Lab Manual For OPNET Training: Using This Book

Lab Manual for OPNET Training
Using this book

In each section, there is some information about what you are doing and why, and some
step-by-step instructions in bold type. There are also screenshots of the lab at various
stages. For each section, read through the lab once to see what you will be doing, then go
back and follow the instructions. There are screenshots above some sections that show
what your project should look like. When you are done with the section, if the rest of the
class is still working, we suggest that you look at the Online Documentation (under the
Help menu) and search for relevant topics or topics of interest to you.
IT Guru Day 1
Lab 1 : Creating a Topology
Lab 2 : Adding Traffic
Lab 3 : Choose Statistics and Run Simulation
Lab 4 : View Results
Lab 5 : Create Additional Scenarios
IT Guru Day 2
Lab 6 : Building Network Topologies
Lab 7 : Application Response Time Engineering
Lab 8 : Traffic Engineering using MPLS
Lab 9 : Simulation Methodology for the Analysis of QoS
OPNET Modeler Day 1

Lab 10 : Creating Node Model
Lab 11 : Creating Link Model
Lab 12 : Completing the Bank Network
OPNET Modeler Day 2

Lab 13 : Expanding the Bank Network
Lab 14 : Creating Process Model
1
Copyright © 2001 OPNET Technologies, Inc.
Lab #1: Creating a Topology
In order to represent your network’s topology, you must first gather information
about the aspects of your network you wish to model. Below is some information about
the company and its network.
Lansing Hotel Reservation Services is a hotel reservation company headquartered

in Dallas, Texas. Lansing employees are experiencing high delays using the company’s
proprietary hotel reservation application, and customers are threatening to use other
services if the problem is not fixed. Your task is to identify the problem and propose a
solution. Lansing’s current network consists of four offices, each containing 28
interconnected workstations. The offices are connected via 56K lines. The Application
Servers, which all users access to run Lansing’s proprietary software (as well as other
important applications), are located in the company’s Dallas HQ.
Create a new project:

 Select File / New / Project; press “OK”
 Set Project Name = Hotel_reserve
 Set Scenario Name = original_network; press “OK”
Answer questions in the Startup Wizard:

 Initial Topology box: click on “Create Empty Scenario”; press “Next”
 Choose Network Scale box: click on “Choose From Maps”; press “Next”
 Choose Map box: click on “USA”; press “Next”
 Select Technologies box: scroll down and include “Hotel_reserve_palette” by
changing the “No” to “Yes”; press “Next”
 Review box: press “OK”
2
Change view to the one shown on the previous page:
 Click on the Zoom button on the toolbar
 Click and drag a rectangle over the Midwestern portion of the US
Open the Object Palette:

 If it’s not already open, either click on the Object Palette button, or select
Edit / Open Object Palette
Deploy subnet to Minneapolis, and change its grid properties so that the scale is smaller:
 Click and drag a subnet icon from the palette onto the workspace, placing it
on Minneapolis
 Right-click to cancel placing additional subnets
 Right-click the subnet and select Advanced Edit Attributes
 Change the “x span” and the “y span” to .002
Change to subnet view:

 Double-click on the subnet
Change Grid Properties:

 Select View/Set Grid Properties
 In Map Grid Properties dialog box, change units from “Degrees” to “Feet”,
change resolution to “8”, and change division to “10”
 Close the Map Grid Properties dialog box
3
Create a copy of this empty subnet in Dallas:
 Exit out of the subnet by pressing the “go to next higher level in network
hierarchy” button, or by right-clicking in the workspace and choosing “go to
parent subnet”
 Copy the subnet by selecting it and hitting “Control-C”

 Paste another subnet on Dallas by hitting “Control-V” on the keyboard and
left clicking above Dallas
In Minneapolis, rapidly configure a LAN consisting of 28 workstations connected to a

3com_SuperStack_II_Switch_3900 in a star topology:
 Enter the Minneapolis subnet
 Select Topology / Rapid Configuration; change “Bus” to “Star”; press “OK”
 Set Center Node Model = “3com_Superstack_II_Switch_3900”
 Set Periphery Node Model = “ethernet_wkstn”
 Set Link Model = “100BaseT”
 Set Number = “28”. Press “OK”
Add a router to the LAN:

 Click on the “CS7505_Router” router in the Object Palette, and drag it into
the workspace
 Right-click in the workspace to stop adding routers
Change name of the router to “cisco_router”:

 Right-click on the router; choose set name; type “cisco_router”; click OK
Connect the Router to the LAN:
4
 Click on the “100BaseT” link in the object palette
 Left-click on the router and then left-click on the hub
 Right click in the workspace to deselect the link
 Your subnet should now look like the following picture
Go back to WAN view of network:

 Right-click in workspace and select “Go to Parent Subnet”
Copy the Minneapolis subnet to Detroit, and Atlanta:

 Select the Minneapolis subnet; copy it using Edit / Copy or Ctrl-C
 Choose Edit / Paste or Ctrl-V; left-click on Detroit
 Repeat on Atlanta
Name the subnets “Minneapolis”, “Detroit”, “Atlanta” and “Dallas”:

 Right-click on the subnet; choose Set Name
 Enter the appropriate name
5
Create the topology in Dallas:
 Enter the Dallas subnet
 Deploy 6 Sun_Enterprise_10000_server models from the Object Palette
 Deploy a 3com_SuperStack_II_Switch in the middle of the servers, and
connect the servers to the switch with 100BaseT links
 Place a CS7505_Router next to the switch and connect the two with a
100BaseT link
 Set the name of the new router to “cisco_router”
 Right-click on the workspace and choose “Go to Parent Subnet”
Save the project:

 Click File / Save
Place an IP Cloud in the middle of the 4 subnets:

