[LiSA-Devel] [GitHub] Install and run LISA using kernel rpm packages

[Radu Rendec]

On Tue, 2013-02-19 at 19:34 +0200, Andreea-Cristina Hodea wrote:
> Great job, Claudiu! I've got the cli running on a centOS vm by
> following the steps in the wiki page and now I would like to
> understand more. Is there any demo on using LiSA? If not, I would need
> some advice where to start from (regarding the functionality from a
> user point of view first) while reading the theoretical documentation
> from lisa.mindbit.ro. Should I configure a network with LiSA or maybe
> use this: http://lisa.mindbit.ro/wiki/doku.php?id=playground ?

Hi Andreea,

The test setup on the old LiSA wiki that you mentioned is too
complicated and also obsolete. It's an old setup with physical devices
that we used for one of the past LiSA-based diploma projects. Unless you
keep a bunch of servers and Cisco switches hidden in your closet, you
shouldn't try to build that network :)

My advice is to use a VM-based setup that I suggested in the mail I sent
to the entire team on Jan 5th when I first announced the availability of
the pre-built centos kernel rpm packages. I'm including this below, just
to keep this message consistent (but you can also refer to the older
message that I sent to the team members directly).

The setup includes 2 additional test VMs called "test1" and "test2".
They can be any linux flavor you like, since they're only going to be
used for basic network testing such as ping and tcpdump.

+-------+  vlink1  +------+  vlink2  +-------+
| test1 +----------+ LiSA +----------+ test2 |
+-------+          +------+          +-------+

The important thing is to create the 2 virtual links labeled "vlink1"
and "vlink2" - assuming that you're using VirtualBox for virtualization.
I'm pasting below my original instructions on how to achieve this
(unfortunately for this list, it's in Romanian).

        Pentru a realiza configurația de mai sus, pe VM de LiSA trebuie
        să configurați "Adapter 3" și "Adapter 4" ca attached to
        "Internal Network", la name să puneți "vlink1" respectiv
        "vlink2" și la Advanced să puneți promiscuous mode = "Allow
        All".
        
        Similar, pe cele două VM de test trebuie să puneți câte o
        interfață
        virtuală ca attached to "Internal Network" și la name să puneți
        "vlink1" respectiv "vlink2".
        
        În acest mod, "vlink1" și "vlink2" sunt 2 rețele complet izolate
        între ele și față de mașina gazdă. în momentul în care
        configurați LiSA cu interfețele eth2 și eth3 (care ar trebui să
        reprezinte Adapter 3 și respectiv Adapter 4), VM-urile test1 și
        test2 ar trebui să se vadă layer 2 între ele (prin LiSA) și în
        tabela de forwarding din LiSA să observați că au fost învățate
        MAC-urile VM-urilor de test.
        
        Opțiunea "promiscuous mode" este disponibilă începând cu
        versiunea 4.2 de VirtualBox și setarea "Allow All" este necesară
        pentru a lăsa să treacă toate pachetele. Altfel VirtualBox va
        face filtrare după MAC-ul interfețelor direct conectate și
        configurația de test nu va funcționa.

The minimal LiSA configuration for supporting the setup described above
is this:

        conf t
        int netdev eth2
        int netdev eth3
        exit

This would include eth2 and eth3 with the switching engine and set both
interfaces to the default configuration: untagged ("access mode" in
Cisco terminology) in the default vlan (vlan 1).

Once you get connectivity between the 2 test machines, you can look at
the forwarding table using "show mac-address-table dynamic" and check
that the MAC addresses were learned properly.

Going back to your first question, I don't think there's any demo on
using LiSA. However, if you are familiar with Cisco switches, you should
find your way through quite easily, since the basic commands are 1:1
cloned from Cisco. The only difference is that physical interfaces need
to be "added" to the switching engine before they can be used. They are
automatically added when you enter the interface-specific configuration
menu for a particular interface.

If you experience any problems building the test setup, please post back
to the list so I can further guide you through the process. Also, you
should consider creating a page in the new wiki (on github) describing
all the steps. Not only that it will help you understand better, but it
will also serve as a good starting point for your fellow team members
and for new LiSA users.

Radu