Visualization ofComputer Networks

By Richard Zschech

Supervisor:

Dr. Paul Coddington,

Dr. Ken Hawick.

Motivations

Computer visualisation techniques offer the opportunity to display complicated sets of information in an easy to view and easy to understand manner.

Computer networks are by their very nature complicated.

Previous 3D Visualization Work

File System Navigator Information Cube

Overview

Development of computer network mapping and visualising program– Develop three-dimensional graph package– Network Mapping and Monitoring package– Graph layout algorithms– Interactive user interface

Final Product

Three-Dimensional Graph Package

Node 1TG

Appearance

Shape

Geometry

Node 2TG

Node NTG

Edge NTG

Edge 1TG

Appearance

Shape

Geometry

Edge 2TG

GraphTG

Issues with Java 3D

Simple to use Slow rendering of graphics

– Difficult to get feel of three-dimensions

– Difficult to interact with the graph

– Can disorient the user

Could use lower level Immediate mode rendering

Network Monitoring Module

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)– For exploring the network using routing tables– Gathering statistics– Building and updating the graph

Management Information Base (MIB)– Object Identifiers– Managed Objects

Serialisation– Abstract Syntax Notation– Basic Encoding Rules

Object Identifiers

Sequence of integers Allocated a textual

name for simplicity Organised into a

global tree of known identifiers

sysUpTime = 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.3

Example MIB Definition

sysUpTime OBJECT-TYPE SYNTAX TimeTicks ACCESS read-only STATUS mandatory DESCRIPTION "The time (in hundredths of a second) since the network management portion of the system was last re-initialized.”

::= { system 3 }

SNMP Tool

Issues With SNMP

Good for gathering fairly static information like connectivity of a network

Does not contain much support for dynamic information about network

Takes a long time to map networks

XML Graph File Example<graph id="ROOTGRAPH"> <position x="0.0" y="0.0" z="0.0"/> <graph id="chook"> <position x="0.0" y="1.0" z="104.4"/> </graph> <graph id="powerhub"> <position x="0.0" y="0.0" z="0.0"/> <node id="dizzy" scale="2.0"> <position x="0.0" y="0.0" z="31.2"/> </node> ... More nodes and edges for powerhub </graph> <edge source="powerhub" dest=“chook"/> ... More nodes and edges for ROOTGRAPH</graph>

Gathering Dynamic Information

Load)AVERAGE(ifsysLoad

ifSpeed/

ifIOPerSecifLoad

enceTimeDiffer

erenceOutputDiffrenceInputDiffeifIOPerSec

Time))/PREV(sysUppTime)(CURR(sysUenceTimeDiffer

Octets)PREV(ifOutOctets)CURR(ifOuterenceOutputDiff

ctets)PREV(ifInOctets)CURR(ifInOrenceInputDiffe

8

100

Node Information Popup Menu

Settings File-- Node Scale settingsSCALE_OBJECT_ID = "ifNumber"SCALE_MAX_VALUE = 100SCALE_MIN_VALUE = 0SCALE_MAX = 10SCALE_MIN = 3SCALE_NON_SNMP = 2

-- Statistics to gather for each nodeNODE_INFO { "Name", "sysDescr"; "Up Time", "sysUpTime"; "Total Speed", SUM("ifSpeed");}

Ring Layout

Sorting

powerhub

lerwick

mathuselah

rosemary

chook

dhpcmac

krypton

titan

colossus

powerhub

titan mathuselah powerhub chook dhpcmac

Sorted Ring Layout

Star Layout

Sorted Star Layout

Sphere Layout

Sorted Sphere Layout

Sorted Central Node Sphere

Hierarchal Layout

Conclusions

Good layouts can be achieved using hierarchical methods.

Good layouts are often application dependant.

Three-dimensional visualisation requires fast rendering and an environment that is easy to interact with.