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Innovate, Experiment, and Prototype Networking Solutions using Cisco’s Virtual Internet Routing Lab (VIRL)

Simulation Platform

Anand Singh, Graduate Student, NC State University

Yannis Vinotis, Professor, NC State University

Tom Bryan, Technical Leader, Cisco Systems

Internet2 Technology Exchange October 5, 2015

© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public

VIRL Overview


What is VIRL? •  VIRL is Cisco’s Virtual Internet Routing Lab. •  VIRL is a network orchestration and simulation platform

that enables: •  Point-and-click network design •  Automated configuration creation •  Highly-accurate network simulations •  Seamless connectivity with ‘real’ networks •  Rapid setup and tear-down •  Portability •  Repeatability •  Simulate at scale – 10’s to 1000’s of devices

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“Batteries Included” •  Cisco virtual machines •  Graphical user interface •  Configuration engine •  OpenStack •  Linux KVM-Qemu •  Live visualization of simulated network •  Web services •  Web-based administration console


Why VIRL? •  Build, test & deploy networks – virtually •  Provides a virtual lab for networking classes and for

research projects •  Saves time

•  No need to cable physical devices together •  Simulate large networks in minutes •  Scriptable APIs

•  Use data center resources efficiently •  Runs on commodity server hardware •  Hundreds of network devices per server


VIRL Architecture


VIRL Architecture Overview

VIRL Server

Web Services UWM ANK Vis. Live Vis.

AutoNetkit

OpenStack / KVM-Qemu

VM Maestro

Simulation Engine

.virl file

ASAv IOS XRv IOSv


VIRL Architecture Simulation Engine and OpenStack

VIRL Server


AutoNetkit


VM Maestro

Simulation Engine

.virl file

ASAv IOS XRv IOSv


VIRL Architecture Simulation Engine and OpenStack

•  The VIRL “back end” •  Ubuntu Linux •  VIRL web services and software •  OpenStack •  KVM / Qemu

•  Deployment options •  Bare metal installation (dedicated VIRL server) •  VIRL VM running on VMware

•  Web services API •  Provides external connectivity to real (physical) networks


VIRL Architecture Virtualized Platform Operating Systems

VIRL Server


AutoNetkit


VM Maestro

Simulation Engine

.virl file

ASAv IOS XRv IOSv


IOS XR NX-OS IOS XE IOS

Virtualized in

IOS XRv

Virtualized in NX-OSv

Virtualized in CSR1000v

Virtualized in IOSv and

IOSvL2

Servers

Ubuntu, Cirros, 3rd party Virtual

Machines

Virtual Machines run the operating system but are NOT representations of a particular hardware platform – no fans, no switch fabric, no ASIC models


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•  Virtualized version of Cisco operating systems •  IOSv, IOSvL2, IOS XRv, CSR1000v, NX-OSv, ASAv •  Does not require additional license for bundled images •  Images are data-rate limited

•  Real builds of the Cisco network operating systems •  It’s not emulation! •  OS fidelity but not a representation of a particular hardware platform. •  Same: control plane code, management plane code, memory footprint •  Different: CPU performance, forwarding plane code

•  Some limitations, especially in data plane •  Also includes Ubuntu “server” image •  Third party virtual machines


VIRL Architecture – VM Maestro GUI

VIRL Server


AutoNetkit


VM Maestro

Simulation Engine

.virl file

ASAv IOS XRv IOSv


VIRL Architecture – VM Maestro GUI •  Graphical topology

editing tool •  Specify initial configs

manually or using AutoNetkit

•  Launch topology simulation

•  Telnet to nodes in the simulation

•  Control the simulation (start/stop nodes, etc.) •  Initiate a packet capture


VIRL Architecture – XML Topology File

VIRL Server


AutoNetkit


VM Maestro

Simulation Engine

.virl file

ASAv IOS XRv IOSv


VIRL Architecture – XML Topology File •  Topology is stored in an XML (.virl) file. •  Topology file is

self-contained •  Nodes •  Connections •  External connectivity •  Various Properties •  Configuration for each node

•  Simple to share •  E-mail .virl files to other VIRL users •  Commit files to SCM repository


VIRL Architecture AutoNetkit Network Configuration Engine

VIRL Server


AutoNetkit


VM Maestro

Simulation Engine

.virl file

ASAv IOS XRv IOSv


VIRL Architecture AutoNetkit Network Configuration Engine

•  Configure complex features •  Set a few high-level properties •  “Single Click” config generation for entire topology •  Generates configurations across a variety of Cisco

operating systems (IOS, IOS XR, etc.)