 Click on the Object Palette icon to open it (again, this is only if the Object
Palette isn’t open already)
 Drag the icon labeled ip32_cloud onto the workspace
 Connect the Dallas subnet to the cloud with a PPP_DS1 link
 When prompted for which node within the subnet to connect the link to,
choose the node name ending in “cisco_router”
 Right-click in the workspace to stop placing DS1 links
 Connect the cloud to the other 3 subnets using a PPP_56K link
 Again when prompted for which node within the subnet to connect the link
to, choose the node name ending in “cisco_router”
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 Click File / Save
 Verify that your network topology looks like this:
End of Lab #1
7
Lab #2 – Adding Traffic
A simulation with no traffic would be quite boring. Let’s add some traffic to the
network topology. The traffic you are most interested in is the Database traffic generated
by the Hotel Reservation Software. You will model this traffic explicitly using IT Guru’s
pre-defined application traffic. There is, however, other traffic flowing to and from the
server farm in Dallas. You will simplify this other traffic by modeling as conversation
pair traffic. Lansing has run some traffic captures and stored them in a text file. You will
need to import this text file.
Import background routed traffic into the simulation:

 From the traffic menu, choose Import Conversation Pairs / From
Spreadsheet
 Choose the traffic file called: Hotel_reserve_traffic.txt
 Choose “replace all existing traffic” and hit OK
Optional: To view the background traffic, use the Conversation Pair Browser under the
traffic menu. Select a source and a destination, then right-click on the destination and
choose “view traffic”.
Deploy an Application Config object:

 Drag and drop it from the Object Palette into the workspace
Edit the Application Config object so it sends traffic representative of Lansing’s

reservation software:
 Right-click the Application config node, choose Edit Attributes
 Click on the Value column of the Applications Definition attribute, and
choose Edit….
 Click on the box that says “0 rows” and change the 0 to a 1
 For the Name value, type “DB User”, and for the Description, choose edit
 In the next box that appears, click on the value column next to Database, and
choose edit
8
 In the next dialogue box, fill in the following information:
Note: To choose a distribution for transaction interarrival time and transaction size, you
will need to change the “Special Value” from None to Not Used.
 Once your attribute list matches the one above, hit OK until all the boxes are
closed
Next, you will need to create a user profile for someone who uses this database
application:
 Deploy a Profile Config node from the Object Palette to the workspace
 Right-click it and Edit Attributes
 Change the Profile Configuration attribute from None to Edit…
 Click on the box that says “0 rows” and change the 0 to a 1
 Change the Profile Name to DB Client
 Change the Start time to a uniform distribution between 200 and 400
seconds. (This gives the routing protocols enough time to find a path through
the network, it also gives you a wide enough range so that all the
workstations don’t send their first query at once.)
 Click on the Applications column and choose edit
 Click on the Name column, choose “DB User”
 Click OK until all dialogue boxes are closed
9
Now you have configured the application and the user profile. The next step is to assign
the user profile to all the workstations in the network.
Select all workstations to set their user profiles at once:

 Double-click on the Atlanta subnet and right-click a workstation
 Choose “Select Similar Nodes”
 Right-click on the workstation again and edit attributes
 First, check off the box at the bottom of the window for “Apply Changes to
Selected Objects”
 Next, change the value of the Application: Supported Profiles attribute to
“Edit”
 Add one row and click on the name column
 Choose “DB Client”
 Click OK until the dialogue boxes are closed
The servers are pre-configured to support this application, so you will not need to modify
them.
 Save your project
End of Lab #2
10
Lab #3: Choose Statistics and Run Simulation
First, you must select some statistics to collect:
 From the Simulation menu, select Choose Individual Statistics
 Click on the plus signs next to the categories to expand them
 Choose the following statistics by clicking on the gray box next to the
statistic:
o Global Statistics / DB Entry / Response Time (sec)
o Global Statistics / DB Query / Response Time (sec)
o Node Statistics / Server DB Query / Task Processing Time
o Link Statistics / point-to-point / utilization <-
o Link Statistics / point-to-point / utilization ->
 Click OK
Next, you must configure and run the simulation to run for one hour:
 Select Simulation / Configure Simulation
 Set the duration to one hour
 Press “Run”
End of Lab #3
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Lab #4: View Results
Create panels for DB Query and Entry response times and their averages:
 Select Results / View Results
 Check the box next to Global Statistics / DB Entry / Response Time (sec)
 Press “Show”
 In the View Results window, change the filter value from “As Is” to
“average”
 Press “Add” and click on the graph that was just created
 Uncheck the box next to DB Entry / Response Time (sec)
 Repeat the steps above for DB Query / Response Time (sec)
 Verify that your graphs look similar to the graphs below – you may have
peaks and valleys in different places, but the range of values should be
similar
 Save the project
12
This Database application is taking around two seconds to deliver a response. Try to
discover what is causing the slow response times. First, look at the server utilization to
see if that is the culprit.
 Select Results / Find Top Results
 Choose Node Statistics / Server DB Query / Task Processing Time, click
“Find Top Results”
 Change “Statistics Stacked” to “Statistics Overlaid”
 Click the Graph button and view the graph
 Notice the processing time is quite low
If the servers are not causing the bottleneck, perhaps the links are over-utilized. Check
the most utilized links for bottlenecks:
 Select Results / Find Top Results (the dialogue box should still be open)
 Choose Link Statistics / point-to-point / utilization, click “Find Top Results”
 Change “Statistics Stacked” to “Statistics Overlaid”
 Click the Graph button and view the graph
 Notice which of the links have 100% utilization for part of the simulation
13
In this section you diagnosed the slow response times – more bandwidth is needed on the
long-distance links.
End of Lab #4
14
Lab #5: Create Additional Scenarios
Now it’s time to fix the network bottleneck. Since the links are over-utilized, try
upgrading all the 56K links to DS1 links. First, you’ll want to create a duplicate scenario
in which to make this change.
 Select Scenarios / Duplicate Scenarios
 Name the new Scenario “DS1”
 Right-click on the link connecting the Detroit Subnet to the IP Cloud and
“Select Similar Links”
 Right-click on this link again and select “Edit Attributes”
 Change the Model attribute from “PPP_56K” to “PPP_DS1”
 Check the box that says “Apply Changes to Selected Objects” and press
“OK”
Run the Simulation:

 Press the simulation icon and press Run, or select Simulation / Run
Simulation
Create a panel containing both DB Query and DB Entry Response Times:

