Using Excel to Process Trace File

Currently I am not working in Network Simulation Area. The reason why this blog are not updated. I am focusing in other area for know. Busy with management work.

Management and research are different. In management, we need to manage people at the same time to manage a lot of document. Managing a lot of document requires a lot of work. Now I am into using excel as automation tools ro save more time so that i can go back to may passion - doing research.

Excel are powerful.. Especially because it comes with programming capability called VBA. Just wondering, we can use excell to process the trace file. Trace file contains data, and excel can be used to process data. Try it out! :)

How to detect DDoS attack in NS2

NS2 can be used to simulate a DDos attack. This is how you can detect DDos attack in NS2.

IDEA1

1. Create a topology. Depending on how many source input you want.

2. For the source node, set the bandwidth of normal traffic(the regular traffic) to constant.

3. To create the attack, generate many packets of CBR UDP randomly.


IDEA 2

1. create a topology make sure there are normal source and also source node for the attacker.

2. For normal source create normal traffic.

3. For attacker source create the randomly generated DDOS attack.

(the number of normal source node, and attacker node depend on your requirement)


By doing this, you will have a normal traffic and random generated traffic (the attack).

Good Questions about Network Simulation.. and Trace File

This is a comment from my old blog, which I seldom update now.. its a good question..  I dont answer the question though...   :( 


1.How to find out the number of nodes in the network from the trace file? Also can u give any examples that would help please??

2.How to discover the “visible network topology” from the trace file? Give examples pleeeeeeeease.

3.Which parameters of the event descriptor in the trace file can be used for calculation of the throughput on the link? examples would really help

4. Which parameters of the event descriptor in the trace file can be used for calculation of the throughput on the end-to-end route? any examples??.

5.What typical functions are needed in order to extract useful data from trace files (think in terms of getting values from some text columns, sorting of strings, etc.)? Can u please make a pseudo-code for the postprocessing algorithm. Aslo do u know Which standard Unix utilities may help to extract necessary data from the trace files and process them? Give examples of sequences pleaseeeeeeeee (i.e. which to run first, which is next, etc.).


Good questions..  but what are the answers..... 

Dual Boot Ubuntu Crash - My Experience

I use Ubuntu together with windows. However last 2 weeks, I have problem where my ubuntu crash. This is the chronology of what happened to my ubuntu installation until it has been successfully reinstalled yesterday. 

First of all. I am installed ubuntu using Wubi installer. The first installation is through Wubi, I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium and ASUS laptop. Everything goes very good at first, installed NS2, TCL, TK easily. 

First phase of the try and error. 

1. Updated my ubuntu, and somehow the ubuntu crash maybe power off during the update or maybe because of the compability problem with my hardware. 
2. Tried to reinstall ubuntu via wubi. Wubi will detect whether the ubuntu already installed, and will try to remove current installation. 
3. At first 2,3 try, wubi are able to remove ubuntu but unable to finish ubuntu installation where the installation hang at update-grub.
4. Frustrating with wubi, I used USB drive to reinstall ubuntu. However the process hang at early stage of installation. 
5. Tried to reinstall ubuntu again using Wubi. However wubi unable to remove current ubuntu installation due to missing file. I suspect it is because Kaspersky antivirus deleted the file. 

I was stuck at this installation. At this time, there are no choice but to format the partition. When I checked my partition in Windows Computer Manager. It seems that there are 3 unknown partition which represent ubuntu partition. The partition are messed up already, maybe due to the repeated re-installation tryout. So it left me with two options: (1) to format the partition and reinstall ubuntu at the partition. (2) start over with windows recovery followed by ubuntu installation. The second option is my choice. Why? because I feel everything is messed up = ( . 

2nd Phase of Try and Error.

This is the sequence for my solution.

1. Backup Data 
2. Recover window - During boot, in grub screen - choose another windows loader (Yes you have two windows loader - one for windows 7 the other one for recovery, in my case it is Windows ME (Loader) ] . Or you can use recovery CD. 
3. Once the windows is reinstalled, I  had a problem to enter windows, due to GRUB problem. Grub is the bootloader, however grub was working due to windows re-installation. 
4. Its okay! Reinstall ubuntu using USB. It  automatically reinstall GRUB. Now I have my windows and Ubuntu back. 

