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Network Simulators
Simulation:
NS.
This is the simulator that I use, so this is the only simulator that I know about directly.
PDNS (Parallel/Distributed NS).
"The PADS research group at Georgia Tech has developed extensions and enhancements to the ns
simulator to allow a network simulation to be run in a parallel and distributed fashion, on a network of
workstations." Last supported for ns-2.27 (Januayr 2004).
Georgia Tech's Dynamic Network Emulation Backplane Project.
"The backplane enables the user/modeler to bring multiple network simulators together and harness their
models in a single experiment... The backplane also supports incorporation of actual network applications
into the execution, to execute over the emulated network."
GloMoSim/Parsec.
"In GloMoSim we are building a scalable simulation environment for wireless and wired network systems.
It is being designed using the parallel discrete-event simulation capability provided by Parsec."
QualNet: QualNet is a commercial simulator that grew out of GloMoSim.
SSF (Scalable Simulation Framework).
This includes SSF Network Models (SSFNet), with "open-source Java models of protocols (IP, TCP,
UDP, BGP4, OSPF, and others), network elements (hosts, routers, links, LANs), and assorted support
classes for realistic multi-protocol, multi-domain Internet modeling and simulation", and a gallery of
baseline networks with models of large, realistic BGP topologies, heavily congested networks, and
validation models, together with model descriptions and associated publications.
Dartmouth SSF (DaSSF).
"Dartmouth SSF (DaSSF) is a process-oriented, conservatively synchronized parallel simulator, which is
designed for but not exclusively for simulating very large scale multi-protocol communication networks.
DaSSF is a C++ implementation of Scalable Simulation Framework (SSF)."
GTnetS
"The Georgia Tech Network Simulator (GTNetS) is a full-featured network simulation environment that
allows researchers in computer networks to study the behavior of moderate to large scale networks."
JavaSim, now renamed to J-Sim.
OMNET++.
OMNET++ is free for academic and non-profit use, and contains IP, IPv6, MPLS, mobility, and ad-hoc
simulations.
The M5 Simulator.
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M5 simulates TCP/IP performance with full-system support with detailed I/O models and three CPU
models.
HEGONS.
"HEGONS is a HEterogeneous Grooming Optical Network Simulator that supports mixed routing and
wavelength assignment algorithms and optional wavelength conversions capability on each node. The goal
of Hegons is the evaluation of different dynamic routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) algorithms in
WDM optical networks."

Peer-to-peer simulators:
The State of Peer-to-Peer Simulators and Simulations,
S. Naicken B. Livingston A. Basu S. Rodhetbhai I. Wakeman D. Chalmers CCR, April 2007.
Tools for Peer-to-Peer Network Simulation,
internet-draft draft-irtf-p2prg-core-simulators, work in progress.

Commercial simulators:
OpNet Modeler.
OpNet Modeler is a leading commercial network simulator, including a "library of detailed protocol and
application models including Multi-Tier Applications, Voice, HTTP, TCP, IP, OSPF, BGP, EIGRP, RIP,
RSVP, Frame Relay, FDDI, Ethernet, ATM, 802.11 Wireless LANs, MPLS, PNNI, DOCSIS, UMTS,
IP Multicast, Circuit Switch and many more... The Standard Model Library includes hundreds of vendor
specific and generic device models including routers, switches, workstations, and packet generators".
Omnicor's NetDisturb, IP network emulator software to generate impairments over IP networks.
QualNet is a high-fidelity network simulator based on GloMoSim. It uses a parallel simulation engine to
run large wireless and wired networks.
Other commercial simulators:
Netwiser (including a network simulator);
Shunra (for performance testing for applications).
NetScale, a scalable network simulation tool based on patented mathematical developments, from a startup company stemming from INRIA.
NetSim is a commercial network simulator for use at the undergraduate level, mostly at use in India.

Emulation, and simulation/emulation/experiment transitions:

Utah's Netbed is based on Emulab.
"Netbed strives to preserve the control and ease of use of simulation, without sacrificing the realism of
emulation and live network experimentation."
EXata is a network emulator built on the parallel engine of QualNet. EXata supports hardware in the loop
(HWIL) and human in the loop (HITL) interfaces to interoperate the emulated network with real devices.
A variant, EXata/Cyber, provides network security and cyber warfare features like RF jamming, DDoS,
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eavesdropping and intrusion detection software (snort) related capabilities.

The Wisconsin Advanced Internet Laboratory (WAIL) "offers Emulab/Netbed capability ... plus the
ability to incorporate topologies of a large number of Cisco routers into Emulab experiments".
Colorado's nsclick simulation environment.
"nsclick is the Click Modular Router embedded inside of the ns-2 network simulator. With minor
modifications, a Click routing graph may run both on an actual system as well as under ns-2."
Network Emulation with the NS Simulator
"Special objects within the simulator are capable of introducing live traffic into the simulator and injecting
traffic from the simulator into the live network."
The Network Simulation Cradle for ns-2, from the WAND Network Research Group.
"The Network Simulation Cradle (NSC) is a framework which allows real world TCP/IP network stacks
to be used inside a network simulator."
Dummynet can be used to introduce queue and bandwidth limitations, delays, packet losses, and multipath
effects.
NetPath.
"A tool for scalable network path emulation." ... "The significant strengths of NetPath over tools such as
Dummynet and NIST Net is its ability to scale to accommodate heavy loads, its ability to scale to high
speeds, and its delay accuracy over a wide range of operating conditions."
Modelnet from Duke is an emulation environment for evaluating distributed services such as caching,
network content distribution, and peer-to-peer systems.
IMUNES is a network emulation framework based on FreeBSD.
Washington University's Open Network Lab is a system with high performance routers that allows users
to run experiments remotely.
Commercial network emulation products include PacketStorm and NetDisturb.
Thanks to Wesley Eddy and Morley Mao for proposed additions to the page.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0230921. Any opinions,
findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Last modified: September 2010. This web page is no longer actively maintained. If you have a successor web
page to this web page, you could send email to Sally Floyd.

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