 Choose Results / View Results
 Check both Global Statistics / DB Query / Response Time (sec) and Global
Statistics / DB Entry / Response Time (sec)
 Change “Statistics Stacked” to “Statistics Overlaid” and click Show
15
At a glance you can see that there is a significant reduction in response time. Let’s see if
you can get a further improvement by upgrading to DS3 links:
 Select Scenarios / Duplicate Scenarios
 Name the new Scenario “DS3”
 Right-click on the link connecting the Detroit Subnet and the IP Cloud and
“Select Similar Links”
 Right-click on it again and select “Edit Attributes”
 Change the Model from “PPP_DS1” to “PPP_DS3”
 Check the box that says “Apply Changes to Selected Objects”
 Press “OK”
Run the Simulation:

 Select Simulation / Run Simulation
Compare the DB Entry and DB Query Response Times for each scenario:
 Select Results / Compare Results
 Check the box next to Global Statistics / DB Entry / Response Time (sec)
 Change the filter to “average”
 Click “show”
 Uncheck the box next to Global Statistics / DB Entry / Response Time (sec)
 Repeat these steps for Global Statistics / DB Query / Response Time (sec)
16
Generate a Web report for the “DS3” scenario, and then launch it:
 Select Results / Statistic Report / Generate Web Report and press “OK”
 Select Results / Statistic Report / Launch Last Report
17
View DB Query Response Time:
 If you have more than one Web report, you will start at your Simulation
Reports Home Page and would then have to select the simulation report you
wish to view
 If this is the first report ever generated, you will bypass this home page
 Find and view the results for Report: User Selected / Global Statistics / DB
Query / Response Time
 Exit the browser
End of Lab #5
18
Lab #6: Building Network Topologies
Background
Reduce simulation time by selecting effective topology scale and traffic types while
maintaining accuracy of database response time statistics
 For the purposes of this lab, it is assumed that on average an IP packet is about 1000
bits in size
Instructions
Open “1203_Lab1” project
1. Use Hide/Show All Graphs button to view saved results
2. Observe that DB traffic represents less than 10% of total traffic on network
3. Note that all sites contain explicitly defined workstations
4. Switch to second scenario, “Explicit_Web_Traffic_Only”
5. Use Hide/Show All Graphs button to open saved results
6. Each graph shows the average throughput on a WAN link in either direction
7. Note the amount of traffic that flows between each city
 Example: Traffic between Dallas and Denver
 Observe steady state traffic in both directions
 Dallas -> Denver = 2200bps
 Denver -> Dallas = 100,000bps
Arrows
indicate
direction of
traffic flow
19
8. Complete the matrix below using the same technique as in previous step.
Avg throughput
Source Destination (bps)
Atlanta.Router Denver.Router 6000
Atlanta.Router Miami.Router
Atlanta.Router Tampa.Router 100000
Chicago.Router Denver.Router 12000
Chicago.Router Detroit.Gateway
Dallas.Router Denver.Router 2200
Miami.Router Atlanta.Router 2000
Tampa.Router Atlanta.Router 2100
Washington DC.Router Pittsburgh.Router 2100
9. Switch to third scenario, “Aggregation_Explicit_and_Conv_Pair_Traffic”

10. In each site, aggregate workstations into 100Base-T LAN objects
11. Set the “Number of Workstations” attribute for each LAN object equal to the number
of clients that were aggregated
12. Set all LAN objects to run Database profile only
 Right-click on any LAN object and select “Select Similar Nodes” option
 Edit the “Application: Client Supported Profiles” table
 Database profile should be the only one in the list
 Return to main attribute list
 Enable “Apply Changes to Selected Objects” checkbox and press OK
13. Use results observed from step 9 to convert HTTP traffic into conversation pairs
i. Use “Export Conversation Pairs” option in traffic menu to export existing
traffic to spreadsheet with settings below:
ii. Use throughput values from matrix in step 9 to fill in values in spreadsheet
iii. Set “Avg Pkt Size” value to 1000 for all entries
iv. Save file and exit from Excel
v. Import modified file into topology using Import Conversation Pairs /
Spreadsheet option in the Traffic menu making sure that existing traffic is
overwritten
14. Run a simulation for two hour duration and note time to complete simulation (wall-
clock time)
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15. Compare results for “DB Query Response Time” statistic for all scenarios
 Select “Compare Results” option from the Results menu
 Select Global Statistics / DB Query / Response Time (sec)
 Press “Show” button to plot results
 Right click on panel and select Draw Style / Discrete option
 Change “As Is” field in compare results window to “average”
 Press “Show” button to plot additional results graph
Optional
Model the effect of twice as many users on the network.
1. Scale conversation pair traffic by 100% by using the “Scale Network Traffic” option
in the conversation pair browser
2. At each site, double the number of workstations in each LAN object
3. Run simulation for two hours and note simulation run time (wall-clock time)
4. Compare database application response time for all three scenarios
Conclusion
 Aggregating workstations into LANs and modeling HTTP traffic as conversation pair
traffic significantly reduced time to run simulation while maintaining accuracy of
results.

 Using methodologies to build network topologies and select traffic can allow you to
run studies efficiently without sacrificing accuracy.
21
LAB #7: Application Response Time Engineering
Background
Apply SMARTE to deploy application for EuroBank and meet the defined Service Level
Agreement (SLA).
 EuroBank has 12 branches located across Europe with a central office in London
 Data center is located in Zurich along with a data warehouse server that replicates
bulk information from central offices located across the world
 New database application to replicate branch data is being deployed at all European
branches characterized by an ACE model.
 SLA for new application is defined as <25s response time 95% of the time
 Effect of additional applications on network elements has been configured as
conversation pair traffic and device loads
Instructions
1. Use Hide/Show All Graphs button to show application response time and SLA
compliance graphs
2. Use “Find Top Results” option in Results menu to help determine bottlenecks
3. Duplicate the scenario to test a solution
4. Run a simulation for one hour duration
5. View results to see if solution meets SLA requirements
 Press Hide/Show All graphs button
 Go to Results Menu and select Panel Templates followed by Create from All
Panels option
 To load graphs with new data, go to Results Menu and select Panel Templates
followed by Load with Latest Results option
6. If SLA is not met, repeat steps 2 through 5
Optional
 Edit the “data rate” attributes on WAN links so that the values are in multiples of T1
data rates (i.e., 1.544 Mbps, 3.088 Mbps, 4.632 Mbps, etc.).
 This prevents over provisioning of bandwidth in the network and would be a more
cost effective method of addressing bandwidth and transmission delay issues in the
network.
22
Suggestions and Hints
 To deploy a new server which supports an ACE application:
1. Use object palette to add server object to topology
2. Connect server to the network
3. Set “Application: ACE Tier Configuration” attribute to “Server” in the new
server’s attribute table
4. Remove support for ACE application from original server by setting attribute
in step 3 to “Unspecified”
 Increasing the speed of a link will not only increase bandwidth but will also reduce
transmission delay
Conclusions
 Use of SMARTE with ACE helps study effect of deploying custom applications on
existing network
 IT Guru can help isolate potential bottlenecks and test different solutions in a virtual
network environment
23
LAB #8: Traffic Engineering using MPLS
Background
Use MPLS to address the problem of under-utilized links in a WAN
 Traffic on this WAN is represented as conversation pairs

