Prework

In this tutorial we are going to run a simple experiment in GENI, using the ​Omni command line tool. We are going to take advantage of the Layer 2 links between nodes and run a non-IP experiment.

This is the topology of our experiment:

Before we start with the Omni tutorial, please follow these steps:

1. Login to the VM
2. Run Firefox
3. Open all bookmarks under the Intro to Omni bookmark folder
4. Open a terminal window

1. Configure Omni

Omni is a tool that will help you reserve resources in GENI, using your GENI account. The first step is to load into Omni your account information. Omni uses a configuration file, and there is a script that will automatically generate the file with some default options and place it in the default place of ~/.gcf/. Follow these steps:

1. In the web browser login to www.pgeni.gpolab.bbn.com using the information in the paper slip
2. On the menu on the left, press Download your cert
3. Select the option about downloading as a pem file.
4. Press Ctrl-s to save this page. Type ~/.ssl/geni_cert.pem
5. In the terminal type:

   omni-configure.py
   

   This should configure your Omni, with your downloaded certificate and create an ssh key pair for logging in to nodes.

When prompted for a passphrase, type the passphrase in your slip. You might be asked for a passphrase multiple times. Note: If you have taken other tutorials, you might have configured omni with other accounts, select to overwrite existing setting if asked

The output should look like:

geni@geni-vm:~$ omni-configure.py 
{'framework': 'pg', 'configfile': '~/.gcf/omni_config', 'plkey': '~/.ssh/geni_pl_key', 'cert': '~/.ssl/geni_cert', 'verbose': False}
INFO:omniconfig:Using configfile: /home/geni/.gcf/omni_config
INFO:omniconfig:Using certfile /home/geni/.ssl/geni_cert.pem
INFO:omniconfig:

	CREATING SSH KEYPAIR
INFO:omniconfig:Private key stored at: /home/geni/.ssh/geni_key
Enter passphrase: 
INFO:omniconfig:Public key stored at: /home/geni/.ssh/geni_key.pub
INFO:omniconfig:Added to /home/geni/.ssh/config this line:
	'IdentityFile /home/geni/.ssh/geni_key
'
INFO:omniconfig:Wrote omni configuration file at: /home/geni/.gcf/omni_config

OPTIONAL

Open the file ~/.gcf/omni_config using either vim or emacs. Close to the top of the file you will see two parameters called default_cf and users. Your username should be at least listed in the user section. Look for the sections in the file that are named [pg] and [<username>].

In the [<username>] section, the information need for logging-in to reserved compute resources are provided. It includes your unique user URN and a public key that would be uploaded to the hosts that you reserve.

In the [pg] section you configure Omni to use your personal information. The cert and the key attribute point to files that we have manually downloaded from pgeni.gpolab.bbn.com. This is equivalent to the Download action of Flack.

Another interesting section to look at is the [aggregate-nicknames] sections. Flack already knows the URL for all the AMs and present you a list of AMs to choose from using a short, descriptive name. In Omni a user is required to pass the URL for each call to the GENI AM API. In this section the user gets a chance to provide short descriptive names to the URLs that are easier to memorize and use.

2. Clear the passphrase from your cert

When Omni talks to different authorities in GENI, it will need to identify you as a valid GENI user, so it will ask you for your passphrase multiple times. Omni will ask you for the phrase multiple times per command. To save time during the tutorial, we are going to remove the passphrase from your cert and your ssh key. There is a script to clear the passphrases.

1. In the terminal run

   clear-passphrases.py 
   

Use the passphrase given to you in the paper slip, you might be prompted for a passphrase multiple times make sure you always use the same passphrase.

The output should look like

geni@geni-vm:~$ clear-passphrases.py 
Do you want to remove the passphrase from your cert (/home/geni/.ssl/geni_cert.pem) [Y,n]?y
INFO:clearcert:
	THIS SCRIPT WILL REPLACE /home/geni/.ssl/geni_cert.pem WITH AN UNENCREPTED CERT. A BACKUP OF THE ORIGINAL CERT WILL BE CREATED

INFO:clearcert:The encoded certificate file is backed up at /home/geni/.ssl/geni_cert_enc.pem
INFO:clearcert:Removing passphrase from cert...
Enter pass phrase for /home/geni/.ssl/geni_cert.pem:
writing RSA key
INFO:clearcert:Change permissions of /home/geni/.ssl/geni_cert.pem to 0600
Do you want to remove the passphrase from you ssh-key (/home/geni/.ssh/geni_key, key used to login to compute resources) [Y,n]?y
INFO:clearcert:
	THIS SCRIPT WILL REMOVE THE PASSPHRASE FROM YOUR SSH KEY. NO COPY OF THE ORIGINAL PRIVATE KEY WILL BE KEPT
Enter PEM pass phrase:
Enter passphrase:
geni@geni-vm:~$ 

