Skip to content

This section walks you through the process of deploying TeraFlowSDN on top of a machine running MicroK8s Kubernetes platform. The guide includes the details on configuring and installing the machine, installing and configuring MicroK8s, and deploying and reporting the status of the TeraFlowSDN controller.

# 1.1. Configure your Machine

In this section, we describe how to configure a machine (physical or virtual) to be used as the deployment, execution, and development environment for the ETSI TeraFlowSDN controller. Choose your preferred environment below and follow the instructions provided.

NOTE: If you already have a remote physical server fitting the requirements specified in this section feel free to use it instead of deploying a local VM. Check 1.1.1. Physical Server for further details.

Virtualization platforms tested are:

- Physical Server
- Oracle Virtual Box
- VMWare Fusion
- OpenStack'
- Vagrant Box

## 1.1.1. Physical Server

This page describes how to configure a physical server for running ETSI TeraFlowSDN(TFS) controller.

### Server Specifications

Minimum Server Specifications for development and basic deployment

- CPU: 4 cores
- RAM: 8 GB
- Disk: 60 GB
- 1 GbE NIC

Recommended Server Specifications for development and basic deployment

- CPU: 6 cores
- RAM: 12 GB
- Disk: 80 GB
- 1 GbE NIC

Server Specifications for best development and deployment experience

- CPU: 8 cores
- RAM: 32 GB
- Disk: 120 GB
- 1 GbE NIC

NOTE: the specifications listed above are provided as a reference. They depend also on the CPU clock frequency, the RAM memory, the disk technology and speed, etc.

For development purposes, it is recommended to run the VSCode IDE (or the IDE of your choice) in a more powerful server, for instance, the recommended server specifications for development and basic deployment.

Given that TeraFlowSDN follows a micro-services architecture, for the deployment, it might be better to use many clusterized servers with many slower cores than a single server with few highly performant cores.

### Clusterized Deployment

You might consider creating a cluster of machines each featuring, at least, the minimum server specifications. That solution brings you scalability in the future.

### Networking

No explicit indications are given in terms of networking besides that servers need access to the Internet for downloading dependencies, binaries, and packages while building and deploying the TeraFlowSDN components.

Besides that, the network requirements are essentially the same than that required for running a classical Kubernetes environment. To facilitate the deployment, we extensively use MicroK8s, thus the network requirements are, essentially, the same demanded by MicroK8s, especially, if you consider creating a Kubernetes cluster.

As a reference, the other deployment solutions based on VMs assume the VM is connected to a virtual network configured with the IP range `10.0.2.0/24` and have the gateway at IP `10.0.2.1`. The VMs have the IP address `10.0.2.10`.

The minimum required ports to be accessible are: - 22/SSH : for management purposes - 80/HTTP : for the TeraFlowSDN WebUI and Grafana dashboard - 8081/HTTPS : for the CockroachDB WebUI

Other ports might be required if you consider to deploy addons such as Kubernetes observability, etc. The details on these ports are left appart given they might vary depending on the Kubernetes environment you use.

### Operating System

The recommended Operating System for deploying TeraFlowSDN is Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS or Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS. Other version might work, but we have not tested them. We strongly recommend using Long Term Support (LTS) versions as they provide better stability.

Below we provide some installation guidelines: - Installation Language: English - Autodetect your keyboard - If asked, select "Ubuntu Server" (do not select "Ubuntu Server (minimized)"). - Configure static network specifications (adapt them based on your particular setup):

Interface | IPv4 Method | Subnet | Address | Gateway | Name servers | Search domains
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
enp0s3 | Manual | 10.0.2.0/24 | 10.0.2.10 | 10.0.2.1 | 8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4 |

- Leave proxy and mirror addresses as they are
- Let the installer self-upgrade (if asked).
- Use an entire disk for the installation
- Disable setup of the disk as LVM group
- Double check that NO swap space is allocated in the partition table. Kubernetes does not work properly with SWAP.
- Configure your user and system names:
- User name: `TeraFlowSDN`
- Server's name: `tfs-vm`
- Username: `tfs`
- Password: `tfs123`
- Install Open SSH Server
- Import SSH keys, if any.
- Featured Server Snaps
- Do not install featured server snaps. It will be done manually later to illustrate how to uninstall and reinstall them in case of trouble with.
- Let the system install and upgrade the packages.
- This operation might take some minutes depending on how old is the Optical Drive ISO image you use and your Internet connection speed.
- Restart the VM when the installation is completed.

### Upgrade the Ubuntu distribution

    sudo apt-get update -y
    sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y

- If asked to restart services, restart the default ones proposed.
- Restart the VM when the installation is completed.

## 1.1.2. Oracle Virtual Box

This page describes how to configure a VM for running ETSI TeraFlowSDN(TFS) controller using Oracle VirtualBox. It has been tested with VirtualBox up to version 6.1.40 r154048.

### Create a NAT Network in VirtualBox

In "Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager", Menu "File > Preferences... > Network", create a NAT network with the following specifications:

Name | CIDR | DHCP | IPv6
--- | --- | --- | ---
TFS-NAT-Net | 10.0.2.0/24 | Disabled | Disabled

Within the newly created "TFS-NAT-Net" NAT network, configure the following IPv4 forwarding rules:

Name | Protocol | Host IP | Host Port | Guest IP | Guest Port
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
SSH | TCP | 127.0.0.1 | 2200 | 10.0.2.10 | 22
HTTP | TCP | 127.0.0.1 | 8080 | 10.0.2.10 | 80

Note: IP address 10.0.2.10 is the one that will be assigned to the VM.