 Details on MPLS model attributes is available in the README scenario
 Additional information about each scenario is included in an associated README
file
Instructions
Baseline Scenario:
1. Study the README for details about traffic flows
2. Use the Hide/Show All Graphs button to look at included results
3. Note the amount of traffic on links between LSR4 & LSR2 as well as LSR2 & LSR5
TrafEng_using_MPLS scenario:
1. Create FECs for traffic going to sites 7 and 14
 Edit “MPLS Configuration Utility” attributes
 Edit “FEC Specifications” table
o Add row to table
 FEC Name: site_7_traffic
 FEC Details / Destination Address: 192.0.27.2
o Add 2nd row to table
 FEC Name: site_14_traffic
 FEC Details / Destination Address: 192.0.21.2
2. Create traffic trunk profile
 Edit “Traffic Trunk Profile” table and add one profile with the following
characteristics:
o Trunk Name: 10 Mbps AF1x
o Max Bit Rate: 10,000,000
o Avg Bit Rate: 4,000,000
o Max Burst Size: 1,000,000
o Traffic Class: EF
3. Define LSPs from LER1 to LER4 and LER2 to LER5
o Using the 1203_Labs3_4_Palette, use the MPLS_E-LSP_Static Path
object to set up LSPs following the paths below:
 LER2  LSR1  LSR3  LSR2  LSR5  LER5
 LER1  LSR1  LSR4  LSR2  LSR5  LER4
4. Configure MPLS on LER1
 Edit the “MPLS Parameters” table located in router attributes table
 Edit the “Traffic Engineering Configuration” table
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o Insert new row
o Click on Interface In field and apply binding to “Intf #1” only
o Select “site_7_traffic” in the FEC field
o Select “10 Mbps AF1x” in the Traffic Trunk field
o Select “LER1 – LER4” as the primary LSP in the LSP field
o Insert new row
o Click on Interface In field and apply binding to “Intf #1” only
o Select “site_14_traffic” in the FEC field
o Select “10 Mbps AF1x” in the Traffic Trunk field
o Select “LER2 – LER5” as the primary LSP in the LSP field
6. Select “Update LSP Details” from the Protocols / MPLS menu
8. Compare FTP upload time for two sites
 In the Scenario menu, select the Scenario Components option followed by Import
 Select “Analysis Configuration” in the drop down list
 Select “1203_Lab3-Baseline” from the list
Panels option

 MPLS terminology is defined in the README scenario
 Additional information about configuration of each scenario is included in the
associated README
Conclusion
 Traffic Engineering methodology can be used within IT Guru to test variety MPLS
configurations in virtual environment before they are deployed
25
LAB #9: Simulation Methodology for
the Analysis of QoS
Goal
Set up QoS on the network to provide differentiated services for FTP sessions between
two sites. Traffic from one site should be given priority over the other without creating
unacceptable response time for the low priority traffic.
Background
 FTP Application has already been configured and profiled for use by Site 3 and Site 4
 LSPs have been pre-configured in the model
 Response time for user at site 3 should be less than 60 seconds on average
 Response time for user at site 4 should be less than 80 seconds on average
 Additional information about each scenario is included in an associated README
file
Instructions
1. Study the README for the details about the configured FTP traffic
2. Create a FEC for FTP traffic
 Edit the “MPLS Configuration Utility” attributes
 Edit the “FEC Specifications” table, add one row and set values to:
o FEC Name: FTP Traffic
o FEC Details / Destination Port: FTP Server
3. Create a traffic trunk profile for Site 4
 Edit “Traffic Trunk Profile” table and add profile with the following
characteristics:
o Trunk Name: 64 Kbps AF1x
o Max Bit Rate: 64,000
o Avg Bit Rate: 32,000
o Max Burst Size: 32,000
o Traffic Class: AF11
o Out of Profile Action: Transmit Unchanged
9. Create a traffic trunk profile for Site 3
 Edit the “MPLS Configuration Utility” attributes
 Edit the “Traffic Trunk Profile” table and add profile with the following
characteristics:
o Trunk Name: 64 Kbps AF3x
o Max Bit Rate: 64,000
o Avg Bit Rate: 32,000
o Max Burst Size: 32,000
o Traffic Class: AF31
26
o Out of Profile Action: Transmit Unchanged
10. Configure queuing scheme
 Edit the “QoS configuration utility” attributes
 Edit the “WFQ Profiles” table
 Edit “PHB Based” queues configuration table
o “Classification Scheme” table in each row defines Diffserv codepoint associated
with defined weight
o Select weight to produce response times defined in Background Information
section for this lab.
o Insert a new row
 Click on Interface In field and apply binding to “Intf #1” only
 Select “FTP Traffic” in the FEC field
 Select “64 Kbps AF3x” in the Traffic Trunk field
 Select “LER2 – LER5” as the primary LSP in the LSP field
o Insert 2nd row
 Click on Interface In field and apply binding to “Intr #2” only
 Select “FTP Traffic” in the FEC field
 Select “64 Kbps AF1x” in the Traffic Trunk field
 Select “LER2 – LER5” as the primary LSP in the LSP field
12. Enable QoS on outgoing interface of LER2
 Edit the “IP Routing Parameters” table for LER2
 Edit the “Interface Information” table
 Edit the “QoS Information” field for IF0
 Select “WFQ” as the queuing scheme and “PHB Based” as the profile
14. Compare FTP upload time for two sites
 In the Scenario menu, select the Scenario Components option followed by Import
 Select “Analysis Configuration” in the drop down list
 Select “1203_Lab4_REF-MPLS_with_Diffserv_REF” from the list
Panels option
15. If response times are not within defined limits, adjust the weights that were set in step
5 and re-run the simulation until response time limits are met
27
Optional
 Configure a SLA to validate results of the QoS configuration
 Try using a queuing scheme other than WFQ to meet the SLA

