Simulating a multiple segment LAN

Today LANs are being interconnected by means of bridges, routers and gateways to form enterprise-wide networks. Early LAN performance studies have focused on single segment performance and have not addressed LAN interconnection devices. The performance of these devices is important since they can become bottlenecks in large multi-segment networks. Performance data reported by vendors is not applicable to the actual scenarios encountered in an operational network. However, vendor-provided data can be used to calibrate models of interconnection devices that, along with other models, yield performance data for a network. Several software packages are available for modeling LANs. Some of them, though easy to use, contain simplistic, linear models of network interconnection devices which are inadequate for complex configurations. Therefore, modeling a multiple segment LAN requires a more generic and powerful tool such as Network 11.5 which was used for this study. This paper presents the results of the evaluation of some bridges and routers