The OPNET IT GURU has been in existence for years and designed to be used for the industry and the academics. The simulation software is now in version 10.0 and equipped with abundant features such as: modeling networlc topology and traffic, application impact assessment, and server capacity planning

Chen, Jen-Chung Victor

The OPNET IT GURU has been in existence for years and designed to be used for the industry and the academics. The simulation software is now in version 10.0 and equipped with abundant features such as: modeling network topology and traffic, application impact assessment, and server capacity planning. The features of modeling network topology and traffic are ideal for network engineers to experiment different kinds of scenarios before implementation of any networks, which in turn could cost the organizations less on the IT budget. The application impact assessment is useful when measuring the end-to-end time of the deployed or to-be-deployed applications. The end-to-end response time is important to EC transactions. The server capacity planning can be used for IT departments to do what-if analysis before they reallocate IT resources such as production or application servers

Chen, Jeng-Chung Victor

CSUSB ScholarWorks

Journal of International Technology and InformationManagementVolume 13 | Issue 4 Article 72004Review of the OPNET IT GURU SoftwareJeng-Chung Victor ChenNational Cheng-Kung University, TaiwanFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/jitimPart of the Business Intelligence Commons, E-Commerce Commons, Management InformationSystems Commons, Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons, OperationalResearch Commons, and the Technology and Innovation CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by CSUSB ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of InternationalTechnology and Information Management by an authorized administrator of CSUSB ScholarWorks. For more information, please contactscholarworks@csusb.edu.Recommended CitationChen, Jeng-Chung Victor (2004) "Review of the OPNET IT GURU Software," Journal of International Technology and InformationManagement: Vol. 13: Iss. 4, Article 7.Available at: http://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/jitim/vol13/iss4/7Software Review:  OPNET IT GURU             Journal of International Technology and Information Management Review of the OPNET IT GURU Software  Jeng-Chung Victor Chen National Cheng-Kung University, Taiwan  The OPNET IT GURU has been in existence for years and designed to be used for the industry and the academics. The simulation software is now in version 10.0 and equipped with abundant features such as: modeling network topology and traffic, application impact assessment, and server capacity planning.   The features of modeling network topology and traffic are ideal for network engineers to experiment different kinds of scenarios before implementation of any networks, which in turn could cost the organizations less on the IT budget. The application impact assessment is useful when measuring the end-to-end time of the deployed or to-be-deployed applications. The end-to-end response time is important to EC transactions. The server capacity planning can be used for IT departments to do what-if analysis before they reallocate IT resources such as production or application servers.    The OPNET IT GURU can be used as supplemental materials in any computer network courses in IS, MIS, or CS. Currently it is in companion with Peterson and Davie’s (2003) textbook. It supports Windows NT/2000/XP and Solaris 7,8,9 (but not 2.6). Both standalone and server installations are supported but the license prices vary based on the number of computers installed. Since most readers of the JITIM are from the academics, the  evaluation of the software focuses on the ease of use based on the criteria of user friendliness (Schneiderman, 1980; Nielsen, 1999; Johnson, 2002)) as summarized in Table 1.   Table 1:  Evaluation of the Modeling Network Topology and Traffic of the OPNET IT GURU  Functions Advantages Disadvantages Network Creation 1. capable of using pre-created networks in the library 2. capable of editing details 3. capable of creating subnets 4. fast to add or remove devices, e.g. switches 5. capable of labeling nodes Labeling the nodes is tedious especially the network is large. Users can only label the nodes one by one. Information Gathering Providing choices of global or local statistics It is not easy to find the detailed information in either global or local statistics. Not all functions are provided to the models in the library. Different versions provide different statistics functions. Running Simulations 1. capable of creating simulation logs 2. easy access Appropriate statistics functions must be provided first to run the simulation. However, it is slow with big networks. In addition, users need to start over the simulation again if inappropriate statistics functions provided. Look 1. pure graphical with many windows 2. separate window for It is lacking of intuitive icons on the screen and the hierarchical layout makes it hard to find  303 J. C. V. Chen  Volume 13, Number 4 2004 toolbar 3. the look and feel is the same throughout the program; hence no learning curve to adapt to new functions information embedded in deeper layers. Scenarios 1. easy to duplicate 2. capable of switching between scenarios 3. capable of creating multiple scenarios in a single project 4. capable of comparing results from multiple scenarios The multiple scenarios can be confusing especially when comparing among many scenarios since presumably the scenarios in one project do not vary a lot. Web Reports 1. well organized 2. results are categorized clearly under each statistics There is no option to add any more texts in it. There is no ability of customization when creating reports.    REFERENCES  Johnson, J. (2002). GUI bloopers: Don’ts and do’s for software developers and Web  designers. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.  Nielsen, J. (1999). User interface directions for the Web. Communications of the ACM, 42(1), 65-71.  Peterson L. L., & Davie, B. S. (2003). Computer networks: A systems approach. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.  Schneiderman, B. (1980). Software psychology: Human factors in computer and information systems. Cambridge, MA: Winthrop Publishers.    304 

