Architecture
In order to deliver a robust and
scalable solution the simulator has been based on agents. This means that the
actual simulation takes place as a running service. This service can be
installed on any Windows 7 or 8 or Windows Server 2008 or 2012. For control of the
running services you need to run the console in the same place where you
connect to the different agents. From there on it’s simple work to simulate any
device.
Figure 1, An overview
of the Jalasoft Xian SNMP Simulator architecture.
Simulating a device
Simulating a device has been simplified
in this new version. Just open the console and right click on the agent that
you want to simulate an SNMP Device, and then click on ‘Add device’. A simple
wizard appears to help you with the simulation process. In case you don’t have
an agent visible in the console, you just need to right click on the Agent
Manager and choose ‘connect’.
Figure 2, The Jalasoft
Xian SNMP Device Simulator console.
First
you need to select the device you want to simulate and on which agent. The last
one is already preset if you previously right clicked on the agent that you
wanted to begin simulating a device. You have several out of the box options to
chose from for the device that will be simulated. Select the device you want to simulte and
click next. If you want to add a new simulater file you can do so by clicking
‘Add’ and selecting the appropiate file. Normally, Jalasoft support can help
you in the process of creating a simulator file of one of your own real devices.
Figure 3, selecting
the agent and the device to be simulated.
In the IP Address tab you need to select on which IP address you want to simulate the device. It is possible to simulate the same device on multiple IP Addresses. This can come in handy when you want to do some scalability testing. Also, you do need to note that it only shows the IP Addresses that are available on the machine where the agent is installed and adding IP Addresses has to be done manually.
Figure 4, selecting
the IP Address you want to simulate the device with.
The last aspect that you have to configure are the SNMP
settings. You have the option for SNMP v1,v2 and v3 and once selected you need
to provide the security settings of the chosen version.
Figure 5, the SNMP
security settings.
Once you have everything configured to suit your needs, all
you need to do is click ‘Finish’ and the simulation of the device will
automatically start on the agent that you assigned. Depending on the size of
the device this can vary from a few seconds to a few minutes.
Now you have your device simulated and you can add it to
network monitoring tools as if it was a real device. Just bear in mind that it
is a read-only device.
Looking to do more?
Want to do more? Well, you have the
option to create a simulation file from any real SNMP device that you have in
your environment. Also, you can modify the simulation files that the product is
shipped with to increase the ‘action’ of the published values.
When will it be available?
When will it be available?
This new simulator will be freely available around the beginning of may 2013. For more information, keep an eye on this blog or contact Jalasoft Sales.
