128 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
128 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
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Mininet: Rapid Prototyping for Software Defined Networks
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========================================================
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The best way to emulate almost any network on your laptop!
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Version 2.0.0rc1
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### What is Mininet?
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Mininet emulates a complete network of hosts, links, and switches on a single
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machine. To create a sample two-host, one-switch network, just run:
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sudo mn
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Mininet is useful for interactive development, testing, and demos, especially
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those using OpenFlow and SDN. OpenFlow-based network controllers prototyped in
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Mininet can usually be transferred to hardware with minimal changes for full
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line-rate execution.
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### How does it work?
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Mininet creates virtual networks using process-based virtualization and network
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namespaces - features that are available in recent Linux kernels. In Mininet,
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hosts are emulated as bash processes running in a network namespace, so any
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code that would normally run on a Linux server (like a web server or client
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program) should run just fine within a Mininet "Host". The Mininet "Host" will
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have its own private network interface and can only see its own processes.
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Switches in Mininet are software-based switches like Open vSwitch or the
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OpenFlow reference switch. Links are virtual ethernet pairs, which live in the
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Linux kernel and connect our emulated switches to emulated hosts (processes).
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### Features
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Mininet includes:
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* A command-line launcher (`mn`) to instantiate networks.
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* A handy Python API for creating networks of varying sizes and topologies.
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* Examples (in the `examples/` directory) to help you get started.
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* Full API documentation via Python `help()` docstrings, as well as the ability
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to generate PDF/HTML documentation with `make doc`.
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* Parametrized topologies (`Topo` subclasses) using the Mininet object. For
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example, a tree network may be created with the command:
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`mn --topo tree,depth=2,fanout=3`
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* A command-line interface (`CLI` class) which provides useful diagnostic
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commands (like `iperf` and `ping`), as well as the ability to run a command
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to a node. For example,
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`mininet> h11 ifconfig -a`
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tells host h11 to run the command `ifconfig -a`
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* A 'cleanup' command to get rid of junk (interfaces, processes, files in
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/tmp, etc.) which might be left around by Mininet or Linux. Try this if
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things stop working!
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`mn -c`
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### New features in 2.0.0
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Mininet 2.0.0 is a major upgrade and provides
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a number of enhancements and new features, including:
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* Link bandwidth limits using `tc` (`TCIntf` and `TCLink` classes)
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* CPU isolation and bandwidth limits (`CPULimitedHost` class)
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* Support for the Open vSwitch 1.4+ (including Ubuntu OVS packages)
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* Debian packaging (and `apt-get install mininet` in Ubuntu 12.10)
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* First-class Interface (`Intf`) and Link (`Link`) classes for easier
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extensibility
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* An upgraded Topology (`Topo`) class which supports node and link
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customization
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* Man pages for the `mn` and `mnexec` utilities.
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[Since the API (most notably the topology) has changed, existing code that
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runs in Mininet 1.0 will need to be changed to run with Mininet 2.0. This
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is the primary reason for the major version number change.]
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### Installation
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See `INSTALL` for installation instructions and details.
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### Documentation
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In addition to the API documentation (`make doc`) much useful information,
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including a Mininet walkthrough and an introduction to the Python API is
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available on the [Mininet Web Site](http://openflow.org/mininet). There is
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also a wiki which you are encouraged to read and to contribute to,
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particularly the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ.)
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### Support
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Mininet community-supported. We encourage you to
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join the Mininet mailing list, `mininet-discuss` at:
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<https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/mininet-discuss>
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### Contributing
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Mininet is an open-source project and is currently hosted at
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<https://github.com/mininet>. You are encouraged to download the code,
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examine it, modify it, and submit bug reports, bug fixes, feature
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requests, and enhancements!
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Best wishes, and we look forward to seeing what you can do with Mininet
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to change the networking world!
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### Credits
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The Mininet Team:
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* Bob Lantz
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* Brandon Heller
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* Nikhil Handigol
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* Vimal Jeyakumar
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