a multi-part lab exercise for analyzing the effect of peer-to-peer software on a university network
Over the past few years, university campuses have dealt with peer-to-peer software and its usage on their network. While it is easy to see the bandwidth consumption this software uses, other affects on hardware and software have not been adequately studied or taught. Many networking-based classes do not include specific instructional labs that adequately explain what peer-to-peer traffic looks like, what affects it has on a network, and in what ways networks can be designed to handle it better. Through a multi-part lab, students will learn how to create and program Java and MySQL-based applications to monitor the health of a network. This monitoring will include recording CPU, memory, and packet statistics from switches, routers, and firewalls. Additional information can be collected from intrusion protection devices, packet shapers, and content engines if devices are available. Through analysis of the recorded data, students will learn to recognize CPU and memory usage patterns. Additional packet investigating will be used with network protocol analyzing software such as Wireshark. As each step in the lab is completed, students will learn how to appropriately monitor a network using programs they have created. Skills obtained through this lab include better understanding of SNMP; switch, router, and firewall command line configuration; and packet size, type, and analysis. Students will also discover system administration through self-created applications. This analysis and discovery is best understood through studying Layers 2 through 4 of the OSI model. The data collected will indicate how switches (Layer 2), routing (Layer 3), and TCP/UDP packet types (Layer 4) are affected by peer-to-peer software.
peer-to-peer network traffic monitoring networking lab campus network