Ixia Developer KVM over CentOS deployment and configuration steps: Document scope and high level Steps: The scope of this document is to present a straightforward workflow that will assist you while deploying the Ixia Developer OVA and help you create a sample setup for your device under test. Steps: Getting Started Ixia Developer QCOW2 image deployment steps for KVM QEMU Configuring the Ixia Developer management interface Configuring the Ixia Developer test interfaces Adding a device under test (DUT) to the environment Other observations / known limitations Getting Started 1. To get started, you need to have a KVM Hypervisor setup in place along with virt-manager local or remote access. If needed, virt-manager can be installed on various Linux OS distributions as follows: yum install virt-manager (Fedora) apt-get install virt-manager (Debian) emerge virt-manager (Gentoo) pkg_add virt-manager (OpenBSD) More information on virt-manager at: https://virt-manager.org/ 2. Next, have the Ixia Developer QCOW2 image prepared for deployment. Ixia Developer QCOW2 image deployment steps for KVM QEMU: 3. Copy the IxiaDeveloper QCOW2 image to a preferred location on the KVM Hypervisor. 4. Open the Linux terminal on the KVM hypervisor and run the following command to deploy IxiaDeveloper Virtual Machine using the QCOW2 image: sudo virt-install --arch=x86_64 --virt-type kvm --name IxiaDeveloper --ram 4096 \ --vcpus=2 --import --disk IxiaDeveloper.qcow2,format=qcow2 --noautoconsole --os-type=linux --noreboot
Note: You may also use virt-manager step-by-step deployment method by opening it from KVM terminal. More info at: https://virt-manager.org/ To open virt-manager type virt-manager in the KVM terminal 5. After Ixia Developer Virtual Machine has been deployed, you may check that the Ixia Developer is deployed and shut down on the KVM Hypervisor using virt-manager.
Configuring the Ixia Developer management interface: Ixia Developer requires full time Internet access while operating. In order to achieve this, the virtual machine needs to have its management network interface added in a virtual switch or bridge that will assure internet connectivity. This will also provide access to the Ixia Developer web service via a web browser. Please note that this interface will not be involved in any test. First step in achieving internet connectivity is to attach the Ixia Developer existing network adapter to a virtual Switch or Bridge that has a hypervisor physical adapter connected to your management network. The steps below are assuming a default KVM setup without any bridges configured (or at least some that are not related to Ixia Developer test and management networks). 6. For this, you need to connect the Ixia Developer management NIC to a bridge in which the physical interface of the hypervisor is also connected. Follow the steps below in the Linux console on the KVM hypervisor to achieve this (actual commands below work on CentOS): a. Edit the management interface configuration file (in this example enp1s0 is the management interface): vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-enp1s0 #Must be: DEVICE=enp1s0 ONBOOT=yes BRIDGE=Management b. Hit ESC and save the file with :wq! command c. Create a Management bridge in which you will connect the management interface enp1s0 (letter case is mandatory): vi /etc/sysconsfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-management #Must be: DEVICE=Management TYPE=Bridge BOOTPROTO=dhcp ONBOOT=yes DELAY=0 STP=off d. Hit ESC and save the file with :wq! command e. Restart network services with reboot command from SSH or service network restart from KVM local console. Next, in order to also ensure Internet access to the Ixia Developer VM, you need to follow the next steps: 7. Select IxiaDeveloper VM, then select Open button on the menu.
8. Go to Details (next to Console) in the window that pops up and on the left side select the only single NIC interface that is available. This will be your management interface for Ixia Developer. Having the management interface configured, you are now ready to start adding test interfaces to the Ixia Developer Virtual Machine. The next section will guide you through this process.
Configuring the Ixia Developer test interfaces: Ixia Developer requires you to manually add more test interfaces to the VM on the KVM host. To do this you need to edit the VM Details and manually add several other network adapters connected to a new set of virtual switches/bridges. Below are the steps you need to take to achieve this: First, you need to create two separate vswitches/bridges. The two separate bridges are required to prevent traffic from one Ixia Developer test interface reaching the other before passing through the device under test. 9. Follow the steps below to create the two vswitches (vswitch 1 and vswitch 2): a. Open virt-manager and go to Edit -> Connection Details b. Go to Network Interfaces tab and click c. In the Configure Network Interface window choose Bridge for Interface Type and hit Forward.
