How to Begin Implement Network Risk Management in NS3

To implement network risk management using NS3, we can follow these steps that comprises of detecting, examining, mitigating, and observing the risks within a simulated network environment. It needs to contain risks such as data breaches, packet drops, service outages, and unauthorized access. Here’s an ordered method to get started with implementing network risk management in ns3.

Steps to Begin Implement Network Risk Management in NS3

1. Understand Network Risk Management

• Risk Identification:
  • Detect potential risks like packet loss, unauthorized access, congestion, or routing failures.
• Risk Analysis:
  • According to the parameters such as delay, throughput, packet delivery ratio, or security violations, compute risks.
• Risk Mitigation:
  • Execute the risk techniques such as redundancy, traffic control, and security protocols.
• Risk Monitoring:
  • Observe the behaviour of network constantly to leverage logging and analytics.

2. Set Up ns3 Environment

• Make sure that we have installed ns3 on the system and working properly:

git clone https://gitlab.com/nsnam/ns-3-dev.git

cd ns-3-dev

./ns3 configure –enable-examples –enable-tests

./ns3 build

• Verify the set up by executing:

./ns3 run hello-simulator

3. Design Network Risk Scenarios

• Describe the network scenarios to replicate the risks:
  • Congestion Risk: Mimic heavy traffic at blockage link.
  • Failure Risk: Replicate the link or node failures.
  • Security Risk: Mimic unauthorized access or packet interception.
• Sample network topology that contains:
  • Clients: Make traffic.
  • Servers: It supports to receive traffic.
  • Router/Firewall: Apply security and routing strategies.

4. Steps to Implement Network Risk Management

(a) Create Nodes

• Describe the nodes which is designed for clients, servers, and intermediary devices such as routers or firewalls:

NodeContainer clients, servers, routers;

clients.Create(1);

servers.Create(1);

routers.Create(1);

(b) Set Up Network Links

• Associate nodes for configuring network links to leverage PointToPointHelper or CsmaHelper:

PointToPointHelper p2p;

p2p.SetDeviceAttribute(“DataRate”, StringValue(“10Mbps”));

p2p.SetChannelAttribute(“Delay”, StringValue(“2ms”));

NetDeviceContainer clientToRouter = p2p.Install(NodeContainer(clients.Get(0), routers.Get(0)));

NetDeviceContainer routerToServer = p2p.Install(NodeContainer(routers.Get(0), servers.Get(0)));

(c) Install Internet Stack

• We can install the Internet stack at each nodes:

InternetStackHelper stack;

stack.InstallAll();

(d) Assign IP Addresses

• Allocate an IP addresses to devices:

Ipv4AddressHelper address;

address.SetBase(“10.1.1.0”, “255.255.255.0”);

Ipv4InterfaceContainer clientRouterInterfaces = address.Assign(clientToRouter);

address.SetBase(“10.1.2.0”, “255.255.255.0”);

Ipv4InterfaceContainer routerServerInterfaces = address.Assign(routerToServer);

(e) Simulate Risks

• Congestion Risk:
  • Utilize UdpEchoClientHelper to make high traffic volume:

UdpEchoClientHelper echoClient(routerServerInterfaces.GetAddress(1), 9);

echoClient.SetAttribute(“MaxPackets”, UintegerValue(1000));

echoClient.SetAttribute(“Interval”, TimeValue(Seconds(0.001))); // High frequency

echoClient.SetAttribute(“PacketSize”, UintegerValue(1024));

• Failure Risk:
  • Replicate the link or node failure with Simulator::Schedule:

Simulator::Schedule(Seconds(5.0), &NetDevice::SetLinkDown, clientToRouter.Get(0)->GetObject<NetDevice>());

Simulator::Schedule(Seconds(7.0), &NetDevice::SetLinkUp, clientToRouter.Get(0)->GetObject<NetDevice>());

• Security Risk:
  • Record unauthorized packet flows with the support of callbacks:

void PacketMonitor(Ptr<const Packet> packet) {

NS_LOG_UNCOND(“Packet intercepted: ” << *packet);

}

routers.Get(0)->GetObject<Ipv4>()->TraceConnectWithoutContext(“Tx”, MakeCallback(&PacketMonitor));

5. Monitor Risk Metrics

(a) FlowMonitor:

• Monitor the risk parameters such as delay, throughput, and packet loss using FlowMonitor:

FlowMonitorHelper flowmon;

Ptr<FlowMonitor> monitor = flowmon.InstallAll();

Simulator::Run();

monitor->SerializeToXmlFile(“risk-metrics.xml”, true, true);

(b) Custom Logging:

• Record certain events like packet drops or routing failures:

void LogPacketDrop(Ptr<const Packet> packet) {

NS_LOG_UNCOND(“Packet dropped: ” << *packet);

