This tool provides a mechanism to quickly create a Mininet network based on a YAML definition. It also provides testing tools focusing on Openflow validation, packet generator and a couple of topology generators.

• Install
• Usage
  • Mininet topology
  • Test utilities
  • Topology generators
• Packet Generator
• Mininet YAML description
• Datacenter Topology Generator
• Table Topology Generator

git clone https://github.com/lumina-networks/mininet-topology
cd mininet-topology
sudo python setup.py install

The dependencies to run this tool are

• Mininet
• Scapy

Scapy is installed automatically when this project is installed.

Mininet is not installed by this project. Following commands shows how to installed from command line.

git clone https://github.com/mininet/mininet.git

cd mininet
git checkout tags/2.2.1
cd ..
sed -i 's/git:\/\/openflowswitch.org\/openflow.git/https:\/\/github.com\/mininet\/openflow.git/g' mininet/util/install.sh
sed -i 's/git:\/\/gitosis.stanford.edu\/oflops.git/https:\/\/github.com\/mininet\/oflops.git/g' mininet/util/install.sh
mininet/util/install.sh -n3fv

Mininet currently only supports up to 3 mpls label in a packet. If you plan to use MPLS heavily and more than 3 mpls label depth is required then following lines will update Mininet with the given number of labels (10 in following example commands).

## execute as root
sudo su

MPLS_MAX=10
OVS_FILE=http://openvswitch.org/releases/openvswitch-2.7.0.tar.gz


# remove current OVS
apt-get remove openvswitch-common openvswitch-datapath-dkms openvswitch-controller openvswitch-pki openvswitch-switch -y


cd /root
rm -rf ../openvswitch*deb
rm -rf openvswitch*


wget $OVS_FILE
tar zxvf openvswitch-*.tar.gz
cd openvswitch-*

if [ "MPLS_MAX" != "" ]
then
  for file in `find . -type f -name flow.h`
  do
    sed -i "s/define FLOW_MAX_MPLS_LABELS .*/define FLOW_MAX_MPLS_LABELS $MPLS_MAX/g" $file
    sed -i "s/sizeof(struct flow_tnl) + 248/sizeof(struct flow_tnl) + 232 + (4 * ROUND_UP(FLOW_MAX_MPLS_LABELS, 2))/g" $file
  done
fi


apt-get update
apt-get install build-essential fakeroot dh-make dh-autoreconf graphviz libssl-dev python-all python-qt4 python-twisted-conch -y
apt-get install debhelper autoconf automake libssl-dev pkg-config bzip2 openssl python-all procps python-qt4 python-zopeinterface python-twisted-conch -y
DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS='parallel=8'
fakeroot debian/rules binary
cd ..
dpkg -i openvswitch-common*.deb openvswitch-datapath-dkms*.deb openvswitch-controller*.deb openvswitch-pki*.deb openvswitch-switch*.deb
/etc/init.d/openvswitch-controller stop
update-rc.d openvswitch-controller disable

Execute sudo mnyml to create a topology based on given topology defined in mn-topo.yml file. If topology YAML file is named differently then execute sudo mnyml -t <topology-file-name.yml>. This script command starts a Mininet topology using OVS switches.

This tool provides a tester utility command mntest.

mntest checks if flows, groups and services runs properly on the given topology executing following tasks:

• cleanup any previous Mininet network using Mininet cleanup method
• starts a Mininet network based on give YAML topology
• checks if SDN controller has discovered all nodes and links properly
• checks if flows are installed in all switches properly.
• checks if pings works between each pair of hosts for given services
• stops Mininet and executes Mininet cleanup method
• check if all nodes and links are removed
• check if all flows are removed properly from Openflow and FlowManager model.
• repeats previous steps as a loop

Execute either sudo mntest [topology-file-name]

Following are the attributes that can be added to the topology YAML file to include Flow Manager testing capabilities.

• ping: a list of source and destination hosts to configure a eline/path service. fmmn will test the ping between the two hosts. If not provided and check_bsc is True, then a ping service for each couple of hosts will be created.
• loop: True if it should loop the whole testing process. Default True.
• loop_max: maximum loops. Default 20.
• retries: maximum of retries in case of detected error. Default 60.
• retry_interval: retry interval in seconds. Default 5.
• check_links: True if links are discovered or removed properly when Mininet start/stop. Default True.
• check_nodes: True if nodes are discovered or removed properly when Mininet start/stop. Default True.
• check_flows: True if flows are installed or removed properly when Mininet start/stop. Default True.
• check_bsc: True if flows in brocade-bsc-openflow model has to be checked. Default True.
• recreate_services: True if services should be removed/create every time thata Miniet stop/start. Default False.
• servicesdir: a directory where this solution can save and recover flows and groups configuration

test:
  ping:
    - source: h101
      destination: h104
  loop: True
  loop_max: 10
  loop_interval: 0
  retries: 12
  retry_interval: 5
  check_links: True
  check_nodes: True
  check_flows: True
  recreate_services: False
  servicesdir: 'services'

This utility provides a couple of commands to quickly create topologies. Two examples are given, Table Topology for given rows and columns and DataCenter topology for given number of spines and leafs.