•  Validate generated configurations visually •  Saves time and assists with learning

unfamiliar features and operating systems

AutoNetkit

Network Information

DB

XML Topology Definition

Configurations

Topology Renderings


VIRL Architecture – Live Visualization

VIRL Server


AutoNetkit


VM Maestro

Simulation Engine

.virl file

ASAv IOS XRv IOSv


VIRL Architecture – Live Visualization •  Provides insight into the running simulation •  Visually illustrates how changes affect the network •  Integrated syslog capture


VIRL Architecture User Workspace Management

VIRL Server


AutoNetkit


VM Maestro

Simulation Engine

.virl file

ASAv IOS XRv IOSv


VIRL Architecture User Workspace Management

•  Web-based administration console •  Manage users •  Monitor or stop running simulations •  Monitor system health and resource usage •  Add custom or third party VMs •  Customize VM “flavors” •  Initiate packet captures


Deploying VIRL

Hardware

Ubuntu Linux

Hypervisor (KVM) OpenStack

VIRL Service Topology Director

AutoNetKit AutoNetKit

Cisco Extensions

Cisco Cisco OpenSource

OpenSource

OpenSource

OpenSource

Cisco IOSv VM

Cisco

VMMaestro Cisco

Bare-‐metal server delivery packaging

IOS XRv NX-‐OSv CSR1000v Other VMs

Cisco provided

Cisco provided

installer

Custom

er provide

d

Hardware

VMWare ESXi Fusion Player

Ubuntu Linux

Hypervisor (KVM)

Mac OSX Windows

OpenStack

VIRL Service Topology Director

Cisco IOSv VM

AutoNetKit AutoNetKit

Cisco Extensions

IOS XRv

VMMaestro

Server Laptop Laptop

Cisco Cisco Cisco

Cisco

OpenSource

OpenSource

OpenSource

OpenSource

NX-‐OSv CSR1000v Other VMs OVA/VMDK delivery packaging

OVA

PAC

KAGE

– Cisc

o provided

Cu

stom

er provide

d

Cisco provided

Hardware

VMWare ESXi

HosUng on VMWare ESXi

Custom

er provide

d

•  MulUple independent VIRL instances deployed on ESXi using vSphere •  Each VIRL instance is provisioned with N*vCPUs and memory •  Number of vCPUs and memory will limit the number of router VMs can be hosted •  Disk I/O is a crucial performance factor! •  Independent users run VM Maestro UI on their laptops


Deploying VIRL •  Deployment options

•  VMware ESXi •  VMware Player/Workstation/Fusion •  Bare Metal

•  System requirements •  Memory – more is always better! •  CPU

•  Virtualization extensions required •  Controls for oversubscribing CPU cores

•  Minimum ESXi version requirements •  Nested virtualization

•  Used when running the VIRL back end as a VM •  Rules out deployment in many “cloud” infrastructures, such as EC2

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VIRL at NC State University

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VIRL@NC State University

Ø  Objective Ø  Class Room Activities Ø  Research Activities Ø  Operation/Administration Experience Ø  An Example - BGP Course Module

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Objectives

Ø Simulation Platform in Networking Labs Ø Scaled Research Test Beds Ø Teaching Tool for Instructors Ø Practical Hands-on Platform for Students

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Class Room Activities

Ø  For Students •  Topology Creation/Visualization •  Configuration Management •  Traces and Analysis

Ø  For Professor/Lab Assistant •  Publishing Examples/Topology •  Setting up Lab Exercises and Exams

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Demo: BGP Course Module

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Research Activities

Ø Setup/Experiment with L2/L3 Fabrics •  Topology Creation •  Traffic Generation

Ø Configuration Management

Ø Image Type/Flavor Addition •  OpenDayight-IoTDM use case

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Demo: A Research Use Case

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Operation/Administration Experience

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Ø  VIRL Setup Infrastructure •  Bare Metal •  ESXI Servers •  VCL (Virtual Computing Lab) Cloud

Ø  User Management


Demo: VIRL User Management

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Conclusion


Who else is using VIRL? •  North Carolina State University •  University of California, Santa Cruz •  Collège La CIté in Ottawa, Canada •  Queen Mary University London, UK •  Loughborough University, UK •  Estonian Technical College (Tallinn) •  Fulda University of Applied Sciences (Germany) •  Swinburne University, Australia


How to get VIRL? •  VIRL Academic Edition

•  http://virl.cisco.com/ •  Individual user •  Community support •  Limited to 15 nodes

•  Contact [email protected] for more information •  Research licenses •  Institution bundle


Q&A


VIRL Architecture VIRL Work-Flow

XML Topology Definition

VM Maestro

Services Topology Director

Topology Views

Router Configurations

Topology Graph

Topology Graph with Router Configurations

Virtual Machines / Switches 2

3

4

5 6 7

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A1-Console: 17000 A1-Aux: 17001 …

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