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<p>Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity (MCTSSA) has put forth a requirement for a non-proprietary network traffic replay system that is user friendly and can provide both replay of a network trace file as well as replay based on a statistical model of a network trace file. This thesis attempts to create such a system and to fulfil the requirements set forth by MCTSSA. The system performs as much preprocessing of data as possible, to include loading packet data into a database and creating binary copies of replay packets, which facilitates performing replays multiple times without repetitive processing work. The final system proved to accurately reproduce a capture file with a trace-based replay, while maintaining TCP semantics and the ability to match high volumes of traffic. The major limitation is the need to potentially sacrifice timing accuracy in order to maintain TCP semantic integrity. To accommodate different user implementations, the system supports an option to place the priority on either sequencing or timing, which will guarantee one at the possible expense of the other. Lastly, the statistical model generated from characteristics of the original trace proved to accurately model the original capture and provide for a user-defined replay length. In the end, the MCTSSA requirements were met and further expansion and enhancements were identified to improve performance and usefulness of the system.
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<br>Subjects: network replay; pcap; TCP; protocol semantics; network trace; network testing; network emulation</div>
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Fortner, Scott</div>
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