IP Routing in NS2

I know. I know. IP is “the most” widely used routing in the computer industry. But, we as people in academic need to be a bit more precise when using buzz words.

IP: refers to IP address. It is different from routing mechanism. IP address is just a hierarchical way of defining an endpoint.
Routing mechanism: is a way of determining the route to get to a given destination. It works according to an underlying routing table.
Routing algorithm: computes a routing table.
Routing protocol: is a set of communication rules, which shall be followed under a certain condition such as a route failure.

Here is a example set of parameters in practice:

Addressing = IP Address
Routing mechanism = Routing table; Route Summary
Routing algorithm = Dijkstra
Routing protocol = OSPF

What about NS2?

By default, NS2 uses the following setting

Addressing = Flat address (1,2,3,…)
Routing mechanism = Address classifiers
Routing algorithm = Dijkstra
Routing protocol = Static (The condition of all the nodes does not change throughout the simulation)

Do You Really Need IP?

I have received quite a few questions like “How do I implement IP in NS2?” My first response would be “this is too vague”. You really have to break down your questions. At least, you have to identify which of the above 4 topics you would like to study.

For example, if you would like to study routing protocols, you’d probably refer to OSPF or BGP routing protocols. If your focus is on the communiation protocols of the routing, you can use the following setting

Addressing: Flat
Routing Mechansism: Classifier
Routing Algrithm: Dijkstra (used by default as a part of OSPF)

which are the default setting of NS2.