Hi, I was wondering if someone could possibly help me out here.

I am doing a project on a 'Performance Evaluation of in-line signature-based Intrusion Detection' The goal of this is to stress an IDS that is placed in-line of a network topology consisting of 2 Cisco routers and evaluate the performance metrics and how it impacts the overall network.

I am planning on using SNORT as the sensor and some kind of network traffic generator like 'Ostinato'

Would GNS3 be the best virtual method of implementing this form of network-based security and if so how would I best implement this with SNORT and a network traffic generator?

Or is there a more efficient and easier way to implement such a topology virtually. I have looked at various software however there is nothing definitive.

Would appreciate any thoughts, advice and help on all the above as soon as possible Many thanks! :)