設計與實作NCTUns 1.0 網路模擬器IPC

Abstract

交大網路模擬器1.0版是一個具可擴充性及高度真實的網路模擬器。原本只能利用文字模式來編輯網路拓撲，並且要在本機上跑模擬和等待模擬結束。當所要模擬的網路愈來愈大，網路協定愈來愈多的時候，就很難不透過圖形使用者介面(GUI)去設計並處理模擬結果。 當網路愈來愈大而複雜，就須要一個親和的使用者介面及遠端的模擬環境。然而不是每個人都熟悉複雜的模擬設定過程，我們的目標是提供一個平台供使用者進行網路模擬。交大網路模擬器 1.0 並且使用友善的GUI來簡化冗長乏味的工作及複雜的網路設定。 在本論文中，我們提供一個初步的模擬環境使得遠端模擬變得可行。此環境並提供使用者作工作管理及檔案管理。我們可以使用它來提升模擬器伺服器的使用率並協助繁雜的檔案管理工作。此遠端模擬環境包含三個元件，分別是dispatcher, coordinator , 及GUI。Coordinator 及 dispatcher都是獨立的程式，可以跑在不同的機器上。GUI的IPC部分是包含在其程式裡面。由於使用一個共通的設計及架構，交大網路模擬器 1.0 的 IPC可以在一台機器上執行，或於多台機器上執行。此遠端模擬環境使用socket 程式來實作，所以可以很容易移植到其他平台。

The NCTUns 1.0 is an extensible and high fidelity network simulator. Originally we run simulations by using hard-to-understand rules to edit a topology and have to run the simulation on local host and wait for its finish. When the simulation network size becomes larger and more protocols are added, it is hard to design a simulation case and handle its results without the help of a GUI program. When the simulation size becomes larger and complex, a friendly user interface and a remote simulation environment are needed. Because not everyone is familiar with complicated simulation set up process, our goal is to provide a platform for remote users to run simulations. The front end of the NCTUns 1.0 network simulator is a friendly GUI to simplify some tedious tasks and complex network configuration. This thesis describes an early version of a remote simulation environment that makes remote simulations feasible. It helps users do job management and file management. We can use it to utilize simulation servers and help perform some tedious file management. The remote simulation environment has three components. They are dispatcher, coordinator and GUI, respectively. The coordinator and dispatcher are independent processes that can run on different machines. The Inter-process Communication (IPC) functions are embedded in the GUI. By using a common architecture and design, the IPC of the NCTUns 1.0 network simulator can run on a single host, or on a multi-host environment. Our implementation is feasible and tested under many cases. The remote simulation environment is implemented using socket programming, therefore it can be easily ported to other platforms in the future.