OPNET IT Guru Academic Edition is a utility designed with educational purposes in mind, specifically to help users be introduced to the domain of networking.
Downloading, installation and activation procedures may appear to be lengthy and unusually complicated. One will need to make an account on www.opnet.com in order to receive a password that will allow a download process to be made and then, by the end of the installation procedure, the user will have to make a free license request.
When these processes are finished, one can browse through several materials that provide information on networking. LAN, ATM or WAN projects, for example, are described by considering objectives, scenarios, statistics, configuration tips or simulation analysis, each project having custom contents. Aside from project descriptions, items such as generic data files, probe models or application characterizations are available.
The user can also develop his own projects by choosing a network scale, which can be as small as an office network or as large as a world-scale network, then choosing the model family (e.g., ATM, LANs, ethernet, Cisco, frame relay) and then making use of an object palette that includes items such as servers, routers, switches and others.
In conclusion, the utility is aimed at being used with appreciated networking manuals and it is helpful in learning how to design and analyze network models.
