Coursework 2: Network Modeling and Simulation

Objective
Riverbed Modeller Academic Edition 17.5
Download from:
https://splash.riverbed.com/community/product-lines/steelcentral/university-support-center/blog/2014/06/11/riverbed-
modeler-academic-edition-release
Based on original lab by Dr P. Pillai.

Overview
In this lab you will design a network for a company that has four departments: Research, Engineering, E-Commerce, and
Sales. You will utilize a LAN model that allows you to simulate multiple clients and servers in one simulation object. This
model dramatically reduces both the amount of configuration work you need to perform and the amount of memory
needed to execute the simulation. You will be able to define a profile that specifies the pattern of applications employed by
the users of each department in the company. By the end of this lab, you will be able to study how different design
decisions can affect the performance of the network.
NOTE 1: Modeler will save your projects and results into a directory called op_models on your F: drive when using the
University desktop or under C:\User\ if you install it locally onto a PC.
NOTE 2: To load your saved models, you need to add your op_models folder in the models directory.

Lab Instructions

Step 1: Network design

Follow the instruction below to create a new project.

1. Click Start Riverbed Modeler Academic Edition
a. NOTE: it will take some time to load. DO NOT PRESS IT AGAIN
2. If the license agreement appears Accept it and click OK on any other windows that appear.
3. You will now see the Modeler.
4. To create a new project click on File New.
5. Select Project and Press ok.
6. You project editor workspace will open now. Enter project name as LAB2 and change scenario name to
network_1
7. From the next dialog box, select Create empty scenario and press Next
8. From the next dialog box, select Campus and press Next
9. Dont change the size, just press Next.
10. Dont select any technology, just press Next.
11. The setup is complete. Press Finish
12. You will now be able to see the object palette and the Project workspace
Network Initilisation and Service configuration

[Type here]
 13. The Object Palette dialog box should be now on the top of your project space. Make sure that the
internet_toolbox is selected from the pull-down menu on the object palette.
14. Add to the project workspace the following objects from the palette: Application Config, Profile Config, and a
subnet.
15. The workspace should contain the following three objects:

16. Right-click on the Application definition node Edit Attributes Change the name attribute to Application
Change the Application Definitions attribute to Default Click OK.
17. Right-click on the Profile definition node Edit Attributes Change the name attribute to Profiles Change
the Profile Configuration attribute to Sample Profiles Click OK.
Configure a Subnet:
18. Right-click on the subnet node Edit Attributes Change the name attributes to Engineering and click OK.
19. Double-click on the Engineering node. You get an empty workspace, indicating that the subnet contains no
objects.
20. Open the object palette and make sure it is still set to internet_toolbox.
21. Add the following items to the subnet workspace: 10BaseT LAN, ethernet16_switch, and a 10BaseT link to
connect the LAN with the Switch.
22. Right-click on the 10BaseT LAN node Edit Attributes Change the name attribute to LAN.
23. Under the LAN tab, observe that the Number of Workstations attribute has a value of 10.

24. Expand the Applications tab, Click in the Value column for the Application: Supported Profiles attribute, and
select Edit. You should get a table in which you should do the following:
a. Set the number of rows to 1.
b. Set the Profile Name to Engineer. Note: Engineer is one of the sample profiles provided within the
Profile definition object.

[Type here]
 c. Click OK twice.
The object we just created is equivalent to a 10-workstation star topology LAN. The traffic generated from the
users of this LAN resembles that generated by engineers.

25. Rename the ethernet16 switch to Switch.

26. The subnet should look like the shown below

27. Save your project.

Configure All Departments:

28. Now you have completed the configuration of the Engineering department subnet.

29. To go back to the main project space, click the Go to the higher level button.
30. The subnets of the other departments in the company should be similar to the engineering one, except for the
supported profiles.
31. Make three copies of the Engineering subnet we just created: Right-Click on the Engineering node From the
Edit menu, select Copy From the Edit menu, select Paste three times, placing the subnet in the workspace
after each, to create the new subnets.
32. Rename (right-click on the subnet and select Set Name) and arrange the subnets as shown below:

[Type here]
 33. Double-click the Research node Edit the attributes of its LAN Edit the value of the Application:
Supported Profiles attribute Change the value of the Profile Name from Engineer to Researcher Click OK

twice Go to the higher level by clicking the button .

34. Repeat step 34 with the Sales node and assign to its Profile Name the profile Sales Person.
35. Repeat step 34 with the E-Commerce node and assign to its Profile Name the profile E-commerce Customer.
36. Change the Profile Definition for the Engineer profile so that it uses File Transfer (Heavy) rather than File
Transfer (Light). You can do this by opening the Profile Definition attributes and editing the Engineering
Profile, to include File Transfer (Heavy) and remove File Transfer (Light).

