. Major examples include routers, switches, modems, internet servers and printers. In general, this network management protocol can be thought of as a means of communication between several devices and a management application.

A number of devices are often controlled by management applications using SNMP. Actually, the SNMP enables devices to operate as a collective unit exchanging information with the management application. The manner in which this protocol operates is that it takes advantage of the manager-agent model. In this kind of model, there are agents as well as the network managers. The network agents can be as small as an office network or as large as a globally based telecommunication network. On the other hand, they can also be any simple device such as a network server, desktop or any device that is compatible. The simple communication that takes place between the manager and the external device or agent is based on an exchange of information. Information from the manager or tap receiver is sent to agents, which send back a response.

The messages that are sent by the SNMP protocol are referred to as TRAPS, GETS or SETS. There are also other two types which exist. These include GET-RESPONSE and GET-NEXT. This is the list of messages that the manager sends request to the devices for purposes of getting information from them. Only the SNMP Traps are commonly used for agents to send information to the managers without any request. The main essence of sending these messages is to send an alert to the manager as soon as the need arises. They are quite unique because they are the only ones which can be generated by an agent. These messages can also be used to send information on issues that have gone wrong. The agent can only be ‘aware’ of any issues that may have gone wrong if the information is sent to it in the form of traps.

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Three important features of SNMP simulation

An SNMP or simple network management protocol is a tool that is used for accurately managing devices which work with IP networks. It is a standard internet protocol that is specifically designed for this purpose. There are numerous devices that operate with or support SNMP. Some of the major examples of devices that support SNMP include servers, switches, routers, modems, printers as well as work stations. SNMP is mainly used by network managers to monitor the operations of devices that have been connected to a specific network. The network managers usually monitor the conditions that may require the attention of administration.

There are two platforms that use SNMP. The first one is the real device which implements the SNMP agent that is used in real situations. On the other hand, there is also a virtual platform which simulates the manner in which the real SNMP platform operates. Sometimes you may not need a real SNMP platform before you know how best to improve its operation and capabilities. This is the main reason why SNMP simulation is widely used. It is mainly important for studying the actual behaviour of a real SNMP device. The real SNMP normally depicts data in the form of variables so that the system configuration can be deduced for purposes of management. Depending on the system configuration displayed by the values, the management applications on which the SNMP depends can query or set the variables.

In general, SNMP simulator has several features which have an important role to play to ensure the successful management of the SNMP. However, three of the most important features are predominant.

The first and most important feature is a properly designed simulated SNMP agents. This is an SNMP agent that is designed with all the features that are possessed by the real SNMP device. It is specifically designed to provide a management application accurate understanding of a real SNMP agent’s behaviour. The simulator comes with features such as an operation user interface and various tools for altering its behaviour. Simulators are commonly used for replicating the behaviour of standard network management protocol. Therefore, they are also computer systems with features that cause network management software systems to ‘believe’ that they are actually interfacing with a real SNMP based network.

The other important feature is interfacing with the network management software. Actually, this is the entire centre of any SNMP simulator. It is specifically designed for the training of this software as well as testing the various components of the software in order to ascertain its level of ‘intelligence’ and advancement.

Another important feature is the duplication of real devices. In order to accurately predict the behaviour and performance of any SNMP based device, it is always important to simulate the behaviour of those devices such as routers, switches, servers, printers and modems. The simulator should be able to duplicate those accurately by recording them or able to change them to create various scenarios.

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MIMIC IOS Simulator- The Most Productive and Effective Tool For IT

MIMIC simulator is a product suite consisting of network simulation software for network engineers. The simulator has several components which are related to simulation of managed networks and data centers.The MIMIC IOS simulator is meant to solve a classical simulation problem.

 

With it is ability to fully support Cisco IOS software and SNMPV1, V2, V2c, V3, the MIMIC IOS simulator is the most integrated tool in the market. You can simulate up to 100,000 devices in a single workstation and an unlimited number of devices can be simulated by distributing it over multiple workstations. With the simulator, you can access devices using telnet, SSH and SNMP. When changes are made using one protocol, they are reflected in other.

