SERVER RECORDING AND CLIENT PLAYBACK OF COMPUTER NETWORK CHARACTERISTICS

A system and a method for server recording and client playback of computer network characteristics. In general, the network simulation system includes a recording module residing on a server that records and stores the network characteristics in a data collector file. The system also includes a playback module residing on a client that plays back the data collector file upon request. The data collector file includes a log file, which is used to store initial request data, and a data file, which is used to store other data. The method of the invention includes recording computer network characteristics on a recording server and playing back the recording on a client to the same or another server. The recording method uses a global filter residing on the server to record the network characteristics. The playback method plays back the data collector file to simulate the characteristics of real-world network sessions.