### Create VM in VirtualBox:

- Name: TFS-VM
- Type/Version: Linux / Ubuntu (64-bit)
- CPU (*): 4 vCPUs @ 100% execution capacity
- RAM: 8 GB
- Disk: 60 GB, Virtual Disk Image (VDI), Dynamically allocated
- Optical Drive ISO Image: "ubuntu-22.04.X-live-server-amd64.iso"
- Download the latest Long Term Support (LTS) version of the Ubuntu Server image from Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, e.g., "ubuntu-22.04.X-live-server-amd64.iso".
- Note: use Ubuntu Server image instead of Ubuntu Desktop to create a lightweight VM.
- Network Adapter 1 (*): enabled, attached to NAT Network "TFS-NAT-Net"
- Minor adjustments (*):
- Audio: disabled
- Boot order: disable "Floppy"

Note: (*) settings to be editing after the VM is created.

### Install Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Operating System

In "Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager", start the VM in normal mode, and follow the installation procedure. Below we provide some installation guidelines: - Installation Language: English - Autodetect your keyboard - If asked, select "Ubuntu Server" (do not select "Ubuntu Server (minimized)"). - Configure static network specifications:

Interface | IPv4 Method | Subnet | Address | Gateway | Name servers | Search domains
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
enp0s3 | Manual | 10.0.2.0/24 | 10.0.2.10 | 10.0.2.1 | 8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4 |

- Leave proxy and mirror addresses as they are
- Let the installer self-upgrade (if asked).
- Use an entire disk for the installation
- Disable setup of the disk as LVM group
- Double check that NO swap space is allocated in the partition table. Kubernetes does not work properly with SWAP.
- Configure your user and system names:
- User name: TeraFlowSDN
- Server's name: tfs-vm
- Username: tfs
- Password: tfs123
- Install Open SSH Server
- Import SSH keys, if any.
- Featured Server Snaps
- Do not install featured server snaps. It will be done manually later to illustrate how to uninstall and reinstall them in case of trouble with.
- Let the system install and upgrade the packages.
- This operation might take some minutes depending on how old is the Optical Drive ISO image you use and your Internet connection speed.
- Restart the VM when the installation is completed.

#### Upgrade the Ubuntu distribution

    sudo apt-get update -y
    sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y

- If asked to restart services, restart the default ones proposed.
- Restart the VM when the installation is completed.

#### Install VirtualBox Guest Additions

On VirtualBox Manager, open the VM main screen. If you are running the VM in headless mode, right click over the VM in the VirtualBox Manager window and click "Show". If a dialog informing about how to leave the interface of the VM is shown, confirm pressing "Switch" button. The interface of the VM should appear.

Click menu "Device > Insert Guest Additions CD image..."

On the VM terminal, type:

    sudo apt-get install -y linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential dkms
      # This command might take some minutes depending on your VM specs and your Internet access speed.
    sudo mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/
    cd /mnt/
    sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
      # This command might take some minutes depending on your VM specs.
    sudo reboot

## 1.1.3. VMWare Fusion

This page describes how to configure a VM for running ETSI TeraFlowSDN(TFS) controller using VMWare Fusion. It has been tested with VMWare Fusion version 12 and 13.

### Create VM in VMWare Fusion:

In "VMWare Fusion" manager, create a new network from the "Settings/Network" menu.

- Unlock to make changes
- Press the + icon and create a new network
- Change the name to TFS-NAT-Net
- Check "Allow virtual machines on this network to connect to external network (NAT)"
- Do not check "Enable IPv6"
- Add port forwarding for HTTP and SSH
- Uncheck "Provide address on this network via DHCP"

Create a new VM an Ubuntu 22.04.1 ISO:

- Display Name: TeraFlowSDN
- Username: tfs
- Password: tfs123

On the next screen press "Customize Settings", save the VM and in "Settings" change: - Change to use 4 CPUs - Change to access 8 GB of RAM - Change disk to size 60 GB - Change the network interface to use the previously created TFS-NAT-Net

Run the VM to start the installation.

### Install Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS Operating System

The installation will be automatic, without any configuration required.

- Configure the guest IP, gateway and DNS:

Using the Network Settings for the wired connection, set the IP to 10.0.2.10, the mask to 255.255.255.0, the gateway to 10.0.2.2 and the DNS to 10.0.2.2.

- Disable and remove swap file:

$ sudo swapoff -a $ sudo rm /swapfile

Then you can remove or comment the /swapfile entry in /etc/fstab

- Install Open SSH Server

- Import SSH keys, if any.

- Restart the VM when the installation is completed.

### Upgrade the Ubuntu distribution

    sudo apt-get update -y
    sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y

## 1.1.4. OpenStack

## 1.1.5. Vagrant Box

Other virtualization environments might be used; in that case, you will need to adapt these instructions to your particular case. If you want to contribute with details on how you used other hypervisors or platforms, contact the TFS team through Slack.

# 1.2. Install MicroK8s

# 1.3. Deploy TeraFlowSDN

# 1.4. WebUI and Grafana Dashboards

# 1.5. Show Deployment and Logs