Web-based network simulator

• Main Author: Koh, Boon Hui.
• Other Authors: Sabu Emmanuel
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering::Computer systems organization::Computer-communication networks
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/16917
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The traditional method of conducting a network simulation involves the installation of software package into a computer and having the user undergoing a laborious learning cycle to master the software. Many networking professionals are looking forward for a portable network simulation application which simplifies the whole simulation procedure and can be used on the move. This project focuses on the simplification of the network simulation procedure and to design and develop the prototype of a full-fledged web-based network simulation application based on the current popular network simulation software, Network Simulator (ns-2). The web-based network simulation application is limited to users on Microsoft Windows with Internet Explorer platform only. The underlying networking technologies and dynamics of a computer network will be introduced to understand the roles of different traffic parameters in a network simulation. The whole procedure of conducting a basic network simulation in ns-2 will be discussed and the ways to improve and upgrade the current ns-2 to support web-based network simulation will be highlighted. The whole development process of the web-based network simulation application from the brainstorming of the solutions to overcome the hurdles met, the acceptance of the traffic parameters as inputs and the visualization of the network available as the final output will be documented in detail. From my findings, I infer that a networking professional could omit the tedious learning cycle of ns-2 and the conventional method of conducting network simulation could be totally replaced by an efficient plug-and-play network simulation application that was operated entirely over the Internet given the support of high bandwidth connectivity. Further studies should be conducted to check the compatibility of the web-based network simulation application on other operating platforms like Linux/UNIX and Macintosh together with their generic web browsers. Additional ns-2 built-in functions and traffic parameters to the web-based network simulation application could support a more comprehensive network simulation.