Patent ID: 8893035

Claim:
A method of configuring a simulator, said method comprising: generating a graphical user interface for display on a computer system, wherein said graphical user interface is operable to generate, based on a user interaction with said graphical user interface, configuration data operable to define a plurality of simulated devices for instantiation by said simulator for analyzing a performance of a system under test, said graphical user interface comprising an on-screen display operable to allow a user to define a customized attribute for at least one simulated device of said plurality of simulated devices, wherein said customized attribute is unique to said at least one simulated device; generating said configuration data for said plurality of simulated devices; storing said configuration data in a first database comprised in said simulator, and a second database comprised in a device abstraction layer, the device abstraction layer being included in said system under test and logically disposed between said plurality of simulated devices and a plurality of applications, said abstraction layer further comprising a device configuration management component and a device monitoring component; configuring, via the device configuration management component, said device abstraction layer based on said configuration data stored in said second database to implement communication between said simulator and the device monitoring component operable to process received simulated output data from said plurality of simulated devices; automatically instantiating said plurality of simulated devices by said simulator; communicating a request to said device abstraction layer for a plurality of commands associated with said plurality of simulated devices; accessing said plurality of commands communicated from said device abstraction layer by said simulator; and generating simulated device data based on an execution of said plurality of commands and said configuration data stored in said first database; wherein said simulator is operable to generate said simulated device data for a subset of said plurality of simulated devices based on said configuration data, wherein said simulated device data is operable to be used to analyze a performance of an additional component of the system under test coupled to receive said simulated device data, and wherein analyzing the performance of the system under test includes analyzing performance of said device abstraction layer.