See following sections for further information.

• Table Topology Generator
• Datacenter Topology Generator

mnsend and mnrecv commands create packets based on Scapy format and validate these packets has been received on the egress side.

mnsend requires to be executed in a host or switch inside of Mininet network. Note that mnsend requires to be executed from inside mininet session if traffic is generated from a host inside mininet.

The main argument required by mnsend is a packet. For example, sending an ICMP packet with a vlan can be achieved by mnsend 'Ether() / Dot1Q(vlan=100) / IP() / ICMP()'

Please, refer to Scapy documentation to understand how packets can be created.

This command also provides options such count to define the number of packets to be sent or iface which defines the interface to be used.

Refer to mnsend -h for further information.

mnrecv counts if given number of packets has been received for a period of time. The main parameter is to be provided is filter in BPF format.

For example, mnrecv "vlan 100" -c 10 -t 60 checks if 10 packets has been received with vlan 100 for a maximum of 60 seconds time.

The YAML file is composed on 4 main ArgumentParser

• Controller: a list of controllers identified by name and ip address

controller:
  - name : c0
    ip : 172.24.86.214

• host: a list of host identified by name. It must contain a network ip/mask and gateway.

host:
- name: h101
  ip: 10.0.1.1/16
  gw: 10.0.0.1
- name: h102
  ip: 10.0.1.2/16
  gw: 10.0.0.1

• switch: a list of switches identified by name. It must contain a dpip and protocol version. Dpid is in hexadecimal format without the 0x prefix.

switch:
  - name: s11
    dpid: B
    protocols: OpenFlow13
  - name: s12
    dpid: C
    protocols: OpenFlow13

• link: a list of links that can connect either a host with a switch or a switch with a switch. It is possible to define multiple links between two nodes just repeating the value. In the following example, h11 is connected to s11 and two links connects s11 and s12

link:
  - source: h11
    destination: s11
  - source: s11
    destination: s12
  - source: s11
    destination: s12    

• interface: a list of interfaces on the machine running Mininet to the switches. This is typically empty unless we want to connect Mininet to an external network.

interface:
  - name: eth1
    switch: s11   

topodc creates a topology YAML file like a datacenter with spines, leafs and computes.

Following optional parameters can be provided:

• output file name (default mn-topo.yml)
• number of datacenters to be created (default 1)
• number of spines (default 4)
• number of leafs (default 12)
• number of computes connected to each leaf (default 10)
• controllers

Example, a datacenter with 3 spines, 4 leafs and 5 compute per leaf will be created by topodc -s 3 -l 4 -c 5

$  topodc -h
Topology Data Center Generator

Usage:
  topodc [--file=FILE] [--spines=SPINES] [--leafs=LEAFS] [--computes=COMPUTES] [--datacenters=DATACENTERS] [--controller=IP]...
  topodc (-h | --help)

Options:
  -h --help     Show this screen.
  -f, --file=FILE   Topolofy file name [default: mn-topo.yml].
  -s, --spines=SPINES   Number of spines [default: 2].
  -l, --leafs=LEAFS   Number of leafs [default: 4].
  -p, --computes=COMPUTES   Number of computes per leaf [default: 1].
  -d, --datacenters=DATACENTERS   Number of datacenters [default: 1].
  -c, --controller=IP   Controller IP address
  --version     Show version.

topotb creates a topology YAML file like a table for given number of rows and columns. A host will be attached to each switch on the first and last column.

Following optional parameters can be provided:

• output file name (default mn-topo.yml)
• number of rows (default 3)
• number of columns (default 3)
• number of links-per-rows (default 1) number of links that will connect each pair of switches horizontally
• number of links-per-columns (default 1) number of links that will connect each pair of switches vertically
• controllers

Example, a table with 3 rows, 2 columns will be created by topotb -r 3 -c 2

$ topotb -h
Topology Table Generator

Usage:
  topotb [--file=FILE] [--rows=ROWS] [--columns=COLUMNS] [--links-per-rows=LINKS_PER_ROWS] [--links-per-columns=LINKS_PER_COLUMNS] [--controller=IP]...
  topotb (-h | --help)

Options:
  -h --help     Show this screen.
  -f, --file=FILE   Topolofy file name [default: mn-topo.yml].
  -r, --rows=ROWS   Number of rows [default: 3].
  -c, --columns=COLUMNS   Number of rows [default: 3].
  -x, --links-per-rows=LINKS_PER_ROWS   Number of links connecting per pair horizontal switches [default: 1].
  -z, --links-per-columns=LINKS_PER_COLUMNS   Number of links connecting per pair vertical switches  [default: 1].
  -o, --controller=IP   Controller IP address
  --version     Show version.