Configure the Servers:

Now we need to implement a subnet that contains the servers. The servers have to support the applications defined in
the profiles we deployed. You can double-check those applications by editing the attributes of our Profile node.
Inspect each row under the Applications hierarchy, which in turn, is under the Profile Configuration hierarchy. You will
see that we need servers that support the following applications: Web browsing, Email, Telnet, File Transfer,
Database, and File Print.
37. Open the Object Palette and add a new subnet Rename the new subnet to Servers Double-click the
Servers node to enter its workspace.
38. From the Object Palette, add three ethernet_servers, one ethernet16_switch, and three 10BaseT links to
connect the servers with the switch.
39. Close the Object Palette.
40. Rename the servers and the switch as follows:

41. Right-click on each one of the above servers and Edit the value of the Application: Supported Services
attribute.

[Type here]
 a. For the Web Server add four rows to support the following services: Web Browsing (Light HTTP1.1),
Web Browsing (Heavy HTTP1.1), Email (Light), and Telnet Session (Light).
b. For the File Server add two rows to support the following services: File Transfer (Light) and File Print
(Light).
c. For the Database Server add one row to support the following service: Database Access (Light).

42. Go back to the project space by clicking the Go to the higher level button.

Connect the Subnets:

Now all subnets are ready to be connected together.
43. Open the Object Palette and add four 100BaseT links to connect the subnets of the departments to the Servers
subnet.
44. As you create each link, make sure that it is configured to connect the switches in both subnets to each other.
45. Do this by choosing them from the drop-down menus as follows:

46. Now your network should look like the following:

Choose the Statistics

To test the performance of our network we will collect one of the many available statistics as follows:
47. Right-click anywhere in the project workspace and select Choose Individual Statistics from the pop-up menu.
48. In the Choose Results dialog box, choose Global statistics : HTTP, FTP, DB entry and DB query
49. Click OK.

Configure the Simulation

Here we need to configure the duration of the simulation:

[Type here]
 50. Click on the Run Simulation button.
51. Set the duration to be 30 minutes.
52. Press Run.
Task 1 : Compare the average HTTP Object Response Time and HTTP Page Response Time. Present the graphs in your
report and briefly explain your results.

Task 2: Compare the average FTP download Response Time and FTP upload Response Time. Record the results in your
report and briefly explain your results.

Step 2: Modified links

1. Now create a new duplicate scenario of the network designed in the previous step. Name it network_2.

2. Now change the LANs in the different departments to 100BaseT LANs and also all the links within the subnets to
100baseT.

3. Run the simulation and compare the results with the previous scenarios.
Task 3: Compare the average HTTP Object Response Time and HTTP Page Response Time for the two scenarios.
Present and explain your results.

Task 4: Compare the average DB query response time and DB entry response time for the two scenarios. Present and
explain your results.

Step 3: Multimedia department

Create a duplicate scenario for scenario 1 and name it network_1_multimedia and create a duplicate scenario for
scenario 2 and name it network_2_multimedia.
For this lab you need to add a new subnet for the multimedia department. This needs to be added to both the scenarios
network_1_multimedia and network_2_multimedia.
Follow the steps above to add the new subnet. The multimedia subnet is similar to the engineering subnet configured
before containing a LAN and a switch. The profile name Application: Supported Profiles attribute for the LAN in this
multimedia subnet needs to be configured to a Multimedia user.
You will also need to add a new server on the server subnet. You will need to add video conferencing (light) and voice-
over-ip (PCM quality) in the Application: Supported Services attribute for this server. This also needs to be added to
both the scenarios network_1_multimedia and network_2_multimedia.
Select Global Statistics for voice and video.
Run the simulation for 10 minutes (or as close to 10 minutes as the Event limit will allow), and compare the results for the
four scenarios.
Task 5: Compare the average HTTP Object Response Time and HTTP Page Response Time for the four scenarios.
Present and explain your results.

Task 6: Compare the average voice packet end-to-end delay and voice jitter for the two new scenarios. Present and
explain your results.

[Type here]
Task 7 : Compare the average video packet end-to-end delay and packet delay variation for the two new scenarios.
Present and explain your results.

Marking criteria

Requirement: As before but additional detail provided. Open source tool has been installed and tested to fairly compare
with Riverbed Modeller.
Functionality evaluated and compared.

Lab Report
The lab report should not include a repeat of all the instructions.

Show the models created, present results clearly using appropriate use of statistics. Explanations and
descriptions should be concise and accurate.

Requirement: Professionally presented. Descriptions beyond what was requested.

[Type here]