A virtual world for network management

Existing network management systems typically use a combination of textual displays and 2-D directed graph representations of network topology. A network management system is being designed that uses a virtual world presented through a 3-D stereo display and manipulated with a 3-D mouse. The goal is to allow the user to better understand and control the structure and behavior of a large, complex network. In the current prototype, the user interacts with a 3-D representation of a network whose topology and behavior are specified by a separate network emulator. The user can choose from among a set of different views of the network. For example, one view shows a selected virtual path as a series of logical links contained within a physical path. The system will serve as a testbed for the knowledge-based design of network visualizations