This is my solution, with help of few friends! Thanks to them. However the solution maybe not very good for you. You can try to just format the partition for ubuntu installation, it will affect grub. Some of my friends recommends to use other bootloader to replace grub. I personally never try it out yet.  

IMHO, having ubuntu in windows is not a good option. Ubuntu and windows is better to be in separate partition. 

Happy New Year 2011 from RANS

Its already 5 Jan 2010. 

I would like to wish you a happy new year 2011. I hope its not too late. I'm too consumed with solving the Ubuntu Installation. I wish that, all your work especially the one related to network simulations will be a successful one. 

BTW, this Rambling About Network Simulators Blog now have it short form (RaNS) 

Happy new year and all the best! 

Ubuntu Installation hang at Update-Grub

This is a bad news for me. I dont actually know what happened.

My ubuntu is not functioning well after an update. What happened? I suspect because of the newest update does not support my ASUS laptop hardware.

So I reinstall my ubuntu. Unfortunately, this time the installation hang at update-grub. Still searching for the solution. I'll update here when the installation are successful.

Installing NS2 and NAM, Lyx, and other application are quite easy with ubuntu.So i guess I need to find the solution asap.

Run NS2 Example in Ubuntu 10.10 easier

One of the problem in installing NS-2 in ubuntu is that it will be installed in other folder automatically.

Problem

There are two problem occured with this kind of installation.

1. The path are too long. In my case the path for the ns2 examples are located at : usr/share/doc/ns2/examples/. It means that we need to do more clicking to reach that folder. Or if we are going to run through console, we need to cd to longer sentence.
2. The simulation script cannot be executed due to read/write and access properties of the installed folder. You need to logged in in administrator mode to access the file. 

Solution

Luckily the solution is quite simple. Killing two birds with one stone. What I did is really simple, I copied the examples folder and paste it at the Desktop. It solved both problem! :)

Easy NS2 Installation in Ubuntu

NS2 installation is quite a troublesome process before. There are a lot of step to be done, and a few errors encountered during installation process were quite frustrating. After installation you need to edit bash profile.

Say goodbye to this hassle process. Thanks to ubuntu! :) 

In the last blog post, I show how easy to install NAM in ubuntu. Eventually you can do the same to install NS2. No more needless hassle :)

You can search NS2 from ubuntu software centre. and click install!

do not forget to install the documentation and examples too.

After that please test whether the ns interpreter is working or not by running ns interpreter in the terminal.

NS2 Installing Network Animator From Ubuntu

Now it is really easy to install NAM - network animator in Ubuntu.

I accidentally found the nam while installing Tcl distribution.

If you want to install nam in ubuntu.

1. Open the ubuntu software centre and search for nam.

2. Just click the install button.

3. Test whether the installation is successful or not by typing nam at the linux terminal.



Easy.Good Luck!

Installing NS2 in Ubuntu?

I want to install NS2 in Ubuntu. Just Installed ubuntu in my new lappy. I use ubuntu 10.10. Telling the truth I hate installing NS2. But let see. Will be sharing any info on installing NS2 in Ubuntu.

TraceGraph Download Link - Tracegraph.com no more ?

Some people emailing me about the download page of the famous TraceGraph. Telling the truth I am also dont know what is the download link for trace graph. 

It used to be in tracegraph.com , however it look like the domain name tracegraph.com is not renewed. However there are one page of the similar content available but unfortunately the download link in the page is pointed to tracegraph.com. By the way this is the link: 

https: / / www.iterasi. net/ public/ archive/ Vv3uXZDReUCu7dRi KilcjA

If you are looking for tracegraph download, I believe the best way is to contact the person who create the software. But I am not sure whether the information is up to date or not since it is stored in ..../archive/  

Go to Mailing List if you have question..

Sorry this is straight forward! 

I sometimes eceived a lot of email asking how to use NS2, I believe other bloggers who have topic on ns2 in their blog experience the same. 

When you have some problem with the code or anything regarding your simulation please go to respective mailing list, and read the tutorials, thats how you work with open source especially ns2. 

Coming to other peoples blog, never give input or exchange information in provided comment section, but merely ask to debug your code or to solve your problem, is just rude! Plain RUDE.  Some of the problem are already asked in respective mailing list.

It will be worst if the questions are regarding your assignment that your lecturer gave you! 

