139 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
139 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
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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Mininet 2.3.0b2
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[![Build Status][1]](https://github.com/mininet/mininet/actions)
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### What is Mininet?
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Mininet emulates a complete network of hosts, links, and switches
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on a single machine. To create a sample two-host, one-switch network,
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just run:
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`sudo mn`
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Mininet is useful for interactive development, testing, and demos,
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especially those using OpenFlow and SDN. OpenFlow-based network
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controllers prototyped in Mininet can usually be transferred to
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hardware with minimal changes for full line-rate execution.
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### How does it work?
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Mininet creates virtual networks using process-based virtualization
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and network namespaces - features that are available in recent Linux
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kernels. In Mininet, hosts are emulated as `bash` processes running in
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a network namespace, so any code that would normally run on a Linux
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server (like a web server or client program) should run just fine
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within a Mininet "Host". The Mininet "Host" will have its own private
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network interface and can only see its own processes. Switches in
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Mininet are software-based switches like Open vSwitch or the OpenFlow
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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
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(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
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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
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the ability to generate PDF/HTML documentation with `make doc`.
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* Parametrized topologies (`Topo` subclasses) using the Mininet
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object. For example, a tree network may be created with the
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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
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diagnostic commands (like `iperf` and `ping`), as well as the
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ability to run a command 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
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in /tmp, etc.) which might be left around by Mininet or Linux. Try
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this if things stop working!
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`mn -c`
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### Python 3 Support
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- Mininet 2.3.0b2 supports Python 3 and Python 2!
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- You can install both the Python 3 and Python 2 versions of
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Mininet side by side, but the most recent installation will
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determine which Python version is used by default by `mn`.
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- You can run `mn` directly with Python 2 or Python 3,
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as long as the appropriate version of Mininet is installed,
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e.g.
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$ sudo python2 `which mn`
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- More information regarding Python 3 and Python 2 support
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may be found in the release notes on http://docs.mininet.org.
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### Other Enhancements and Information
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- Support for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (and 18.04 and 16.04)
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- More reliable testing and CI via github actions
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- Additional information about this release and previous releases
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may be found in the release notes on http://docs.mininet.org.
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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
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information, including a Mininet walkthrough and an introduction
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to the Python API, is available on the
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[Mininet Web Site](http://mininet.org).
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There is also a wiki which you are encouraged to read and to
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contribute to, particularly the Frequently Asked Questions
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(FAQ) at http://faq.mininet.org.
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### Support
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Mininet is community-supported. We encourage you to join the
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Mininet mailing list, `mininet-discuss` at:
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<https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/mininet-discuss>
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### Join Us
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Thanks again to all of the Mininet contributors!
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Mininet is an open source project and is currently hosted
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at <https://github.com/mininet>. You are encouraged to download
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the code, examine it, modify it, and submit bug reports, bug fixes,
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feature requests, new features and other issues and pull requests.
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Thanks to everyone who has contributed code to the Mininet project
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(see CONTRIBUTORS for more info!) It is because of everyone's
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hard work that Mininet continues to grow and improve.
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### Enjoy Mininet
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Best wishes, and we look forward to seeing what you can do with
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Mininet to change the networking world!
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Bob Lantz
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on behalf of the Mininet Contributors
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[1]: https://github.com/mininet/mininet/workflows/mininet-tests/badge.svg
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