}

routers.Get(0)->GetObject<Ipv4>()->TraceConnectWithoutContext(“Drop”, MakeCallback(&LogPacketDrop));

6. Mitigate Risks

• Congestion Mitigation:
  • Apply bandwidth limits or give precedence to traffic to exploit traffic control:

TrafficControlHelper tch;

tch.SetRootQueueDisc(“ns3::FqCoDelQueueDisc”);

tch.Install(clientToRouter);

• Failure Mitigation:
  • For fault tolerance, we can integrate the redundant links or nodes.
  • Make use of dynamic routing protocols such as OSPF or AODV.
• Security Mitigation:
  • Execute the packet filtering on the router for security mitigation:

void PacketFilter(Ptr<const Packet> packet, Ptr<Ipv4> ipv4, uint32_t interface) {

Ipv4Header ipv4Header;

packet->PeekHeader(ipv4Header);

Ipv4Address source = ipv4Header.GetSource();

if (source == Ipv4Address(“10.1.1.1”)) {

NS_LOG_UNCOND(“Unauthorized packet from ” << source << ” dropped.”);

}

}

routers.Get(0)->GetObject<Ipv4>()->TraceConnectWithoutContext(“Rx”, MakeCallback(&PacketFilter));

7. Complete Example Code

Below is a basic sample structure to integrate the congestion and failure risks:

#include “ns3/core-module.h”

#include “ns3/network-module.h”

#include “ns3/internet-module.h”

#include “ns3/point-to-point-module.h”

#include “ns3/applications-module.h”

#include “ns3/flow-monitor-module.h”

using namespace ns3;

void LogPacketDrop(Ptr<const Packet> packet) {

NS_LOG_UNCOND(“Packet dropped: ” << *packet);

}

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {

CommandLine cmd;

cmd.Parse(argc, argv);

// Create nodes

NodeContainer clients, servers, routers;

clients.Create(1);

servers.Create(1);

routers.Create(1);

// Create links

PointToPointHelper p2p;

p2p.SetDeviceAttribute(“DataRate”, StringValue(“10Mbps”));

p2p.SetChannelAttribute(“Delay”, StringValue(“2ms”));

NetDeviceContainer clientToRouter = p2p.Install(NodeContainer(clients.Get(0), routers.Get(0)));

NetDeviceContainer routerToServer = p2p.Install(NodeContainer(routers.Get(0), servers.Get(0)));

// Install Internet stack

InternetStackHelper stack;

stack.InstallAll();

// Assign IP addresses

Ipv4AddressHelper address;

address.SetBase(“10.1.1.0”, “255.255.255.0”);

Ipv4InterfaceContainer clientRouterInterfaces = address.Assign(clientToRouter);

address.SetBase(“10.1.2.0”, “255.255.255.0”);

Ipv4InterfaceContainer routerServerInterfaces = address.Assign(routerToServer);

// Set up applications

UdpEchoServerHelper echoServer(9);

ApplicationContainer serverApp = echoServer.Install(servers.Get(0));

serverApp.Start(Seconds(1.0));

serverApp.Stop(Seconds(10.0));

UdpEchoClientHelper echoClient(routerServerInterfaces.GetAddress(1), 9);

echoClient.SetAttribute(“MaxPackets”, UintegerValue(1000));

echoClient.SetAttribute(“Interval”, TimeValue(Seconds(0.001)));

echoClient.SetAttribute(“PacketSize”, UintegerValue(1024));

ApplicationContainer clientApp = echoClient.Install(clients.Get(0));

clientApp.Start(Seconds(2.0));

clientApp.Stop(Seconds(10.0));

// Log packet drops

routers.Get(0)->GetObject<Ipv4>()->TraceConnectWithoutContext(“Drop”, MakeCallback(&LogPacketDrop));

// Install FlowMonitor

FlowMonitorHelper flowmon;

Ptr<FlowMonitor> monitor = flowmon.InstallAll();

// Simulate link failure

Simulator::Schedule(Seconds(5.0), &NetDevice::SetLinkDown, clientToRouter.Get(0)->GetObject<NetDevice>());

Simulator::Schedule(Seconds(7.0), &NetDevice::SetLinkUp, clientToRouter.Get(0)->GetObject<NetDevice>());

Simulator::Run();

// Output FlowMonitor results

monitor->SerializeToXmlFile(“risk-metrics.xml”, true, true);

Simulator::Destroy();

return 0;

}

8. Validate and Extend

• Examine the generated logs or FlowMonitor outcomes for detecting the risks.
• Integrate extra risk scenarios such as protocol vulnerabilities or denial-of-service attacks.
• Replicate more advanced mitigation mechanisms like machine learning-based anomaly detection.

We presented the fundamental approach for Network Risk Management which were implemented and examined using NS3 environment. We also provided comprehensive example coding and extension. Further innovative insights will be included later.