
Analyser: recommend segmentation topologies		7th December 1994
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	Analyser is an X-based tool which generates segmentation recommendations
for a particular network segment. The tools uses inter-host network traffic
as input data to generate topologies using a number of heuristic techniques:
Clustering, Simulated Annealing, and Genetic Algorithms. 

	Analyser does not perform any network monitoring, obtaining its
input from the Short Protocol Summary option of Etherman (a tool which
allows a real-time representation of network communications to be displayed).
However, input is not limited to this source. In fact, any inter-host
statistic generator can be used, as long as the input data conforms
to the following format:

	<Source host>	<Destination host>  <Bytes xfered> <Packets xfered>

This input data is stored in a text file which is processed by the application.
Any entries which have a particular host missing (eg. only source host) will
be ignored.

	Results are presented graphically, where subnetworks are displayed
as circles, and communications as lines. Each heuristic method will provide
a textual dump of the result generated. Also a postscript dump option
is provided to capture a visualised topology.

Installation:
-------------

	The binary for Analyser can be obtained for SunOS 4.x, Solaris, DEC
Ultrix, and Irix systems from ftp.cs.curtin.edu.au:/pub/netman/{}/analyser-1.0. 
Etherman can be obtained from ftp.cs.curtin.edu.au:/pub/netman/{}/etherman-1.0.
 

	At present only binaries are available. The binaries assume you have 
the hershey font libraries installed on your system under /usr/local/lib/hershey.  
As most of you will not have these fonts simply get hold of 
~ftp/pub/netman/hershey-[sun4c|dec-mips].tar.Z from ftp.cs.curtin.edu.au.  
Untar the archive from /usr/local/lib.


Use:
----

	Analyser is intended to be an easy-to-use interface to
recommend network segmentations. Input files must be of the form
described above. Comments can be present in the files as long
as there is a `#` as the first character of the comment line.
Files may be loaded from the command line as follows:

	% analyser -file <input_filename>

or from within the application using the Load button. Files
which do not exist or are or an invalid format will generate
error messages.

	Analyser provides three methods to process input
data. These are Clustering, Simulated Annealing, and Genetic Algorithms.
A method can be selected by choosing the appropriate line
from the Method menu. An option to unsegment a recommendation
is also provided. Once a particular method is chosen, processing
can start by clicking on the Go button. When processing is finished 
(this may take a while for a large input data set), the
newly segmented recommendation will be drawn to the screen.

	Postscript dumps of the network (segmented and unsegmented)
can be obtained by selecting the Postcript dump option from
the Misc Menu. This will cause the current canvas to be written
to a postcript file (settable in the resource file Analyser.ad).

	Links can be drawn in a number of ways. The Links menu
provides capabilities to draw only internal, only external or
all links. Internal links are drawn in CYAN, while external are
RED. The thickness of the link corresponds to the amount of
traffic traversing that link.

	The Manipulate menu allows the user to place restrictions
on the processing of data. Valid operations are:

		Move a host
		Group hosts
		Anchor a host
		Unanchor a host

	The Move a host option allows a host to be moved between subnetworks.
This option will only be active when the input data set has been segmented
(i.e. will not be active when unsegmented). To move a host, choose the
appropriate entry from the Manipulate menu. To select a host to move
click on the host label on the canvas using the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON. The selected
host will become yellow. To select the subnetwork to which the host is
to be moved, use the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON. If the host selected is part
of a group, the entire group will be moved.

	The Group hosts option allows a number of hosts to be grouped.
When this menu option is selected, a dialog box will popup to prompt
for host names. The names can be separated by spaces or commas. If any name
is invalid, it will not form part of the group. Hosts which have been
selected as part of a group are represented by blue labels. When data processing
occurs, groups act as 'pseduo-hosts' where all operations on a group member will
cause the same to occur to all other group members. Any number of hosts can be grouped
together.

	The Anchor a host option allows a host to be anchored to a particular 
subnet throughout processing. After selecting the appropriate menu option,
a host can be selected by clicking on the host label using the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON.
Selected hosts will be represented by a magenta label. Once a host has been
selected, a dialog will be presented to obtain the anchored subnetwork ID.
That is, the dialog will prompt for the subnetwork number to which the selected
host is to be anchored. This ID must be valid, and subnetwork IDs start from
0. For example, for a 3 subnetwork segmentation, valid subnetwork IDs are 0,1, and 2.
If the ID is out of range, an error message will be presented. Once a valid ID
is entered, the host is anchored when the OK button is pressed. If Cancel
is chosen, the host is NOT anchored. However, the host is still selected.
To unselect the host, choose the UnAnchor option from the menu and click
on the selected host using the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON.

	The UnAnchor a host option allows anchored hosts to become unanchored.
It also allows selected (but unanchored) hosts to be unselected. The LEFT MOUSE
BUTTON IS used to choose a host to unanchor. 

	The Reset button will clear the canvas and reset the input data set.
All group and anchor information will be lost.

	The Go button starts processing.


In the distrbuted binary form, Analyser only segments into 2 subnets, however
the techniques used to produce recommendations are not restricted to
this number. Recommendations for any number of subnets or physical 
LAN topologies can be produced. However, at present this requires 
modifications to the application source. Analyser source is only 
available as part of the Netman source distribution.

Please also see the manual page for further information on using 
Analyser.
		
Any comments/suggestions/bug reports  would be welcomed at:

        netman@cs.curtin.edu.au

============================================================
Mazahir Songerwala, Craig Farrell, and Mike Schulze
Netman Development Group
Department of Computer Science
Curtin University of Technology
Perth, Western Australia

