Running a Layer 2 Experiment in Mesoscale deployment

These instructions are a draft. Please be in touch with the GPO at ​help@geni.net as you start work on your experiment.

[All the rspecs include the AM URL, so you can just copy and paste it from the file.]

1. Register your Ethernet Type

To ensure that different experiments do not interfere with each other, we are monitoring which ethernet type is used by which experiment. To register your ethernet type and ensure that noone else is using it email ​gpo-infra@geni.net. See current reservations ​here

To: gpo-infra@geni.net
From: Geni User <geniuser@example.com>
Subject: Reservation request for Ethernet Type X

Hi, 
I am planning to run a Layer 2 experiment and would like to reserve 
an ethernet type. My protocol uses eth-type X, if this is not available 
please let me know of an alternative ethernet type. 

user urn : URI:urn:publicid:IDN+pgeni.gpolab.bbn.com+user+inki, email:inki@pgeni.gpolab.bbn.com
duration : until June 30th 2011

Thanks, 

To determine your user urn see ​here for instructions.

2. Decide which VLAN you want to use

Take a look at the ​diagrams of TangoGENI and decide whether you want to use VLAN 3715 or 3716. The main difference is in the provided topology, so take a look and see which topology make more sense.

3. ProtoGENI hosts

Take a look at the diagram of TangoGENI and decide which ProtoGENI hosts you would like to use. There are two types of ProtoGENI hosts :

1. ProtoGENI hosts that are controled by GPO's cluster, this includes all the nodes at GPO (pc1-pc11).
2. ProtoGENI hosts at campuses that are controlled by UTAH's cluster, these includes all the ProtoGENI hosts, but the ones at GPO (pg30-pg33, pg46-pg51).

3a. Reserve Hosts from GPO cluster

First check how many nodes are available

omni.py listresources -a https://pgeni.gpolab.bbn.com/protogeni/xmlrpc/am -o

If there are enough nodes available, then you can make an unbound (don't specify specific hosts) request. Modify this rspec​ to include the right number of nodes.

If there are not enough nodes, please email us.

3b. Reserve Hosts from Utah cluster

First check if the nodes you want are available

omni.py listresources -a https://www.emulab.net/protogeni/xmlrpc/am -o

If they are then just go ahead and reserve them. For Utah the request has to be bound, i.e. you need to specify specific hosts. Modify this rspec​ to include all the nodes you want.

If the nodes you wanted are not available, check to see if some of the other pg nodes are available and whether you can use those instead. If you can't get the nodes you want, please email us.

3c. Configure PG nodes

After you have reserved the nodes you need to configure their interfaces.

Manual configuration

You can configure the interfaces manualy by logging in to each node. After you login, follow the appropriate instructions below.

GPO hosts

For the GPO hosts that are booted with an Ubuntu image, follow the instructions here but instead of using the IPs on the example, use IPs of the form 10.37.1Y.2xx, where xx is as described in the example and Y is based on which VLAN you decided to use (Y=5 for 3715, Y=6 for 3716).

Utah hosts

For Utah hosts that are booted with a Fedora 10 image, follow these instructions after loging in.

sudo vim  /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1.$VLAN

Where the contents of the file should be

DEVICE=eth1.$VLAN
USERCTL=no 
VLAN=yes 
IPADDR=$MY_DATA_IP
NETMASK=255.255.255.0 
BOOTPROTO=static 
ONBOOT=yes"

$VLAN is the VLAN you decided to use (3715, or 3716), and $MY_DATA_IP$ can be figured out from this table, (10.37.1Y.xxx, where xxx is the last octet from the table, and Y is either 5 or 6 based on the VLAN).

Automatic Configuration

If you are writing startup scripts to be executed when the node is reserved, you can do both of these configurations with a script. For GEC11 tutorial we wrote some scripts to do this which are attached in the file. They will need some modification to apply to the specific setup, but the basic idea is there.

3. OF resources

Although in the campuses, the VLANs you specified are not OF controlled the VLANs in the core are, so you would need to reserve a sliver and configure it to be controlled by a controller that is running at the GPO.

Modify the NLR​ and the I2​ rspces to use your own ethernet type.

Send your request. Ask for you traffic to be opted in by sending a message to ​response-team@geni.net. More instructions available at OpenFlow/Expedient#Optinginyourtraffic.

Unlike your PG hosts, you can reserve your OF sliver for as long as you plan to be running experiments.