Review of the OPNET IT GURU Software

Journal of International Information ManagementVolume 13 | Issue 4 Article 72004Review of the OPNET IT GURU SoftwareJen-Chung Victor ChenNational Cheng Kung UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/jiimPart of the Management Information Systems CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by CSUSB ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of InternationalInformation Management by an authorized administrator of CSUSB ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact scholarworks@csusb.edu.Recommended CitationChen, Jen-Chung Victor (2004) "Review of the OPNET IT GURU Software," Journal of International Information Management: Vol.13: Iss. 4, Article 7.Available at: http://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/jiim/vol13/iss4/7Softivare Review: OPNET IT GUR U Journal of International Technology and Information Management Review of the OPNET IT GURU Software Jeng-Chung Victor Chen National Cheng-Kung University, Taiwan The OPNET IT GURU has been in existence for years and designed to be used for the industry and the academics. The simulation software is now in version 10.0 and equipped with abundant features such as: modeling networlc topology and traffic, application impact assessment, and server capacity planning. The features of modeling network topology and traffic are ideal for network engineers to experiment different kinds of scenarios before implementation of any networks, which in tum could cost the organizations less on tlie IT budget. The application impact assessment is useful when measuring the end-to-end time of the deployed or to-be-deployed applications. The end-to-end response time is important to EC transactions. The server capacity planning can be used for IT departments to do what-if analysis before they reallocate IT resources such as production or application servers. The OPNET IT GURU can be used as supplemental materials in any computer network courses in IS, MIS, or CS. Currently it is in companion with Peterson and Davie's (2003) textbook. It supports Windows NT/2000/XP and Solaris 7,8,9 (but not 2.6). Both standalone and server installations are supported but the license prices vary bas£)d on the number of computers installed. Since most readers of the JITIM are from the academics, the evaluation of tlie software focuses on the ease of use based on the criteria of user friendliness (Schneiderman, 1980; Nielsen, 1999; Johnson, 2002)) as summarized in Table 1. Table 1: Evaluation of the Modeling Network Topology and Traffic of the OPNET IT GURU Functions Advantages Disadvantages Network Creation 1. capable of using pro­created networks in the library 2. capable of editing details 3. capable of creating subnets 4. fast to add or remove devices, e.g. switches 5. capable of labeling nodes Labeling the nodes is tedious especially the network is large. Users can only label the nodes one by one. Information Gathering Providing choices of global or local statistics It is not easy to find the detailed information in either global or local statistics. Not all functions are provided to the models in the library. Different versions provide different statistics functions. R unning Simulations 1. capable of creating simulation logs 2. easy access Appropriate statistics functions must be provided first to run the simulation. However, it is slow with big networks. In addition, users need to start over the simulation again if inappropriate statistics functions provided. L.ook 1. pure graphical with many windows 2. separate window for It is lacking of intuitive icons on the screen and the hierarchical layout makes it hard to find 303 1Chen: Review of the OPNET IT GURU SoftwarePublished by CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2004J. C. V. Chen Volume 13, Number 4 2004 toolbar 3. the look and feel is the same throughout the program; hence no learning curve to adapt to new functions information embedded in deeper layers. Scenarios 1. easy to duplicate 2. capable of switching between scenarios 3. capable of creating multiple scenarios in a single project 4. capable of comparing results from multiple scenarios The multiple scenarios can be confusing especially when comparing among many scenarios since presumably the scenarios in one project do not vary a lot. Web Reports 1. well organized 2. results are categorized clearly under each statistics There is no option to add any more texts in it. There is no ability of customization when creating reports. REFERENCES Johnson, J. (2002). GUI bloopers: Don 'ts and do's for software developers and Web designers. San Francisco, OA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. Nielsen, J. (1999). User interface directions for the Web. Communications of the A CM, 42( 1), 65-71. Peterson L. L., & Davie, B. S. (2003). Computer networks: A systems approach. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. Schneiderman, B. (1980). Software psychology: Human factors in computer and information systems. Cambridge, MA; Winthrop Publishers. 304 2Journal of International Information Management, Vol. 13 [2004], Iss. 4, Art. 7http://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/jiim/vol13/iss4/7

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