 MPLS terminology is defined in the README scenario
 Additional information about configuration of each scenario is included in the
associated README
Conclusion
 Use SMAQ to conduct QoS studies and test different queuing schemes in virtual
network environment
28
Lab #10 Creating Node Model
Purpose: Create 2 node models, one representing the transmitter node in Washington DC,
and the other representing the receiver node in Philadelphia.
Note: Throughout this lab and others, screenshots have been included. As you are going
through the steps in the labs, look for these to help guide you.
Part 1: Create the transmitter node. Build a node model to represent the transmitter of
bank transactions originating in Washington, D.C.
1) Select File  New - Node Model

2) Create a processor: Press the Create processor button on the toolbar and left-click
in the workspace. Right-click to stop creating processor modules.
3) Create a point-to-point transmitter: press the Create point-to-point transmitter
button on the toolbar and left-click in the workspace. Right-click to stop
creating transmitter modules.
4) Create packet stream: Press the Create packet stream button on the toolbar and
left-click on the processor, and then the transmitter. Right-click to stop creating
packet streams
5) Your node model should look like the above picture
6) Configure Node Interfaces: Select Interfaces  Node Interfaces.
7) In the “Node Type” table:
a. set: mobile = no
b. set: satellite = no
8) Change the icon for the node. Under default icon click on “fixed_comm.” A
window comes up with icons. Click on “green_terminal.”
9) Click OK
10) Save the node model: select File / Save and name the model
“<your_initials>_transmitter_nd”
29
11) Configure the Processor. Edit the attributes of the processor module and enter
these values:
a. name = gen
b. process model = simple_source
c. Packet Interarrival Time
i. Distribution Name = exponential
ii. Mean Outcome = 0.5
iii. Click OK
d. Packet Size
i. Distribution Name = normal
ii. Mean Outcome = 3200
iii. Variance = 400
iv. Click OK
e. packet format = <initials>_trans_pkt
f. Click OK
12) Edit the attributes of the transmitter module and enter these values:
30
a. name = trans
b. channel -> data rate = unspecified, click OK
c. Click OK
Note: By entering a data rate of “unspecified”, we are telling the transmitter to use the
data rate of whatever link gets connected to it.
13) Specify Node Statistics

a. Select Interfaces/Node Statistics
31
b. Left-click in the first field of the “Orig. Name” column.
c. Select the statistic:
i. point-to-point transmitter/trans.channel [0].queue size (bits)
ii. Click the Promote button
d. Left-click in the second field of the “Orig. Name” column.
e. Select the statistic:
i. point-to-point transmitter/trans.channel[0].throughput (bits/sec)
ii. Click the Promote button
f. Click OK.
14) Select File  Save.
15) Close the “<your_initials>_transmitter_nd” Node Editor window. The transmitter
node is now finished.
Lab 10, Part 2: Create the Receiver Node

1) Select File  New - Node Model
2) Place one point-to-point receiver and one processor in the workspace
32
3) Connect them with a packet stream
4) Your node should look like this:
5) Configure Node Interfaces. Select Interface  Node Interfaces

a. In the “Node Type” table set
i. mobile = no
ii. satellite = no
b. Change the icon for the node
i. Under default icon click on “fixed_comm.”
ii. Click on “server”
6) Click OK
7) Save the node model file: select File  Save and name the model
“<your_initials>_receiver_nd”
8) Select the Node Statistics of interest
a. Select Interfaces/Node Statistics
b. Left-click in the first field of the “Orig. Name” column
c. Select the statistic:
i. Point-point receiver/rec.channel [0]. throughput (bits/sec)
ii. Click Promote button
d. Click OK
9) On the receiver module, set the data rate of the channel to be “unspecified”, as
you did in step 12 of creating the transmitter node.
10) Select: File  Save
11) Close the “<your_initials>_receiver_nd” Node Editor window.
The Receiver Node is now complete
<End of Lab 10>

Lab #11 Create Link Model
Purpose: Create a link model
33
1) Select File  New - Link Model
2) Change “yes” to “no” for the “bus” and “bus tap” link types.
3) Click on the attribute “data rate”, and type in “9600.”
A link model includes a set of attributes that specify which “Pipeline Stages” the link will
use. The Pipeline Stages specify how packets are transmitted from source to destination.
They determine such things as the transmission delay, propagation delay, bit errors,
interference, etc. There are Pipeline Stages available to model the three types of
transmission mechanisms available in Modeler:
- Point-to-point
- Bus
- Radio
For the purposes of this lab, we are going to set this link to use the default behavior for
point-to-point links by setting these attributes:
4) Set the following Pipeline Stages:

a. ecc model = dpt_ecc
b. error model = dpt_error
c. propdel model = dpt_propdel
d. txdel model = dpt_txdel
5) Save the new link model; press File / Save, and name the file
“<initials>_pt_base_9600”
6) Close the Link Editor
<End of Lab 11>
Lab #12: Completing the Bank Network
34
Purpose: To create a project to include the bank network discussed.
In the last lab, we created nodes to represent the Philadelphia bank and the Washington
DC bank (<your_initials>_receiver_nd and <your_initials>_transmitter_nd). We also
created a type of link to connect them. We will now create this simple network, run a
simulation, and view our results.
1) Create a new project

a. Select File  New - Project
b. Name the new project “bank_net”. Name the initial scenario “baseline”
c. When the “Startup Wizard” appears, select “Quit”
2) Set background map: Select View / Background / Set Border Map / USA
3) Zoom in on Wash/Phil. Region
a. Press Zoom button and draw box around region
b. Or, use the Page-Up and Page-Down keys to zoom and unzoom
4) Open object palette by clicking on the far left button on the toolbar
5) Create a custom object palette