2. Verify that you have the necessary credential and key files

   ls ~/.ssh ~/.ssl
   

   The output looks like :

   geni@geni-vm:~$ ls ~/.ssh ~/.ssl
   /home/geni/.ssh:
   config  geni_key  geni_key.pub
   
   /home/geni/.ssl:
   geni_cert_enc.pem  geni_cert.pem
   

geni_cert.pem	Cleartext certificate, i.e. does not require any passphrase
geni_cert_enc.pem	Encrypted certificate
geni_key	The private key that you will use to login to the nodes
geni_key.pub	The corresponding public key that will be uploaded to the nodes

Note: You might see more files than the ones listed above, which are probably backup files from configuring omni, or files from other tutorials.

3. Test Omni setup

In order to test that our configuration is correct, you can issue a getversion command. For this step we have used PlanetLab's AM, but you can use any Aggregate Manager(AM).

1. In the terminal type:

   omni.py getversion -a plc
   

   In GENI each AM can be contacted using a specific URL. In order to make it easier to talk to AMs, Omni uses nicknames; i.e. it maps each URL into an easy to remember nickname. For example the PlanetLab AM listens for requests at http://www.planet-lab.org:12346, however you can use the nickname plc to refer to that URL. Nicknames are defined in each user's omni_config file.

For the rest of the tutorial we are going to use aggregate nicknames.

4. Create an experiment using Omni

In this step we are going to setup a sample GENI experiment, in order to get familiarized with most of the Omni commands.

4a. Create and renew a slice

The first thing to do when preparing to run a GENI experiment is to create a slice.

1. To create a slice type, use the <slicename> given in your paper slip:

   omni.py createslice <slicename>
   

2. To verify that your slice has been created and in general to keep track of your slices, use the list_my_slices command. use the <username> given in your paper slip. Type:

   omni.py list_my_slices <username>
   

3. Renew your slice. To extend the lifetime of your slice type:

   omni.py renewslice <slicename> 20121025
   

4b. Reserve resources, a.k.a create a sliver

The next step in a GENI experiment is to actually reserve resources. For this experiment we are going to use the Aggregate manager of ProtoGENI in Utah.

1. In Omni in order to see what each AM offers you can use the listresources command. Type:

    omni.py listresources -a pg-utah -o
   

   The -o option will save the output to a file. The filename is chosen by Omni and printed as part of the output. The output will look like :

   geni@geni-vm:~$ omni.py listresources -a pg-utah -o
   INFO:omni:Loading config file /home/geni/.gcf/omni_config
   INFO:omni:Using control framework pg
   INFO:omni:Saving output to a file.
   INFO:omni:Substituting AM nickname pg-utah with URL https://www.emulab.net/protogeni/xmlrpc/am, URN unspecified_AM_URN
   INFO:omni:Listed resources on 1 out of 1 possible aggregates.
   INFO:omni:Writing to 'rspec-www-emulab-net-protogeni.xml'
   INFO:omni: ------------------------------------------------------------
   INFO:omni: Completed listresources:
   
     Options as run:
   		aggregate: pg-utah
   		framework: pg
   		native: True
   		output: True
   
     Args: listresources
   
     Result Summary: Retrieved resources from 1 aggregates.
   Wrote rspecs from 1 aggregates to 1 files
   Saved listresources RSpec at 'unspecified_AM_URN' to file rspec-www-emulab-net-protogeni.xml; . 
   INFO:omni: ============================================================
   

   Open the file that Omni saved and just take a look to see how an advertisement RSpec looks like. In order to see only available resources resources type

   omni.py listresources -a pg-utah --available -o
   

2. To be able to reserve resources you will need to craft a request rspec. For this example we have created the rspecs for you, use the rspec URL given in your paper slip. Type :

   omni.py createsliver -a pg-utah <slicename> <rspec_url>
   

3. Look at your reserved resources. Type:

   omni.py listresources -a pg-utah <slicename>
   

4. Check the status of your resources. Type:

   omni.py sliverstatus -a pg-utah <slicename>
   

   The sliverstatus command reports the status of your overall GENI slice. When the status is ready we are ready to continue to the next step.

