Minimalist BGP Anycast Lab Built from VMs?
Hi List What is the simplest BGP anycast lab I can set up using Linux VMs running on virtualbox? I'm trying to build the minimum virtual lab to test an Anycast configuration based on BGP. I have enough computing power to run about 4 linux VMs on Virtualbox on a single laptop. I'm using BIRD as a route server (not Quagga, not Zebra) on Linux. Is this even viable? I'd appreciate it if anyone could share their experiences/configurations, diagrams if they've set up a similar lab. Thanks in advance, Traiano
On 10/2/16 12:16 PM, Traiano Welcome wrote:
Hi List
What is the simplest BGP anycast lab I can set up using Linux VMs running on virtualbox?
I'm trying to build the minimum virtual lab to test an Anycast configuration based on BGP. I have enough computing power to run about 4 linux VMs on Virtualbox on a single laptop. I'm using BIRD as a route server (not Quagga, not Zebra) on Linux. Is this even viable?
the assuming you're looking to simulate more that one instance topologically you need a host and 2 nexthops O1 \ H2 O2 / The host learns a the Origin route from two neighboring routers, prefers one or prefers both. In the later case you have ECMP.
I'd appreciate it if anyone could share their experiences/configurations, diagrams if they've set up a similar lab.
Thanks in advance,
Traiano
Hi! For testing, consider using Linux network namespaces. It is much more lightweight than complete virtualization through virtualbox. On my laptop, I'm able to use more than 100 namespaces, which means more than 100 distinct pseudovirtual machines sharing everything but network. http://blog.scottlowe.org/2013/09/04/introducing-linux-network-namespaces/ OTOH, the memory consumed by 100 Bird instances is still consumed, you just save the memory and power for running more instances of operating system. MQ On 10/02/2016 09:16 PM, Traiano Welcome wrote:
Hi List
What is the simplest BGP anycast lab I can set up using Linux VMs running on virtualbox?
I'm trying to build the minimum virtual lab to test an Anycast configuration based on BGP. I have enough computing power to run about 4 linux VMs on Virtualbox on a single laptop. I'm using BIRD as a route server (not Quagga, not Zebra) on Linux. Is this even viable?
I'd appreciate it if anyone could share their experiences/configurations, diagrams if they've set up a similar lab.
Thanks in advance,
Traiano
On 3 Oct 2016, at 08:32, Jan Matejka <jan.matejka@nic.cz> wrote:
OTOH, the memory consumed by 100 Bird instances is still consumed, you just save the memory and power for running more instances of operating system.
Actually only the memory for the data is 'still consumed'. The code pages should be shared between instances assuming the same bird binary is run in each. Code pages are also potentially shared between VMs with kernel samepage merging, but that won't work AFAIK with Virtualbox on OS-X. -- Alex Bligh
Hi, On 10/02/2016 09:16 PM, Traiano Welcome wrote:
Hi List
What is the simplest BGP anycast lab I can set up using Linux VMs running on virtualbox?
I'm trying to build the minimum virtual lab to test an Anycast configuration based on BGP. I have enough computing power to run about 4 linux VMs on Virtualbox on a single laptop. I'm using BIRD as a route server (not Quagga, not Zebra) on Linux. Is this even viable?
I'd appreciate it if anyone could share their experiences/configurations, diagrams if they've set up a similar lab.
What I do is running 1 VM, and using LXC inside to make a bunch of containers with bird in them and use openvswitch to tie it all together. Detailed examples: https://github.com/knorrie/network-examples/blob/master/README.md See 'Setting up a lab environment'. Have fun, -- Hans van Kranenburg
On Wed, Oct 5, 2016 at 12:46 AM, Hans van Kranenburg < hans.van.kranenburg@mendix.com> wrote:
Hi,
On 10/02/2016 09:16 PM, Traiano Welcome wrote:
Hi List
What is the simplest BGP anycast lab I can set up using Linux VMs running on virtualbox?
I'm trying to build the minimum virtual lab to test an Anycast configuration based on BGP. I have enough computing power to run about 4 linux VMs on Virtualbox on a single laptop. I'm using BIRD as a route server (not Quagga, not Zebra) on Linux. Is this even viable?
I'd appreciate it if anyone could share their experiences/configurations, diagrams if they've set up a similar lab.
What I do is running 1 VM, and using LXC inside to make a bunch of containers with bird in them and use openvswitch to tie it all together.
Detailed examples: https://github.com/knorrie/network-examples/blob/master/README.md
See 'Setting up a lab environment'.
Thanks everyone, for all the good suggestions, this should be enough to get going :-)
Have fun, -- Hans van Kranenburg
participants (5)
-
Alex Bligh -
Hans van Kranenburg -
Jan Matejka -
joel jaeggli -
Traiano Welcome