a. Press the Configure Palette button in the object palette
b. Press the Clear button
c. Select Node Models and include the “<your_initials>_receiver_nd” and
“<your_initials>_transmitter_nd” node models
d. Click OK
e. Select Link Models and include “<your_initials>_pt_base_9600”
f. Click OK
g. Select Save in the “Configure Palette” dialog box
h. When prompted, name the palette “Bank_net_palette”
i. Click OK (“Save” window)
j. Click OK again (“Configure Palette” window)
6) Place nodes and link
35
a. Place a “<your_initials>_transmitter_nd” near Washington D.C.
b. Place a “<your_initials>_receiver_nd” near Philadelphia
c. Name the two “WDC_src” and “Philly_dest”
d. Draw a simplex link (<your_initials>_pt_base_9600) from Washington
to Philadelphia
7) Close the object palette
8) Verify links
a. Press Verify Links button
b. Click OK
c. If the link between Washington and Philadelphia becomes marked with a
red “X”, check the following:
i. Are you using a simplex link?
ii. Is the link pointing from Washington to Philadelphia?
iii. Is the Washington DC node of the type
“<your_initials>_transmitter_nd”?
iv. Is the Philadelphia node of the type
“<your_initials>_receiver_nd”?
d. If you can’t get “Verify Links” to be successful, a TA or the instructor can
help you
9) Save the project: press File  Save

Now that we have drawn the topology, we need to tell Modeler what statistics we are
interested in collecting.
36
10) In the Project Editor select “Choose Individual Statistics” from the Simulation
menu. This brings up the “Choose Results” dialog box
11) In the “Choose Results” dialog box, select the following
a. Node Statistics
i. point-to-point receiver / throughput (bits/sec)
ii. point-to-point transmitter / queue size (bits)
iii. point-to-point transmitter / throughput (bits/sec)
b. Link Statistics
i. point-to-point / utilization
c. Click OK
The node statistics available should look familiar. When we created the transmitter_nd
and receiver_nd nodes, these are the statistics we specified in the “Node Statistics” dialog
box (see Lab #6). By selecting them there, we told Modeler that those were the statistics
that would be of most interest to someone using that node. They therefore show up in the
“Choose Results” dialog box in steps 10 and 11 above.
You may remember that there were other statistics that were available, which we did not
add to that list. Where are these statistics?
The statistics you do not add to the “Node Statistics” list (when creating a node model)
are still available for collection, it just requires a different method. If you want to collect
a statistic that does not show up in the “Choose Results” dialog box, you need to use the
Probe Editor. The Probe Editor will not be covered in this session.
12) Configure and Run the Simulation

a. Click on the Configure/Run Simulation button on the toolbar:
b. Set the duration to 30 minutes
37
c. Click on the Run button
While the simulation runs, view the attributes of the Washington DC node (packets/sec,
size of the packets) and the link (data rate) to help determine what the results should be:
- What is the throughput (in bits/second) at the WDC transmitter?
________ bits/second
- What is the throughput (in bits/second) at the Philadelphia receiver?
________ bits/second
- What is the utilization of the D.C. to Philadelphia link? ________
- Does the queue size of the WDC transmitter steadily increase? ________
To figure answers, we need to look at the load offered to the 9600 baud modem at the
WDC node.
Load = (1 pk/ 0.5 sec)(3200 bits/pk + (64 bits/field)(2 fields)) = 6656 bits/sec.
What is the throughput (in bits/second) at the WDC transmitter?

6656 bits/second Since the load is less than data rate of transmitter, throughput =
load.
What is the throughput (in bits/second) at the Philadelphia receiver?

6656 bits/second Whatever is transmitted, is received. For point- to- point links,
throughput at a transmitter should always equal throughput at the respective receiver.
What is the utilization of the D.C. to Philadelphia link?

69% [Calculated by figuring load over capacity, (6656 bits/sec) / (9600 bits/sec).]
Does the queue size of the WDC transmitter steadily increase?

No. Clearly, 6656 bits/sec is less than 9600 bits/sec.] In a later lab, we'll learn how to
filter the raw data and take a time average of this data to see if it is really increasing.
13) Once the simulation is complete, graph the results for the statistics we collected,
to verify our calculations
a. Click on the “View Results” button on the toolbar:
b. To view a statistic by itself in one graph, follow these steps:
i. Uncheck other statistics you may already have checked
ii. Check the statistic of interest
38
iii. Choose a filter (average, as is, CDF, etc)
iv. Click the Show button
c. Using the above method, graph the following statistics
i. Object Statistics/Philly_dest/point-to-point receiver/throughput
ii. Object Statistics/WDC_src/point-to-point transmitter/queue size
iii. Object Statistics/WDC_src/trans/channel [0]/point-to-point
transmitter/throughput
iv. Object Statistics/WDC_src->Philly_dest [0]/point-to-point
/utilization
Your graphs should look like this:
If your results do not match, a TA or the instructor can help you determine why.
<End of Lab 12>
Lab #13: Expanding the Bank Network
Purpose: To expand our original bank network to include more sources and destinations,
and to include a new switch node. We will modify an existing process model to match be
behavior we wish from our new switch.
39
The bank’s new network looks like this:
Before creating this topology, we need to create a new node to represent our switch. Here
are the specs we have for this switch:
- It supports 4 inputs and 2 outputs
- It takes an input from any input port and sends it to a random output port
- The internal queue behaves as acb_fifo, with a processing rate of 76,800
bits per second
Create a new node model that looks like the following picture. Try to create it without
the step-by-step instructions on the following page. The transceivers should take any
packet format, and have a data rate of “unspecified”. The queue module uses the process
acb_fifo, with a service rate of 76800
1) Create a new node model by selecting File/New – Node Model
2) Place and connect the appropriate modules

a. Place 4 point to point receivers as shown
b. Place a queue module as shown
c. Place 2 point to point transmitters
d. Connect the modules with packet streams
3) Edit the queue’s attributes
40
a. Change its process model from sink to acb_fifo
b. Set the service rate to 76800
c. Name the queue “fifo_queue”
4) Change the channel data rates
a. Select all the transceivers
b. Edit attributes of one of the transceivers
c. Select the Apply Changes to Selected Objects checkbox
d. Change the data rate of the channel from 1024 to unspecified
5) In the Interfaces / Node Interfaces menu:
a. Change mobile and satellite to “no”
b. Change the node icon to “switch”
6) Save the node model as “<your_initials>_switch_node”
At first glance, this node model seems to be finished. However, upon examining the
acb_fifo process model, we would see that it is designed to accept packets from any
number of sources and autonomously forwards them to a single destination module. In
other words, if we leave it like it is, it will forward all packets to the first transmitter.
What we want is for it to randomly choose between the two transmitters. We will need to
create our own version of the acb_fifo process model to do this.
Lab 13, part 2: Create a modified acb_fifo process model
- Open the acb_fifo process model

