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https://github.com/jaredwolff/thread-basic-border-router

A basic Thread border router running on a Virtualbox VM. Provision with Vagrant. No fuss.
https://github.com/jaredwolff/thread-basic-border-router

openthread thread vagrantfile virtualbox wpantund

Last synced: about 2 months ago
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A basic Thread border router running on a Virtualbox VM. Provision with Vagrant. No fuss.

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

          
# thread-basic-border-router-example



This repository re-tools what Nordic Semiconductor had created for their [Raspberry

Pi image](https://github.com/NordicSemiconductor/thread_border_router) and enables anyone with a Nordic nRF52840 development board and a computer to connect as an NCP to Wpantund. Thanks to the included Vagrant file very little is needed on the

end user side to get going.



## Install



**Note:** This plugin is useful for automatically installing VirtualBox Guest Additions.

I highly recommend you install it.



    vagrant plugin install vagrant-vbguest



Let's get started:



1. First, change the serial number for your DK in the `Vagrantfile`. It's located

on line 51.



        v.customize ["usbfilter", "add", "0",

          "--target", :id,

          "--name", "J-Link",

          "--manufacturer", "SEGGER",

          "--product", "J-Link",

          "--serialnumber", "000683767824"]



2. Plug your kit into USB.



3. