Open-source software like "mimic"

Does anyone know of an open-source (ideally: Linux) software that performs
functions similar to "Mimic" - in other words, able to simulate multiple
networking "boxes" (routers, switches etc) on a single platform to allow
development and/or testing of network managment applications against a
"pseudo-network" of devices.

TIA.

Karl Lowth <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Does anyone know of an open-source (ideally: Linux) software that performs
> functions similar to "Mimic" - in other words, able to simulate multiple
> networking "boxes" (routers, switches etc) on a single platform to allow
> development and/or testing of network managment applications against a
> "pseudo-network" of devices.

That's what your own machine does. You can add as many IP aliases as you
like to it.

If you want to run complete virtual operating systems within your system,
run some user-mode linux instances on it.

Peter

Thanks for the reply Peter - but I probably wasnt clear enough. I want my
linux box to "pretend" to be multiple other actual systems - cisco routers,
microsoft web servers etc from the SNMP management point of view. Not just
have multiple address on one NIC.

So -- I take "mib walks" of (say) 30 cisco routers and switches plus some
web servers - etc while in the "lab" at work (using the UCD snmp toolkit)
and put them on the linux laptop. Then take the laptop home and run an
application (which is what I am hoping to find) that acts as a set of
"simulated" SNMP agents (one for each "walked" lab device) which respond
exactly as they were those devices, using the data in the mib walks. This
would allow me to develop SNMP management software while working at home
where I dont have a "real" (in terms of scope and number of devices) network
to play with since the laptop at home would appear to an SNMP manager as if
it was a similated copy of the network in the lab.

What I am after is something like the closed-source "Mimic" by Gambit
(http://www.gambitcomm.com/site/mainindex.html) - but open source. In short:
a network simulator.

Thanks

Karl

"P.T. Breuer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:dqej22-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Karl Lowth <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> > Does anyone know of an open-source (ideally: Linux) software that
performs
> > functions similar to "Mimic" - in other words, able to simulate multiple
> > networking "boxes" (routers, switches etc) on a single platform to allow
> > development and/or testing of network managment applications against a
> > "pseudo-network" of devices.
>
> That's what your own machine does. You can add as many IP aliases as you
> like to it.
>
> If you want to run complete virtual operating systems within your system,
> run some user-mode linux instances on it.
>
> Peter

On 2004-09-26, Karl Lowth wrote:
> Thanks for the reply Peter - but I probably wasnt clear enough. I want my
> linux box to "pretend" to be multiple other actual systems - cisco routers,
> microsoft web servers etc from the SNMP management point of view. Not just
> have multiple address on one NIC.
>
> So -- I take "mib walks" of (say) 30 cisco routers and switches plus some
> web servers - etc while in the "lab" at work (using the UCD snmp toolkit)
> and put them on the linux laptop. Then take the laptop home and run an
> application (which is what I am hoping to find) that acts as a set of
> "simulated" SNMP agents (one for each "walked" lab device) which respond
> exactly as they were those devices, using the data in the mib walks. This
> would allow me to develop SNMP management software while working at home
> where I dont have a "real" (in terms of scope and number of devices) network
> to play with since the laptop at home would appear to an SNMP manager as if
> it was a similated copy of the network in the lab.
>
> What I am after is something like the closed-source "Mimic" by Gambit
> (http://www.gambitcomm.com/site/mainindex.html) - but open source. In short:
> a network simulator.

I don't know if it fills all of your requirement, but it might me
useful: ns at http://www.isi.edu/nsnam/ns/.
Version I've downloaded (2.26) didn't compile clearly, but after some
time to fix some simple errors I did it.

--
Stanislaw Klekot

Karl Lowth <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

(Please do not top post. Fixing.)

> "P.T. Breuer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:dqej22-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Karl Lowth <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> > > Does anyone know of an open-source (ideally: Linux) software that performs
> > > functions similar to "Mimic" - in other words, able to simulate multiple
> > > networking "boxes" (routers, switches etc) on a single platform to allow
> > > development and/or testing of network managment applications against a
> > > "pseudo-network" of devices.
> >
> > That's what your own machine does. You can add as many IP aliases as you
> > like to it.
> >
> > If you want to run complete virtual operating systems within your system,
> > run some user-mode linux instances on it.
>
> Thanks for the reply Peter - but I probably wasnt clear enough.

It was quite clear enough, and I answered you precisely.


> I want my
> linux box to "pretend" to be multiple other actual systems - cisco routers,
> microsoft web servers etc from the SNMP management point of view. Not just
> have multiple address on one NIC.

That's what I told you about. What is the cause of your
incomprehensible confusion?


Peter

Karl Lowth wrote:
> Does anyone know of an open-source (ideally: Linux) software that performs
> functions similar to "Mimic" - in other words, able to simulate multiple
> networking "boxes" (routers, switches etc) on a single platform to allow
> development and/or testing of network managment applications against a
> "pseudo-network" of devices.
>
> TIA.
>
>

You can use dummy interfaces to do this, or something like Vmware
or Linux User Mode.

