LITERATURE REVIEW

Computer network design and implementation involves interaction of various networking devices including Servers, network interface cards (NICs), switches, routers, and firewalls. In most cases it is ineffective with respect to time, money, and effort to test the performance of a live network. Computer network simulators are often used to evaluate the system performance without building a real network. However, the operation of a network simulator relies on various stochastic processes, including random number generators. Therefore the accuracy of simulation results and model validation is an important issue. A main concern in wireless network simulations or any simulation efforts is to ensure a model is credible and represents reality. If this can’t be guaranteed, the model has no real value and can’t be used to answer desired questions (McHaney, 1991; Sargent, 2004). For selecting an appropriate network simulator for a particular application, it is important to have good knowledge of the simulator tools available, along with their strengths and weaknesses.