MIMIC IOS simulator includes with many ready to go simulations for Cisco devices which include the 3640, 7206, 6260, 6500 and works seamlessly with Cisco Prime Infrastructure, GSR manager, Cisco works 2000 and other network management applications. If you want to test your networking applications, you can use hundreds of simulated Cisco IOS commands. Also with the MIMIC CLI/IOS recorder you are can record any command and simulate it.

The IOS simulator simulates the following components to approximate a Cisco device. First it can simulate the telnet using a standard server thus allowing users to log into simulations in order to control the behavior and configuration of the simulations. A device which is telnet-enabled can be simulated using MIMIC. If you want a secure access, SSH version 1.5 and 2.0 are supported by the simulator. There is also support for remote logging, where SYSLOG messages are sent to a SYSLOG server.

MIMIC Simulator can simulate the entire network. The configurations are run-time customizable. MIMIC responds to queries on an of its configured IP addresses so it is as if the NMS application is talking to an actual device. The simulator also includes MIMIC Recorder where the behavior of the device on a network is simulated by capturing a snapshot of the device in operation. From here the simulation can then easily replay the entire network.

The simulator also includes MIMIC Compiler. With this, you can import any SMI compliant MIB and then extend it to the set of defined devise to support proprietary equipment. The working principle of the SNMP simulation is that the SNMP protocol is an interface that can be simulated upon request.

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How to test if SNMP devices are responding correctly

Debugging and troubleshooting SNMP can be challenging and awkward. Here you get a guide on how SNMP Test is done. You will master the tools which are required for the simulation process. Get a better understanding of how SNMP works and most important ensure that a device replies to your problems correctly. To ensure that all the concepts are grasped and solution reached, one has to understand the difference between a trap and informs.

A Trap which is applicable to SNMP is an unknowledgeable communication of some condition unlike to an Inform which is applicable to SNMP in an acknowledgeable trap. When both traps and informs are generically interlinked, a response is received.

There are several applications which exist for executing query. Some have a graphic user interface while others have command line tools. Command line tools are recommended if you are using Microsoft windows. Otherwise you can consider downloading a ready package and install a version matching your type of operating system. After downloading and installing the SNMP Tool, you open a command prompt and then navigate to the folder where the SNMP tool is located.

How to create a SNMP Query using SNMP walk.

Creating a SNMP query is easy and straight forward. First to get a community string, which is a default tool in most SNMP enabled devices. Sometimes you may change the administration system tools which are used to configure the device.

The SNMP Version protocol version which is used in the modern devices include the “2C” and “1”versions. From the SNMP version, there is IP address of the device then finally the SNMP OID value that you may wish to read.

With SNMP tools, managers and agents can easily communicate with one another because they say the same understanding of data which is being exchanged and use the same mechanism to exchange data in the SNMP Protocol. To ensure that there is interoperability, an agent must go through test to check if its data matches the SNMP Protocol.

You can get renowned SNMP Test tools that automatically exercises SNMP V1, v2C, and V3 agents’ tests. Most SNMP agents implement one or more standard and can be privately tested. The performance of the tests measure depends on the ability to handle a stream of request, one after another and its ability to handle a set of requests all at once.

There are benefits when using SNMP Test tool. You can reduce development, testing and support cost by detection of errors before deployment and there is an increased customer satisfaction with these tools.

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How to simulate a network using SNMP Simulator?

A SNMP Simulator is a type of computer simulation which is used to simulate a network management protocol interface. This simulator works as an interface to a Network Management or Monitoring application software. It is totally different from the network simulation process which usually models the behavior of a network. The SNMP simulator acts as interlink for different networks. It works the same way as the flight simulator which allows a pilot to believe he is flying the plane.

The SNMP simulator in the same way it fools network application software to believe it that it talking to real devices using the SNMP protocol. This simulator is used in development, testing and training of Network Management system.