--

Jose Maria Lopez Hernandez
Director Tecnico de bgSEC
(E-Mail Removed)
bgSEC Seguridad y Consultoria de Sistemas Informaticos
http://www.bgsec.com
ESPAÑA

The only people for me are the mad ones -- the ones who are mad to live,
mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time,
the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn
like fabulous yellow Roman candles.
-- Jack Kerouac, "On the Road"

"P.T. Breuer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:94hj22-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Thanks for the reply Peter - but I probably wasnt clear enough.
>
> It was quite clear enough, and I answered you precisely.
>
>
> > I want my
> > linux box to "pretend" to be multiple other actual systems - cisco
routers,
> > microsoft web servers etc from the SNMP management point of view. Not
just
> > have multiple address on one NIC.
>
> That's what I told you about. What is the cause of your
> incomprehensible confusion?

Peter - I appreciate the input, but I think it's you that is confused. I
want to do something with opensource which I used to do in a previous
company using a very expensive but rich-featured closed-source software
package called "Mimic".

Think about it: how does just establishing an IP alias on my laptop cause it
to answer SNMP GET requests with the same information as the Cisco router
sitting in the lab? How does it even know about the router's existance or
what answers it would supply. No: what is need is an SNMP agent that
responds with data pulled from a mibwalk (or other database) as opposed to
information about the machine it runs in. This is what "mimic" does very
well and linux aliases dont get anywhere near. This is not a trivial matter
of justing having multiple IPs on one box (that is a minor part of it, I'll
agree), but each IP needs a fundementally different MIB content behind it.

Best!

Karl

"Stachu 'Dozzie' K." <cut-to-last-hypen-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
in message news:cj745u$lts$(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 2004-09-26, Karl Lowth wrote:
> I don't know if it fills all of your requirement, but it might me
> useful: ns at http://www.isi.edu/nsnam/ns/.
> Version I've downloaded (2.26) didn't compile clearly, but after some
> time to fix some simple errors I did it.

Thanks for the link. Sadly this isnt what I am looking for. If I read the
web site rightly, NS doesnt actually respond to real SNMP requests from an
SNMP manager, but simulates a network to allow various sorts of analysis.
What I am after is something I can run an "snmpwalk" (or other management
software) against and get back results that mirror exactly a (or many)
particular Cisco router, switch etc.

Karl Lowth wrote:
> Does anyone know of an open-source (ideally: Linux) software that performs
> functions similar to "Mimic" - in other words, able to simulate multiple
> networking "boxes" (routers, switches etc) on a single platform to allow
> development and/or testing of network managment applications against a
> "pseudo-network" of devices.
>
> TIA.
>
>

User Mode Linux, run several virtual linux OS's within Linux.

Karl Lowth <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> "P.T. Breuer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:94hj22-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > Thanks for the reply Peter - but I probably wasnt clear enough.
> >
> > It was quite clear enough, and I answered you precisely.
> >
> > > I want my
> > > linux box to "pretend" to be multiple other actual systems - cisco routers,
> > > microsoft web servers etc from the SNMP management point of view. Not just
> > > have multiple address on one NIC.
> >
> > That's what I told you about. What is the cause of your
> > incomprehensible confusion?

> Peter - I appreciate the input, but I think it's you that is confused. I
> want to do something with opensource which I used to do in a previous
> company using a very expensive but rich-featured closed-source software
> package called "Mimic".

And I've told you how to do it!

> Think about it: how does just establishing an IP alias on my laptop cause it
> to answer SNMP GET requests with the same information as the Cisco router
> sitting in the lab?

That's up to you to configure SNMP so that it replies that way. the
SNMP server is yours to configure!

> How does it even know about the router's existance or
> what answers it would supply.

That's up to you to configure. None of my business. It has to read
something, and as to the router, there isn't one - it's a pretence as
far as I understand you! So what on earth are you on about?

> No: what is need is an SNMP agent that

No, what you need is to

1) if you follow my suggestion to use aliases, configure an snmp
agent sensitive to the destination address in received packets
which responds accordingly. Or

2) if you follow my suggeston to run UML instances, simply set up an
snmp agent in each instance.


> responds with data pulled from a mibwalk (or other database) as opposed to
> information about the machine it runs in.

Well of cours! What's hard about that? That's not the hard aspect of
what you are asking for! That's ground zero. Not even worth mentioning.
The hard part of what you want is how to get a whole load of different
responders at different IP addresses. And I told you how to get them.

Now as to why you want different IP addresses, I don't know. Why not
just run a network simulation, since that's all that interests you?



> This is what "mimic" does very
> well and linux aliases dont get anywhere near.

Of course they do. And why are you fixating upon ALIASES? What's the
matter with you?

> This is not a trivial matter
> of justing having multiple IPs on one box (that is a minor part of it, I'll
> agree), but each IP needs a fundementally different MIB content behind it.

That's what you need to do ANYWAY and has nothing to do with the
question you posed, which was about how to setup a network of
pretend machines. Quote (repeat of the quote at top of this mail):

I want my
linux box to "pretend" to be multiple other actual systems - cisco routers,
microsoft web servers etc from the SNMP management point of view. Not just
have multiple address on one NIC.

Now will you cease being so rude?


Peter