Network Visualisation Tools

When I was teaching computing to middle school and high school students we didn't do much on networking. Partly because there was no real curriculum on it and partly that they had already set up LAN parties and they now knew almost as much as I did.

Times have changed and "the network" is the most important thing in a school, college, university or workplace (watch what happens when it goes does down for a day). So teaching the network is now an important part of the syllabus for computer studies.

So here are a few network Visualisation tools.

Video
Warriors of the Net - a cool animation / visualisation tool of what a Packet switch network looks like from a packet point of view.

Software
CNET - From my home town of Perth - cnet enables development of and experimentation with a variety of data-link layer, network layer, and transport layer networking protocols in networks consisting of any combination of wide-area-networking (WAN), local-area-networking (LAN), or wireless-local-area-networking (WLAN) links.Available for linux and Apple OS only.

INET framework -

GINI - GINI (GINI is not Internet) is a toolkit for creating virtual micro Internets for teaching and learning computer networks.

CLACK - Clack is a virtual network environment for visualizing network behavior and router internals.

Computer Games

I've just come across this so I haven't tried them out yet.

Cisco have a whole slew of computer games both flash and downloads that actually teach people about the internet, networks, routers, and network security. Obviously there is Cisco branding but these games look like a lot of fun and mare more arcade style than a simple flashcard memory game.

Cisco games arcade

So if you are teaching higher level networking or you want a fun way to teach primary school students about the internet - Peter Packet is a good one. This would be a fun engaging way to get students into the subject without all the dry explanations and topology diagrams.