Measuring and simulating an 802.3 CSMA/CD LAN

A single 802.3 CatTier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) segment is measured resulting in throughput, response times and workstation parameters for several network nodes. During the measurements, the network can'ied an artificial workload with the characteristics of a real-life workload. A simulation of the laboratory test is developed using the artificial workload parameters and the 802.3 CSMA/CD standard of the Consultative Committee for International Telephony and Telegraphy (CCITT). The measurements show that it is possible to determine the workstation parameters with a great accuracy using simple throughput measurements on an otherwise empty network. It is then possible to isolate exact ethernet parameters during throughput measurements on a network with a known workload. The behaviour measured is reproduced in a simple simulation. The results of the simulation conform to the measured values. Some conclusions are that a 802.3 CSMA/CD segment can be measured and simulated with accurate results. The simulation environment is used to model a real-life ethernet network in circumstances that can not be measured in a real-life situation. Parameters that can be used to fine-tune the simulation are the interframe gap time, and the workstation distance on a network