Network SImulator with large user base

For me to choose a network simulator, one of the factor is to use a network simulator that used by a lot of user. Here why :

1. More popular the network simulators. Me myself would prefer a network simulator with a lot of user using it compared to simulator with only one user using it.

2. Build confidence in the result . The more user using it, the more validation work can be done. Validation work build confidence in network simulators.

3. Easy support. By joining their mailing list we can easily get support from the user. There are a lot of people discussing about the network simulators.

User Interface in Network Simulator

User interface in network simulator can be divided into two: 

1. Graphical User Interface 
2. Language based Interface 

Example of  network simulator utilising GUI are OPNET and OMNET++ 

Example language based interface are NS2 and NS3 

Graphical user interface is easy to be used if it is well designed, however building GUI is not an easy tasks. 

Language Interface is not easy for beginner, but it is very flexible. 

Giving the language and user interface , which are my choice? I rather choose for both. I want to have flexibility and I want to have an easy to use simulator. But which simulator support both? 

NS2 is lack of support tools

NS2, is lack of support tool! This is my commnet about NS2. Yeah. It is popular, but without support tool it wont be easy for beginners to learn NS2.

To use NS2, we need to create a simulation script - which is in Tcl which is not taught in universities syllabus. 

To run ns2, we need to run the ns interpreter, through console.

To analyze ns2 result, we need to create our own program or use third party tools developed by others.

NAM Graphical Editor for NS2

Heard NAM? If you are familiar with ns2, you should know what is NAM. NAM stands for Network AniMator. The purpose is for animation at packet level.

But do you realize that NAM has another function which can be used to draw network topology, and create simulation script from it?

I tested it out but it seems that there are segmentation faults when dragging the components.

NS-3 Tutorial ?

I have been looking for NS-3 tutorials on the net. After some searching I found out these two tutorial are quite good. 

1. http://www.nsnam.org/docs/tutorial/tutorial.html
2. http://eugen.dedu.free.fr/ns3-tutorial.html

If you have any suggestion for other tutorial feel free to drop the link in comment sections.

OPNET Modeler Popular Comercial Network Simulator

OPNET Modeler is one of famous simulation tools provided by OPNET Technologies.
OPNET is a commercial software unlike Network Simulator 2 (NS-2) & Network Simulator 3 (NS-3)

As far as I know, NS2 is based on descrete event-driven model , while OPNET engine is based on Finite State Machine combined with analytical model.

I have no particular experience about OPNET, but I'm searching for papers comparing NS-2 with OPNET. Sure both has their own disadvantages and advantages. And what about NS-3?

Hrm by the way, I need to find info about
1) Descrete event-driven model
2) Analytical Model
3) Finite State Machine Model

what does it really means?

Network simulation and network simulator area are very wide area. It is normal since network system (eg. Internet) is the biggest system ever created by human.

back to OPNET, , OPNET have more features than NS-2 but NS-2 is moreattractive due to its open source nature.

NSBM - Network Simulation By Mouse

NSBM is another effort to ease NS2 usage.

" NSBM ("Network Simulation By Mouse") is a GUI that allows you to graphically develop simulation scenarios and then generate a tcl script. It requires java (1.4 recommended, it doesn't properly work with 1.5; here's a BETA version that should work with Java 1.5). The source code is also available - feel free to change it!"

I read the paper regarding NSBM. It is a very good effort actually to have this kind of GUI to help user develops network simulations. The GUI get good feedback from the target audience (Student). If you are new to NS2 I suggest that you use NSBM.

JNS JAVA Network SImulator

NS2 is claimed to be difficult to use. So thats why JNS is developed.

What is JNS?

This is the detail given by the oficail website of JNS.

http://jns.sourceforge.net/

"The Java Network Simulator is a Java implementation of the ns-2 simulator originally from Berkeley. It is by no means as complete as ns-2, but it is a lot more accessible to programmers not familiar with Object Tcl.

JNS allows developers of networking protocols to simulate their protocols in a controlled environment. The simulator then produces a trace file (same format as NAM trace files) which can be viewed in a network animator such as Javis. Below is a screen shot of a simulation run from JNS being animated in Javis."

I personally never used JNS since I have no problem with NS2. Is it really good?
Can the JNS catch up with NS-2 development?