Validation of PIM DM and PIM SM protocols in the NS2 network simulator

Multicast transmission offers efficient network resource utilization, but, at the same time, it is also a demanding and complex technology. Multicast protocols are far more sophisticated than their unicast counterparts. As a result, building one's own simulation environment is a difficult, time-consuming and error-prone endeavor. Hence, there is a need for ready-made network simulation tools supporting these protocols. One of such tools is the open source NS2 simulator. However, the results obtained from this simulator are not reliable without prior testing and a validation of the application. This work concentrates on validation of the PIM SM and the PIM DM protocols implementation in NS2. The NS2 implementation was tested using a wide range of techniques commonly used in software engineering filed.