Overview
Understand what NDTwin is and its unique advantages using innovative digital twin technologies
NDTwin (Network Digital Twin) is an open source framework that employs innovative digital twin technologies to optimally operate and manage a network.
What is NDTwin?
NDTwin is a software system that functions as the digital twin of a network. It has the following features:
- Real-time collection of network and flow states: NDTwin continuously polls the SDN controller to update its real-time graph of switches and links. Besides, it uses the industry-standard sFlow mechanism, which is supported by switches of any brands, to continuously get the real-time states of all flows in the network.
- Simulation and AI/ML-assited Decision Making: A built-in sFlow collector listens for telemetry data to calculate bandwidth utilization and identify traffic patterns (like Elephant Flows) with high precision.
- Deployment Flexibility: Whether you are running a simulation in Mininet or deploying on a physical Testbed with hardware switches, NDTwin adapts its monitoring strategy accordingly.
Why Choose NDTwin?
If your team is developing advanced network applications such as dynamic routing, load balancing, or energy-aware traffic engineering, NDTwin offers distinct advantages over standard monitoring tools.
Key Benefits
- Native OpenFlow Support: Fully compatible with OpenFlow 1.0/1.3 standards. It seamlessly integrates with standard SDN controllers like Ryu or ONOS.
- Real-time Flow Visualization: Eliminate manual CLI debugging. Our graphical interface displays active Flow Rules and packet match counters, mapped directly to the topology.
- Precise Traffic Monitoring: Unlike simple counters, our integrated sFlow technology performs 5-tuple sampling (Src/Dst IP, Port, Protocol) to analyze real-time bandwidth usage and detect congestion bottlenecks.
- Dynamic Topology Awareness: The system automatically detects Link Failures or new switch connections, triggering alerts to help you verify if your rerouting algorithms react correctly.
Use Cases
| Scenario | Description |
|---|---|
| Algorithm Verification | Validate if your new shortest-path or multipath routing algorithms work as expected under load. |
| Network Education | Help students visualize the abstract concept of the “Match-Action” mechanism in OpenFlow. |
| Energy-Saving Research | Simulate network behavior when specific switch ports are powered down to save energy, and verify connectivity is maintained. |