- Save a copy as switch_process
- Modify the process model to perform random switching.
Try not to use the notes on the next page to make the change.
Hint: Use the KP op_dist_uniform

Online help for KPs: CTRL-SHIFT-H from the Process Editor
Create the modified acb_fifo process model

1) Select File  Open – Process Model – acb_fifo
2) Select File  Save As – <your_initials>_switch_process
3) Open the svc_compl enter executive block by double clicking on the top half of
the svc_compl state
4) Modify line 7 to read op_pk_send_forced (pkptr, (int)op_dist_uniform (2.0));
5) Save the enter executives window: File/Save (in the Enter Execs window)
6) Since we’re making modifications, let’s change the default service to meet our
specifications:
a. Under the menu Interfaces, choose Model Attributes
b. Change the service rate default value from 9600 to 76800
41
c. Click OK
7) Save the process model: File  Save (in the process editor)
8) Compile it with the orange button on the right of the taskbar.
9) Close the Process Editor
Now that we have a new process to replace acb_fifo, we need to update our switch node
to use it.
Modify our node model

1) Open the <your_initials>_switch_node node model
2) Modify the queue’s attributes to use the new process model
a. Edit the queue’s attributes
b. Change the process model from acb_fifo to
<your_initials>_switch_process
3) Save the node model, and close it.
Now that we have our new node model complete, we can place the topology.
1) Open the project bank_net if it’s not already open

2) Scenario/Duplicate Scenario – Name the new scenario “switched”
3) Add the switch node to the palette:
a. Open the palette, press Configure Palette
b. Press Node Models, and then add your node model
c. Save your palette and close the configure palette window
4) Add source, switch, and destination nodes and connect them with links
a. It is not necessary for your network to look exactly like the one shown on
the previous page, but these rules need to be followed:
i. There are 4 transmitter nodes
ii. There are 12 switch nodes
iii. There are 3 receiver nodes
iv. Each switch must have two outgoing links, and no more than four
incoming links
b. Name the servers Philly_dest, Philly_dest_0, and Philly_dest_1
42
5) Since you duplicated the previous scenario, statistics are already chosen. Run the
simulation to collect the same statistics for this new topology
6) When the simulation is complete, use the View Results button to graph the Point-
to-Point Receiver Throughput for the three destination nodes (results are from one
topology; yours may differ). To graph many statistics together on one panel,
follow these steps:
a. Unselect statistics you are not interested in
b. Select all of the statistics you want in one graph
c. Select “Statistics Overlaid” from the left pulldown menu
d. Select a filter (As Is, average, etc)
e. Click on the Show button
<End of Lab 13>
Lab #14: Creating Process Model

Purpose: To create a new process model from scratch. You will learn how to write your
own statistics in a process model.
There is more than one way to create any process model. The instructions in this lab will
create the desired model using 3 states, and will look like this:
43
 The INIT state, specified as a forced (green) state, for statistic registration.
 ETE_Destroy, specified as a forced (green) state, to process a packet (in this
case, compute its ETE delay and destroy it)
 WAIT, specified as an unforced (red) state because the process is waiting for an
interrupt
1) Select: File  New - Process Model

2) Create 3 states in the work space
3) Connect the states in the following manner
Note: Left-clicking while drawing a transition will add vertices to your transition.
When you reach the next state, left click again and the transition will have a curved
shape if you haven’t drawn a straight line.
a. Left-click on the “Create Transition” button. Starting at “st_1”, connect

“st_1” to “st_2”
b. Starting at “st_2” create a transition to “st_3”.
44
d. Starting at “st_3”, create a transition back to “st_2”
4) Right-click on each state and set the following attributes

a. st_1
i. name = INIT
ii. status = forced
b. st_2
i. name = ETE_Destroy
ii. status = forced
c. st_3
i. name = WAIT
ii. Keep status = unforced
5) Edit the attributes of the transition going from the “WAIT” state to the
“ETE_destroy” state, and set the “condition” attribute to: PK_ARRIVAL (This is
the name of the macro for this transition)
6) Click on the Header Block (“HB”) button. Enter the following line of code to
define the macro:
#define PK_ARRIVAL (op_intrpt_type () == OPC_INTRPT_STRM)
7) Click Save in the Header Block window

8) Save our progress thus far. Save the Process model with the name
“ETE_Destroy”
Next, we will create some variables that our process will be using. Variables in a Process
Model can be declared as state, temporary, or global
- State variable
i. Private to the process
ii. Retains its value between invocations
iii. Needed to store persistent information
iv. Declared in the State Variable Block
- Temporary variable
i. Private to the process
ii. Retains its value only until control is returned to the Simulation
Kernel
iii. Useful to support transient calculations
45
iv. Declared in the Temporary Variable Block
- Global variable
i. Provides means for multiple processes to store information in a
common location
ii. Declared in the Header Block
9) Create Temporary Variables

a. Click the “TV” button and enter the following
double ete_delay;
double creation_time;
double current_time;
int stream_index;
Packet* pkptr;
b. Click Save (In the “temporary variables” dialog box)
These are temporary variables because we don’t need to remember their values from the
last interrupt. Every interrupt we receive will give us new values for these. We will see
them used later in this lab.
10) Create State Variables

