Systems/Network Administration Simulator or Game

Majorix

Majorix

Yesterday, while studying networks management, I had this idea. I Googled some but couldn't find anything relevant.

Does anybody know a game like this (on browser or downloadable), where you administrate a network of computers (or a single one for that matter) that run *BSD, Linux, a UNIX-like system, Windows, or even some fictional OS. I would like to tackle all kinds of problems that network admins face everyday; like writing small scripts, changing configurations, installing/upgrading software, or even physical changes (cables, routers, ...), you name it.

This would be both fun and educational for me since I am a software engineering student.
 
Not a game but GNS3 is a fairly decent network simulator. You can build a nice network with it, including the hosts if you use VirtualBox. There's even a port for it (emulators/gns3) but I haven't tried that one yet. I do have it running on my Windows laptop.
 
Majorix said:
Does anybody know a game like this (on browser or downloadable), where you administrate a network of computers (or a single one for that matter) that run *BSD, Linux, a UNIX-like system, Windows, or even some fictional OS.
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No, but I know this very nice program called VirtualBox, originally made by Sun Microsystems.

If you're into this stuff then I think this is a very good place to start. Install $operating_system and start thinking about how to make things easier on you, for example by multiplying everything you do with 50 or 100 or so.

Meaning: you install PHP and a few PHP related extensions. Neat. Now suddenly face doing that same thing on 50 or 100 servers or so; how would you approach that? The fun part: although FreeBSD and Linux have several things in common, the package management isn't part of that. And that's not even mentioning Windows, which is an entire world by itself.

And then take it from there.. Use your imagination, there should be lots to discover. Leave your box around for a month or so and then try upgrading packages, while keeping this same idea in mind. One box is easy; how about the rest?

Try to set up a website on your favourite Linux distribution, now try to move it over to FreeBSD.

Add extra IP addresses on both systems, and also try to keep in mind which (of many) ways would be better. You can use ifconfig on both places, but Linux also supports the ip, command which goes a bit deeper. Yet not as transparent as ifconfig.

And a new problem surfaces: if you add an alias using ip you won't see it appear with ifconfig. How usable is that if you haven't messed with the networking part for half a year or so? Would you still be able to get all the IP's of that server?

In my opinion nothing beats working with the original.

Oh; and also keep in mind that with installing I don't mean just accept the common defaults. Planning is also an important part of the game. Do you put more room in /var or do you focus on /home? Are you going to use an admin panel, if so how intrusive would that be?
 
Not a game, but I have played with Cisco Packettracer, kind of network simulator. It is easy to use, and can model for example small networks decently.
 
It's called work.


:D


And yeah, if you enrol in a Cisco course then you can get your hands on Packet Tracer. It's a bit limited though and can't do stuff like crypto or BGP.

But for GNS3 you need real Cisco IOS images, which means you legally need to own routers with a support agreement, and running the images in GNS3 probably breaks the EULA.

Virtualbox + GNS3 can simulate a hell of a lot though.

Seriously though, the best bet is to try stuff out at home with secondhand gear (routers, switches) from E-Bay. I'd look for an 8 port Cisco 2960 switch (or similar), a Cisco 800 series router (871/877 or 881/887) as a minimum (if it's Cisco you're interested in) and expand from there.

Packet Tracer or GNS3 is helpful, but won't simulate stuff like IOS upgrades, dodgy cables or other hardware failure :)

There's no substitute for real hardware.
 
Yeah, to clarify - I do use Packet Tracer and GNS3 from time to time, but it is more of a "proof of concept" thing to test an idea out and get a rough working configuration.

Once proven in a simulator, it's onto real hardware (if possible) in test.
 
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