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Visual Network Simulator To Teach Basic Networking?

Posted by timothy on from the sounds-like-a-good-video-game-too dept.

unteer writes "I am a US Peace Corps volunteer currently teaching a computer technician course at a technical college in Kenya. My students have all completed the Kenyan equivalent of high school and have been accepted into a program where they give a year of nation-building non-military service in return for a technical education. My students' course load includes an introduction to computer networking, and this is where my problem lies. Do any of you know of a visual network simulator that can create an interactive network map that allows me, the instructor, to manipulate various components of a network, including the physical media, routing configuration, and which applications are being used to submit data? An example would be to have a visual of the differences between mail traffic and web traffic, and be able to show how the configuration of a wireless network might be different from a wired network. I know this may seem silly, but visuals of all this are critical to getting ideas across. It doesn't even have to be technically accurate, but rather just pictorially accurate, possibly just labeling the various components correctly. Also, it would be highly preferable if it ran on Linux, as I teach using FOSS only."

3 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. Well... by djupedal · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Few years back, someone found out that a certain plant grows branches and leaves identical to network simulation maps. Go organic. Walk outside and study ivy.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life

  2. Re:Application by AHuxley · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Sean Gorman mapped out the US fiber-optic telco fiefdoms.
    Parts of his dissertation where "removed". He showed the choke points and critical links.
    I am not sure how the Kenyan equivalent of the FBI/NSA would respond to a US Peace Corps volunteer mapping out their telco network.
    Most parts of the world are very suspicious of US Peace Corps and the US State department goes to great efforts to try and isolate them from other areas of the US gov.
    If you do map out the network, careful around anything AFRICOM (United States African Command) as they have drones.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  3. that was good by airport+transfer · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    http://www.privateairporttransfer.com/