A simulated network management information base

Initially motivated by the requirement to provide trainee network managers with realistic `hands-onʹ experience of network management platform, without the problems associated with access to `liveʹ network management data, a simulation-based approach has been adopted, which makes use of a production-standard network management platform, interacting with processes (`model agentsʹ) representing network entities. The development of model agents which provide simulated network management data, whose values are modified according to some pre-determined pattern allows the user to see a (simulated) network whose behaviour, as represented by the variation in the values of data objects within the management information base (MIB), is virtually indistinguishable from a real network with real network entities.This paper describes the processes by which these patterns are controlled, offers an example of how the type of network behaviour reported in published measurements can be simulated, and concludes by proposing the use of such an approach in the study of the behaviour of network managers.