Simulating ATM network management using virtual devices

Modern computer networks with their increasing speeds and their ability of QoS support require management solutions with permanently rising complexity. In ATM networks for instance, a management system needs network-wide functions that focus on more than only one network device at one time in order to manage end-to-end connections and their dedicated QoS parameters. When developing management applications in this area, designers have to face serious testing problems since huge testbeds are required for evaluating the implemented network-wide functionality. One alternative to expensive hardware test scenarios is the use of simulations. In this context, the paper presents an approach to network management simulation for ATM networks. Special virtual ATM devices are developed using SNMP agents implemented with the AGENT++ toolkit. These virtual devices are combined in order to construct huge virtual ATM networks, to which some developed functions such as topology discovery and connection management are applied