d. In the next window configure: Name: vswitch1 / Start Mode: On boot / enable Activate Now / IP settings -> IPv4:DHCP Configure -> Manually configure: IPv4 Mode: No Configuration and hit Finish. If needed, you may disable STP on this bridge also from Bridge Settings -> Configure -> Bridge configuration -> uncheck Enable STP. Hit Finish. e. Repeat these steps to create vswitch2. Note: After adding the two bridges (vswitch1 and vswitch2) it is recommended to set the ageing time for each of them to 0. This is needed for Ixia Developer test network only. For this, please go to the KVM terminal and enter: [root@kvm_host: ~]brctl setageing vswitch1 0 [root@kvm_host: ~]brctl setageing vswitch2 0 10. You need to take the following steps for each adapter you will add (two adapters only in this example): a. Open virt-manager and Open Ixia Developer virtual machine. b. Go to Details tab. c. Click on Add Hardware and select Network d. In the Network Source drop down menu select vswitch1. e. Select the same Device Model for each interface you will add and hit Finish. E.g.: e1000 f. Repeat steps from a to f to create the second network adapter for the vswitch 2.
Two vswitches have been created in order to accommodate the two basic device under (DUT) test scenarios: inline and passive. 11. Next, start the Ixia Developer virtual machine, wait for it to boot, and check the information in the VM console. After the boot-up process, the MAC addresses of the newly added test interfaces in the console prompt will help you match eth interfaces to Ixia Developer on KVM network adapters. You are now ready to open a Web Browser and access the Ixia Developer web service and run tests using an URL similar to: https://consoleindicatedipaddress that will be prompted to you on the Ixia Developer VM console. Please note that there is no connectivity between the Ixia Developer test interfaces for the moment if you are trying an inline DUT scenario. You still need to add a device under test that will be connected as inline to the Ixia Developer test interfaces. The KVM console for the Ixia Developer virtual machine will prompt you with information regarding access to the web server or information on how to manage the VM in order to gain internet and management connectivity. The IP connectivity is initially provided via an IPv4 DHCP client on the virtual machine that will configure the management IP address for the Ixia Developer box. If a DHCP server is not available in your network, you can login on the VM console with the following credentials, and configure IP settings manually: - Username: netadmin - Default password: netadmin (you will be asked to change the default password after the first login; for this, simply follow the on-screen instructions) After login, your screen should be similar to the one in the image below, and you may start customizing the IP settings:
Adding a device under test (DUT) to the environment: You have now completed the Ixia Developer deployment steps and you need to add a device under test to run your scenarios. Please follow similar steps on the hypervisor as for the Ixia Developer deployment to also deploy an image of your own virtual device under test. After you have deployed the device under test please make sure to connect each of its ports to the corresponding vswitch/bridge in order to gain connectivity with Ixia Developer test interfaces. 1. Inline Virtual DUT Scenario The diagram below describes the setup for an inline DUT scenario: Note: In the inline DUT scenario you need to use vswitch 1 for one of the Ixia Developer test interfaces and vswitch 2 for the other in order to avoid packets being sent to all the interfaces you may have added. This way you will avoid packet replication due to bridges broadcasts and also guarantee statistics accuracy. Finally, assuming eth1 and eth2 have the MACs of Network Adapter 2 and Network Adapter 3 respectively, your topology in the network configuration of the KVM should match the above image.
2. Passive Virtual DUT Scenario Note: In a passive DUT scenario, you need to connect the DUT transparently to a single vswitch/bridge (e.g. vswitch 1) for it to detect the traffic. Make sure to configure the DUT interface also in promiscuous mode for the traffic to reach it. Adding multiple Ixia Developer test interfaces will generate incorrect receive statistics on all the ports because the broadcast domains are not separated and all interfaces are working in promiscuous mode. Finally, assuming eth1 and eth2 have the MACs of Network Adapter 2 and Network Adapter 3 respectively, your topology in the network configuration of the KVM should match the above image. Other observations / known limitations: 1. The setup examples presented in this guide are some common test setups created in order to assure a straightforward workflow for Ixia Developer product. Other topologies may be created or scaled up to meet the user s needs. 2. Important: For security reasons, it is recommended to avoid placing the Ixia Developer Web Server in a public IP addresses pool that is reachable from sites outside your company premises. 3. By using the same Adapter Type the eth test interfaces will always be created in the correct order. Different NIC types could reorder the network adapters (e.g. eth1 may not be Adapter 2 and so on). 4. Please note that KVM bridges are using MAC address tables on their bridges. This could generate traffic loss when using Replay Traffic and Application traffic one right after another. It is recommended to set the ageing timer on the Bridges created for Ixia Developer connections to 0. To achieve this you should run the following command on the KVM hypervisor: [root@kvm_host: ~]brctl setageing vswitch1 0 [root@kvm_host: ~]brctl setageing vswitch2 0