For those who are working as Information Technology personnel and you are looking after a system to virtually build network simulation devices without involving hardware, then SNMP Simulator is the best options. It allows you to solve problem of virtual simulation. These tools are capable simulating several SNMP agents on a single host using a multi-netting network system. You can also use the system to retrieve existing tools and modify runtime by using user defined rules to get individual simulated agent responses.

To simulate network devices using SNMP Simulator takes the following steps.

Firstly, when you are ready to simulate a network using SNMP simulator, you have to check the system requirements and tools. In most cases SNMP simulator require a 32 and 64 bit operating system. It can be a flavor of Lunix like RedHat Enterprise, Debian and SuSE using i386 and x64 architectures or a Windows OS. Whenever you are installing the simulator, you must do a mandatory check of RAM, Disk space, and TCP/IP Network connection. The simulator requires RAM depending on the number of SNMP simulator agents you want to simulate. A disk space of at least 300MB is also a minimum requirement.

To install the system, the process is simple and easy to follow. Having acquired a licensed software download, you unzip the file and run it. You are simply required to copy the content to installation directory and then follow the installation process.

SNMP simulators have several applications in the real world. One of the real applications of the SNMP Simulator is in laboratories which have both network management application and devices. For more information about these simulators you can always contact experts.

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Stimulating Network Devices Using SNMP Simulator

A Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Simulator is a type of a networking device simulation used to create a large virtual network. The SNMP simulator acts as an interface of a system for a Network Management Application software. It is different from network emulators which models the behavior of a network.

 

The SNMP simulator works as interlink. Take an example of a flight simulator which allows a pilot to believe he is flying a plane; the SNMP Simulator works the same way. It fools network applications into believing it is talking through the SNMP protocol to real devices. These types of simulators have several uses which include development, testing, support and training of network management system.

If you are an IT personnel, and you are looking to build a duplicate of your production network without buying additional hardware, SNMP Simulator is your solution. For those who are evaluating network management applications, SNMP simulation will help. There are tools that are capable of simulating multiple SNMP agents on a single host using multi-netting. Simulator make it easy to record the existing network and duplicate it. That simulated network then can be modified or multiplied as needed.

 

When you are looking to simulate a network using an SNMP Simulator, the first step is to check the system requirements. SNMP Agent Simulator requires a 32 and 64 bit Windows or Linux distributions like Fedora, SuSE, RedHat and Debian etc. using i386 and x64 architectures. More CPUS, memory and disk space you have better the performance you will get. Then follow the simple installation steps and you are ready to get started. Typically the simulator include many ready simulated devices so you can already put it to use

Once you have a simulator up and running, you can use it for evaluation, testing, training and support of a network management applications.

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How to analyze Internet Traffic using NetFlow

Net Flow is a technology that was introduced for Cisco routers to provide a way to collect IP network traffic while entering or exiting an interface. A network administrator can determine several things such as the source and destination of traffic, causes of congestion, and the class of service by analyzing the data provided by NetFlow. A typical NetFlow monitoring setup has three components which include flow exporters, flow collectors, and analysis application.

The flow exporter aggregates packets into NetFlows and exports flow records to one or more flow collectors. NetFlow collectors recive, store and pre-process flow data received from a flow exporter. Analysis of the received flow data is done by analysis console application in the context of intrusion detection or traffic profiling.

There can be an another component, NetFlow Simulator, which can generate various type of flow that a typical router can send out. It make it easier to create different conditions such as intrusion or de-duplication. The generated flows can be sent to the collector and analysis applications to make sure they can detect the issues and handle the large scale.

What are Network flows?

Network flows are defined in many different ways. There are versions of definitions, but Cisco Standard NetFlow version five defines a network flow as a unidirectional sequence of packets that shares source IP address, destination IP address, Ingress interface (SNMP index), IP protocol, IP type of service, and destination of port for UDP or TCP, and a source Port for UDP. This also applies for MPLS and enternet flows. There are other versions of NetFlow also, version 9 and 10 (IPFIX).

Why have NetFlow analyzers?

