An Architecture for a Network Management Simulator1

With the evolution of computer networks, the need of having reliable network management tools becomes more important. While building such tools we face problems that can not be resolved without direct testing on active networks. These tests affect the functionality of the networks and have restrictions such as security. The goal of this work is to build a simulator that will support the development of network management technologies. This simulator will allow to test network management applications before installing them into operational network. It will also allow to develop management applications for networks that are under construction or even in the design phase. This paper proposes an architecture of the simulator. Many points has to be considered such as performance and the distributed nature of simulated networks. The paper will end with some conclusions.