NetGuru Simulator
User Friendly Network Capacity Planning and Prediction Tool

Implementing either a de novo network or additions to an existing network require a substantial investment in terms of both time and money. However, until the network becomes functional it is uncertain as to whether it will meet the performance requirements of its users. In some instances the performance of the network may be increased by simply rearranging the nodes on the network due to their individual loads, or changing the distances between nodes. Too often when network performance suffers because of adding new nodes, the solution has always been to invest considerable sums of money in upgrading hardware instead of evaluating poor performance as a function of improper design. The simulation of network performance before installation has always been a desirable aspect for both new designs and additions. Unfortunately, it has also been both a complex and expensive proposition rendering it out of reach for most network professionals.

NetGuru Simulator Price: $995

NetGuru Simulator

NetGuru Simulator is a fully functional network simulation module that is integrated to NetGuru Manager. It allows the simulation of any valid design generated by NetGuru Manager. The user adds to the input of NetGuru Manager by identifying which nodes and networks should take part in the simulation. He also identifies what network loads should be generated by each of the stations in the network by either indicating which application is most often running on the node, or by explicitly entering load parameters such as mean packet arrival rate and mean packet length. During and after a simulation the user has various tools in NetGuru Simulator to graphically depict and list ongoing and final results of the simulation. Textual outputs include network and media utilization, throughput, response time, and transfer time by network node. Graphical outputs include media and network utilization, station and network data throughput, packet transmission, and packet collisions. The graphs may be configured by the user, printed, copied to the Windows clipboard, or frozen during a simulation to view a particular time slice of the simulation. The graphs may be presented as a cumulative summary of the entire simulation, or alternatively, just depict the results of a user specified interval of the simulation. The behavior of the proposed network design is projected under a wide range of design conditions such as inter station distances and environmental conditions such as type of network Ethernet, Arcnet or Token Ring.