NetFlow analyzers leverage flow technologies and provide a complete traffic analytics tool. Thus giving real-time visibility into the network bandwidth performance. Thousands of networks across the globe have been optimized by Network analyzers which are primarily bandwidth monitoring tool thus giving networks and traffic patterns a holistic view. A NetFlow Analyzer is a unified solution that collects, analyzes and reports the bandwidth usage and who is using it. Having a NetFlow analyzer in a web simulator all interfaces worldwide will be optimized.

NetFlow analyzers always undergo development. Some of the new features include monitoring wireless networks along with the wired devices and all view details regarding access points and their associated clients. Also, it provides an in-depth reporting on application traffic, QoS and bandwidth consumption. This improves the quality of wireless communications with effective bandwidth management, faster troubleshooting and ensure the bandwidth business critical application is enhanced.

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Simulating a Bad Network Connection using an IOS simulator

Network simulation is a technique where a program models the behavior of network elements by getting the interaction between different network hosts using mathematical formulas. It can also be capturing and playing back observations from a production network. After simulation of the network is done, the network applications and services can interest with simulated devices in a test lab. Here various attributed of the environment are modified in a controlled manner to assess how the network would behave under various pathological conditions.

Network simulators
 

The behavior of a computer network is predicted by a network simulator. They are used where communication networks are complex and makes it expensive from time and budget point of view. A network simulator models devices, interfaces and links. Its performance can be easily analyzed.

What is an IOS Simulator?
 

An IOS simulator is an application used to test management application against network full of Cisco devices. It typically fully supports Cisco IOS® software and SNMPv1, v2, v2c, v3. You can simulate a large network with up to 100,000 devices in a single workstation, and an unlimited number of devices by distributing the simulator over multiple workstations. You can access devices using Telnet, SSH and SNMP. Changes made using one protocol is reflected in other.

You can test applications using hundreds of simulated Cisco IOS commands. Along with that simulator’s CLI/IOS Recorder allows you to record any command and simulate it. That way, you can simulate virtually any command and any device.

You can use the simulator for testing of management application or training for a certification.

You can also use it for your capacity planning and preaparing for disastrous network conditions.

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Three Reasons Why You Should Master Cisco IOS Commands for Your CCNA

Mastering IOS commands are a very crucial part of your CCNA training. By the time you go for your CCNA certification exam, you must be familiar with all the essential commands. You should know how to perform different troubleshooting and configuration using the command line. If you cannot remember the IOS commands, it can be a huge obstacle for your CCNA test and beyond. In this article, we will discuss about three reasons why you require mastering IOS commands:

Simulation questions in CCNA test – Cisco has initiated simulation questions in the CCNA exam. They examine the ability of the CCNA candidate to accomplish the troubleshooting and configuration works at the command line. This normally engages the configuration of a straightforward network or resolving something which’s out of the order within the network. Because of the complication of the simulation questions when evaluated with other types of questions, it’s usually understood that these questions carry a higher value while calculating the final mark. However, this hasn’t been authenticated by Cisco. Due to this, you must be very familiar with IOS commands so you can handle and resolve these kinds of simulation queries effortlessly and have a good chance of qualifying the CCNA exam.

Business needs – a lot of employers are seeking a network administrator with good problem detection and solving abilities. Cisco has the biggest market share regarding network tool in the enterprise division, and their market domination looks set to carry on. Largely because of this reason, most of the network troubleshooting nowadays in the business settings revolve around being able to type-in the appropriate “show” IOS commands and seek possible problems. If it’s a configuration problem, you are required to understand the appropriate configuration IOS commands also.

Other Cisco credentials - For certified rank Cisco credentials, for example the CCNP, you require to be familiar with IOS commands at a base level. If you already have great base when doing your CCNA, learning regarding how to configure Cisco network tool at a higher level becomes simpler.