a. Click on the “State Variables” (SV) button
b. In the “state variables” table enter
i. Type = Stathandle
ii. Name = ete_gsh
c. Click OK
46
The OPNET data type “Stathandle” is used to store a “handle” or pointer to a statistic. We
will use this variable to write our statistic values to throughout the simulation. Since we
will be using this Stathandle throughout the simulation, we need to make it a State
Variable, so we can refer to it whenever we want to write a value to it.
There are 4 steps required for writing out statistics in a process model
1. Create a State Variable of type Stathandle
2. Declare the statistic (Under the Interfaces menu)
3. Use op_stat_reg() to tie 1 and 2 together
4. Use op_stat_write() to actually write values to it
Steps 1 – 3 need to only be done once in your code for each statistic.
For our End To End Delay Statistic, we have done step 1.
11) Declare the ETE Delay statistic

a. Select Interfaces/Global Statistics
b. In the “Declare Global Statistics” table enter the following
i. Stat Name = ETE Delay
ii. Mode = Single
iii. Count = N/A
iv. Draw Style = linear
v. Low Bound = 1.0
vi. High Bound = disabled
c. Click OK. (This completes step 2 for using our ETE Delay stat)
12) Double-click on the top half of the “INIT”

a. Enter the following:
/* Register handle for statistic collection. */

ete_gsh = op_stat_reg("ETE Delay", OPC_STAT_INDEX_NONE,
OPC_STAT_GLOBAL);
b. Click File / Save (In the “Enter Execs” window) (This completes step 3
for using our ETE Delay stat)
47
13) Double-click the top half of the “ETE_Destroy” state
a. Enter the following in the “Enter Execs” window
/* Get stream index number. */
stream_index = op_intrpt_strm();
/* Get pointer to packet from stream index. */
pkptr = op_pk_get(stream_index);
/* Get creation time of packet. */
creation_time = op_pk_creation_time_get(pkptr);
/* Get current simulation time. */
current_time = op_sim_time();
/* Calculate ETE Delay. */
ete_delay = (current_time - creation_time);
/* Write statistics. */
op_stat_write(ete_gsh, ete_delay);
/* Destroy packet. */
op_pk_destroy(pkptr);
b. Click File / SAVE (In the “Enter Execs” window)
14) Compile the Process Model

15) Close the Process Editor window
48
Compile the
Process Model by
left-clicking on
this button.
Look for status and error

messages here. If the
compiler encounters any
problems, compiler report
windows will open in the
main workspace.
Now that we have a new Process Model to calculate our ETE delay, we need to modify
our <your_initials>_receiver_nd node model to use this new process.
16) Open the bank_net project and switch to the baseline scenario
a. File / Open / Project / bank_net
b. Scenarios / Switch To Scenario / baseline
17) Double-click on the Philly_dest node to enter the Node editor.
18) Right-click on the “sink” module and edit its attributes

a. Change the following
i. name = ETE_Destroy
ii. process model = ETE_Destroy
b. Click OK
c. Save and close the Node Editor
49
19) Choose the global statistic ETE Delay
a. Simulation / Choose Individual Statistics
b. Global Statistics / ETE Delay
20) Save the project
21) Run the simulation
22) When the simulation is finished, graph the ETE Delay statistics
a. Click the View Results button
b. Select Global Statistics / ETE Delay (Average)
c. Select Global Statistics / ETE Delay (As Is)
23) What is the probability the ETE Delay will be less than 1 second?
a. In the “View Results” window select: Global Statistics / ETE Delay
(Cumulative Distribution [CDF])
b. Place the mouse pointer on the point where the blue curve intersects with
the 1second mark on the horizontal axis. The “tool tips” box will pop up
and tell you the values of the horizontal and vertical axes where your
mouse pointer is located.
Did your results match the below graphs?
What did you get for:

The average end-to-end delay for all packets? ________
The % of packets incurring an end-to-end delay of less than 1 second? ________%
50
<End of Lab 14>
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Using this book

OPNET Modeler Day 1

OPNET Modeler Day 2

Lansing Hotel Reservation Services is a hotel reservation company headquartered

Create a new project:

Answer questions in the Startup Wizard:

Open the Object Palette:

Change to subnet view:

Change Grid Properties:

 Copy the subnet by selecting it and hitting “Control-C”

In Minneapolis, rapidly configure a LAN consisting of 28 workstations connected to a

Add a router to the LAN:

Change name of the router to “cisco_router”:

Connect the Router to the LAN:

Go back to WAN view of network:

Copy the Minneapolis subnet to Detroit, and Atlanta:

Name the subnets “Minneapolis”, “Detroit”, “Atlanta” and “Dallas”:

Save the project:

Place an IP Cloud in the middle of the 4 subnets:

Import background routed traffic into the simulation:

Deploy an Application Config object:

Edit the Application Config object so it sends traffic representative of Lansing’s

Select all workstations to set their user profiles at once:

 Save your project

Run the Simulation:

Create a panel containing both DB Query and DB Entry Response Times:

Run the Simulation:

9. Switch to third scenario, “Aggregation_Explicit_and_Conv_Pair_Traffic”

 Traffic on this WAN is represented as conversation pairs

Suggestions and Hints

Suggestions and Hints

1) Select File  New - Node Model

13) Specify Node Statistics

Lab 10, Part 2: Create the Receiver Node

5) Configure Node Interfaces. Select Interface  Node Interfaces

The Receiver Node is now complete

<End of Lab 10>

4) Set the following Pipeline Stages:

<End of Lab 11>

Lab #12: Completing the Bank Network

1) Create a new project

5) Create a custom object palette

6) Place nodes and link

9) Save the project: press File  Save

12) Configure and Run the Simulation

What is the throughput (in bits/second) at the WDC transmitter?

What is the throughput (in bits/second) at the Philadelphia receiver?

What is the utilization of the D.C. to Philadelphia link?

Does the queue size of the WDC transmitter steadily increase?

1) Create a new node model by selecting File/New – Node Model

2) Place and connect the appropriate modules

Lab 13, part 2: Create a modified acb_fifo process model

- Open the acb_fifo process model

Hint: Use the KP op_dist_uniform

Create the modified acb_fifo process model

Modify our node model

1) Open the project bank_net if it’s not already open

<End of Lab 13>