Method and system for simulating computer networks to facilitate testing of computer network security

A computer program product residing on a computer usable medium for simulating a computer network in order to facilitate testing computer network security, said computer program product comprising:

• program code means for providing a hardware inventory of physical network components;
• program code means for providing a software library of simulated network components;
• in response to the receipt of a computer network configuration to be simulated and network components for said simulated computer network, program code means for acquiring physical network components from said hardware inventory and simulated network components from said software library;
• program code means for configuring said acquired physical network components via an interface switch;
• program code means for configuring said acquired simulated network components via a plurality of daemons;
• and
• program code means for performing computer network security tests on said simulated computer network in real-time.

A computer system for simulating a computer network in order to facilitate testing computer network security, said computer system comprising:

• an inventory of physical computer network components;
• a software library containing a plurality of simulated computer network components;
• a configuration manager to allow a user to specify a desired configuration of a simulated computer network;
• and
• an interface switch for establishing logical links between said configuration manager and at least one of said computer network components within said inventory of physical computer network components.