MIMIC IOS Simulator ships with many ready-to-go simulations for Cisco devices such as the 3640, 7206, 6260, 6500, GSR 12000. Moreover, MIMIC IOS Simulator supports many IOS commands and numerous Cisco applications: CEMF, Cisco Prime, CiscoWorks, CiscoWorks 2000, CiscoView and other network management applications. Users can simulate up to 100,000 devices in a single workstation by using MIMIC IOS simulator.

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SNMP Fundamentals & Concepts

The Simple Network Management Protocol or SNMP is a familiar site in most networks. It not only offers ways for event notification but also for getting device statistics, set configuration limitations, and several other operations. In this post, we will take a look at some of the fundamentals of SNMP.

SNMP concepts:

SNMP is a protocol that works at the application level; it defines a procedure of communication between different networking devices and a central administrator for monitoring and management of these devices and networks.

Components of SNMP:

There’re three components related with SNMP:

• SNMP manager – it is a central system that checks traffic received and sent by the different device SNMP agents. It also manages all devices in the network through these agents. It not only offers ways for event notification but also for getting device statistics, set configuration limitations, and several other operations.

• SNMP agent – it is a software unit that exists inside a network device; this component is employed to maintain real time information regarding the elements operations. Also, the agent is employed to communicate this information back to the SNMP manager and perform control action set by the SNMP manager.

• MIB (Management Information Base) – the Management Information Base is a practical information storage area where network management information is kept. Inside the MIB there’re several diverse collections of objects that are linked together. Each of these collections holds several variables that can be changed by the SNMP manager or SNMP agent.

SNMP Operations:

Once these components have been configured in a network, they’re capable of performing many operations. The accessible operations rely on what version of SNMP is used over the network.

The following operations are available for all versions of SNMP :

• GET – this operation is performed by the SNMP manager to recover one or more object instances from the SNMP agent.

• GetNext – this operation is for the SNMP manager to get the next object instance from the SNMP agent.

• SET – this operation is for the SNMP manager to set the value of an object instance of the SNMP agent.

Summary:

The use of SNMP has been a long time staple inside the network of several organizations. These days SNMP agent simulators are being used widely by several organizations to deal with a complicated network system effectively.

MIMIC sFlow Simulator, the industry's first integrated simulation tool that supports sFlow, NetFlow and SNMP, allows developers to create a real world, integrated device simulations.

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How SNMP Messaging Enhances Network Monitoring ?

SNMP messaging is one of the best tools that help network administrators really well. The idea behind SNMP is, devices on the network – for example a local router or a switchare able to send their conditions and alert to a central management application, specifically about potential issues. Their local condition is monitored through an agent that communicates the information through SNMP messaging.

So, for example, one straightforward responsibility of an SNMP agent in a network is reporting. In this instance, an agent can be setup to report to the main management application at specific intervals, allowing the the manager to know that the device is still connected to the network and is running. However, if there is an issue and the agent falls short to report in at the anticipated time, the server instantly knows there’s a status issue with the tool that should be addressed. Communication in the form of a phone call or a text message can be sent to the network manager so the problem can be resolved. SNMP can enable a range of conditions to be checked, accounted and acted upon.

While SNMP messaging is an excellent means to monitor, report issues and eventually take counteractive actions, it also has its pitfalls. More exactly, SNMP does not have the abilities to perform anything more or less than what the manager asks.

Therefore, if a network administrator asks an SNMP agent to send a status report every minute, that is exactly what it’ll perform. If the action that is tied to a breakdown of a device is to send a mail to the manager every time the device fails to report, it is possible that one morning, the manager is greeted with hundreds of mails related to the breakdown of that device. Another step such as expanding the reporting period can decrease those mails from hundreds to a few.

MIMIC SNMP Simulator creates a network of up to 100,000 SNMP manageable devices. MIMIC ships with a large number of pre-compiled MIBs, networks and devices from the leading networking companies. MIMIC simulated devices respond to SNMPv1, SNMPv2C and SNMPv3 queries. MIMIC SNMP Simulator allows you generate thousand of traps to simulate disaster scenarios. Managing complicated network is now easy with MIMIC SNMP simulator.

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