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https://github.com/mininet/mininet

Emulator for rapid prototyping of Software Defined Networks
https://github.com/mininet/mininet

emulator linux mininet network-namespaces openflow python sdn

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Emulator for rapid prototyping of Software Defined Networks

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README 

        
Mininet: Rapid Prototyping for Software Defined Networks

========================================================

*The best way to emulate almost any network on your laptop!*



Mininet 2.3.1b4



[![Build Status][1]](https://github.com/mininet/mininet/actions)



### What is Mininet?



Mininet emulates a complete network of hosts, links, and switches

on a single machine.  To create a sample two-host, one-switch network,

just run:



  `sudo mn`



Mininet is useful for interactive development, testing, and demos,

especially those using OpenFlow and SDN.  OpenFlow-based network

controllers prototyped in Mininet can usually be transferred to

hardware with minimal changes for full line-rate execution.



### How does it work?



Mininet creates virtual networks using process-based virtualization

and network namespaces - features that are available in recent Linux

kernels.  In Mininet, hosts are emulated as `bash` processes running in

a network namespace, so any code that would normally run on a Linux

server (like a web server or client program) should run just fine

within a Mininet "Host".  The Mininet "Host" will have its own private

network interface and can only see its own processes.  Switches in

Mininet are software-based switches like Open vSwitch or the OpenFlow

reference switch.  Links are virtual ethernet pairs, which live in the

Linux kernel and connect our emulated switches to emulated hosts

(processes).



### Features



Mininet includes:



* A command-line launcher (`mn`) to instantiate networks.



* A handy Python API for creating networks of varying sizes and

  topologies.



* Examples (in the `examples/` directory) to help you get started.



* Full API documentation via Python `help()` docstrings, as well as

  the ability to generate PDF/HTML documentation with `make doc`.



* Parametrized topologies (`Topo` subclasses) using the Mininet

  object.  For example, a tree network may be created with the

  command:



  `mn --topo tree,depth=2,fanout=3`



* A command-line interface (`CLI` class) which provides useful

  diagnostic commands (like `iperf` and `ping`), as well as the

  ability to run a command to a node. For example,



  `mininet> h11 ifconfig -a`



  tells host h11 to run the command `ifconfig -a`



* A "cleanup" command to get rid of junk (interfaces, processes, files

  in /tmp, etc.) which might be left around by Mininet or Linux. Try

  this if things stop working!



  `mn -c`



### Python 3 Support



- Mininet 2.3.1b4 supports Python 3 and Python 2



- You can install both the Python 3 and Python 2 versions of

Mininet side by side, but the most recent installation will

determine which Python version is used by default by `mn`.



- You can run `mn` directly with Python 2 or Python 3,

  as long as the appropriate version of Mininet is installed,

  e.g.



      $ sudo python2 `which mn`



- More information regarding Python 3 and Python 2 support

  may be found in the release notes on http://docs.mininet.org.



### Other Enhancements and Information



- Support for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (and 20.04)



- More reliable testing and CI via github actions



- Preliminary support for cgroups v2 (and v1)



- Minor bug fixes (2.3.1)



- Additional information about this release and previous releases

  may be found in the release notes on http://docs.mininet.org.



### Installation



See `INSTALL` for installation instructions and details.



### Documentation



In addition to the API documentation (`make doc`), much useful

information, including a Mininet walkthrough and an introduction

to the Python API, is available on the

[Mininet Web Site](http://mininet.org).

There is also a wiki which you are encouraged to read and to

contribute to, particularly the Frequently Asked Questions

(FAQ) at http://faq.mininet.org.



### Support



Mininet is community-supported. We encourage you to join the

Mininet mailing list, `mininet-discuss` at:



### Join Us



Thanks again to all of the Mininet contributors and users!



Mininet is an open source project and is currently hosted

at . You are encouraged to download,

examine, and modify the code, and to submit bug reports, bug fixes,

feature requests, new features, and other issues and pull requests.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed code to the Mininet project

(see CONTRIBUTORS for more info!) It is because of everyone's

hard work that Mininet continues to grow and improve.



### Enjoy Mininet



Have fun! We look forward to seeing what you will do with Mininet

to change the networking world.



Bob Lantz,

on behalf of the Mininet Contributors



[1]: https://github.com/mininet/mininet/workflows/mininet-tests/badge.svg