A computer network simulation tutorial for COMNET III

Abstract

The military is heavily reliant on the transfer of information among various networks in its day-to-day operations. With fewer defense dollars available for the development of new systems, the use of commercial- off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware to build military information networks is becoming commonplace. The critical nature of much of this information requires that knowledge of the performance characteristics of the networks through which this information travels be known. These characteristics allow network managers and designers to plan for future growth of the network, analyze network reliability, and plan for the construction of new networks. One method to determine the performance characteristics of a network is through the use of modeling and simulation. COMNET III release 1., 1n is a COTS network simulation application which may be used to model and simulate both local and wide area networks. This thesis provides a tutorial to explain the theory used in the application for the modeling and simulation of networks. Each chapter presents the theory of several objects which may be used in the application, states a network problem which is to be analyzed, provides step- by-step instructions to build a model to analyze the network problem, and presents the results of the network simulation.