5. Run your experiment

Now that resources are ready we can start running our experiment. We will first start by logging in to our reserved nodes.

5a. Logging Into the nodes -- Omni Scripting

Depending on the Aggregate the login information are either part of the sliverstatus call, or as part of the manifest rspec, i.e. returned from the listresources call. Omni comes with a script that makes it easy to gather all this information.

1. In the terminal run:

   readyToLogin.py -a pg-utah <slicename>
   

   The script will return the actual command that you would need to use for logging in.
2. Login to both nodes by copy-paste the commands from the output of the script.

5b. Send IP traffic

The first simple experiment that we will run is to verify the IP connectivity between our hosts.

1. Check the interfaces of your nodes. In the terminal type:

    /sbin/ifconfig
   

   You should see at least two interfaces:
   • The control interface. This is the interface from where you access the node, e.g. ssh into your host. The control interface is mainly used for control traffic, i.e. traffic for controlling the node and the experiment. The control interface has a publicly routable IP.
   • The data interface. This is the interface that is used for sending experimental traffic. This is the interface that connects to the other hosts of your experiment through GENI. The links between these interfaces are the ones that allow you to run non-IP experiments.
2. Note the name and the MAC address of the control and of the data interface for each node.
3. From the client ping the server. From the xterm that is logged in to the client type :

     ping server -c 5
   

   Note: You can use the name that is assigned to the host to directly ping the host, you can also ping using the IP of the data interface of the node. An example output should look like :

   [[inki@r2 ~]$ ping server -c 5
   PING 10.10.2.1 (10.10.2.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
   64 bytes from 10.10.2.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1.95 ms
   64 bytes from 10.10.2.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=2.27 ms
   64 bytes from 10.10.2.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=2.04 ms
   64 bytes from 10.10.2.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=1.95 ms
   64 bytes from 10.10.2.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=1.72 ms
   
   --- 10.10.2.1 ping statistics ---
   5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4005ms
   rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 1.728/1.992/2.278/0.179 ms
   

5c. Send non-IP traffic

GENI provides the capability of running non-IP experiments, since you can connect your hosts at Layer 2. For the purpose of this tutorial we have installed in all the hosts a very simple Layer 2 ping program that sends packets using a custom ethernet type.

1. Disable the IP in your nodes. First of all we are going to completely disable IP on our nodes. In each of the terminals type:

   sudo /sbin/ifconfig <data i/f name> 0.0.0.0
   

   Note: Be extra careful to bring down the IP on the data interface, bringing down the IP on the control interface means that you will lose connectivity to your host.
2. Try again to ping from the client to the server. In the xterm of the client type:

   ping server -c 5
   

   This time the ping should timeout.
3. Start the Layer 2 ping server: In the server xterm, type:

   sudo /usr/local/bin/pingPlusListener
   

4. From the client try to ping the server at layer 2. You will need the mac address of the data interface of the server and the name of the data interface of the client. In the xterm of the client, type:

   sudo /usr/local/bin/pingPlus <server data mac addr> <client data i/f name> 12345
   

The result should look like :

[uncusr20@client ~]$ sudo /usr/local/bin/pingPlus 02:00:9B:48:3E:20 mv1.1 12345
RQ:'5582+2067' to 2:0:9b:48:3e:20.
RQ:5582+2067 from 2:0:3e:15:6c:ab.

Congratulations you have run a Layer 2 experiment in GENI!

6. Cleanup resources

Although all your reservations, have expiration times, you should always release your resources once you have completed your experiment to make them available to other experimenters.

1. In the terminal, where you have been running your omni commands do:

   omni.py deletesliver -a  pg-ky <slicename>
   

Congratulations, you have finished the tutorial! Now you are ready to design and run your own experiments. Don't hesitate to ​email us with any questions you might have.

7. Fill out the tutorial survey

We love to hear what you think so that we can improve the tutorials in the future. Please complete the ​online survey and get a temporary GENI tatoo!

8. Get Your Own Account

The accounts, that you used in the above steps will be deactivated after the tutorial. If you do not already have an account at GPO's ProtoGENI cluster, you should get your own account so that you can further experiment with GENI. If you are not a professor and you want to setup your account today, please follow these steps:

1. In your browser go the www.pgeni.gpolab.bbn.com tab and click Logout
2. Press in the .... button.
3. Fill out the information that are requested and for Project name use ..... Note: Make sure you use a valid email address and preferably the email address of your institution. You will need to verify your email address before your account can be approved.