MIMIC Simulator is a product suite from Gambit Communications consisting of

simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...

software in the

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

and

systems management Systems management refers to enterprise-wide administration of distributed systems including (and commonly in practice) computer systems. Systems management is strongly influenced by network management initiatives in telecommunications. The ap ...

space. The MIMIC Simulator Suite has several components related to simulation of managed networks and data centers for the purposes of

software development Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development invol ...

software testing Software testing is the act of examining the artifacts and the behavior of the software under test by validation and verification. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to apprecia ...

or training, sales and marketing of network management applications (see). MIMIC SNMP simulator solves a classical simulation problem: network management or

operations support system Operations support systems (OSS), operational support systems in British usage, or Operation System (OpS) in NTT, are computer systems used by telecommunications service providers to manage their networks (e.g., telephone networks). They support ...

software typically manages large networks. Traditionally, in order to set up such networks for the above purposes, physical equipment had to be separately purchased and assembled in

laboratories A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physicia ...

. To reduce the expense, most of the network can be simulated (e.g. see). The principle behind

SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an Internet Standard protocol for collecting and organizing information about managed devices on IP networks and for modifying that information to change device behaviour. Devices that typically ...

simulation is that the SNMP protocol is an interface that can be simulated. SNMP requests carry data values for

MIB The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...

objects, which can be shaped at will by the simulator, thus representing any device which has an SNMP interface. In contrast to

network simulation In computer network research, network simulation is a technique whereby a software program replicates the behavior of a real network. This is achieved by calculating the interactions between the different network entities such as routers, switche ...

, where the entire network is modeled within a computer, this type of empirical simulation is visible on the network, and one can communicate with the simulator over the network. The concept can be extended to other protocols such as for *

cable modems A cable modem is a type of network bridge that provides bi-directional data communication via radio frequency channels on a hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC), radio frequency over glass (RFoG) and coaxial cable infrastructure. Cable modems are primaril ...

, *

CLI CLI may refer to: Computing * Call Level Interface, an SQL database management API * Command-line interface, of a computer program * Command-line interpreter or command language interpreter; see List of command-line interpreters * CLI (x86 instruc ...

such as Cisco IOS (see) or

TL1 Transaction Language 1 (TL1) is a widely used management protocol in telecommunications. It is a cross-vendor, cross-technology man-machine language, and is widely used to manage optical (SONET) and broadband access infrastructure in North America ...

, * flow-based monitoring such as

NetFlow NetFlow is a feature that was introduced on Cisco routers around 1996 that provides the ability to collect IP network traffic as it enters or exits an interface. By analyzing the data provided by NetFlow, a network administrator can determine thin ...

sFlow sFlow, short for "sampled flow", is an industry standard for packet export at Layer 2 of the OSI model. sFlow was originally developed by InMon Corp. It provides a means for exporting truncated packets, together with interface counters for the purp ...

, * server management based on IPMI or

DMTF Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit industry standards organization that creates open manageability standards spanning diverse emerging and traditional IT infrastructures including cloud, virtualization, network, s ...

Redfish, *

IoT The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other com ...

protocols such as

MQTT MQTT (originally an initialism of MQ Telemetry Transport) is a lightweight, publish-subscribe, machine to machine network protocol for Message queue/Message queuing service. It is designed for connections with remote locations that have devices ...

, CoAP. Modern management software typically uses multiple protocols to manage networks. The simulator thus should integrate the required protocols to present authentic instrumentation.

Components

MIMIC IOS Simulator allows simulating the CLI protocol as encountered with Cisco IOS, JUNOS, TL/1. The low-end MIMIC Virtual Lab products can be used for training for Cisco CCNA.MIMIC Virtual Lab CCNA
/ref> MIMIC NetFlow Simulator creates many custom NetFlow exporters, MIMIC sFlow Simulator does the same for sFlow. MIMIC IPMI Simulator simulates the IPMI RMCP via LAN interface for high-end servers. MIMIC Web Simulator handles HTTP /

SOAP Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are use ...

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...

WSDL The Web Services Description Language (WSDL ) is an XML-based interface description language that is used for describing the functionality offered by a web service. The acronym is also used for any specific WSDL description of a web service (also ...

/ WSMAN / Redfish interfaces for management via Web services. MIMIC IoT Simulator creates large IoT environments based on standard protocols

, CoAP.

Sources

Virtual router labs

* *
12th Annual Well-Connected Awards: Network Infrastructure

References

{{reflist Internet protocols Internet Standards Network management System administration Application layer protocols Multi-agent network management software Simulation software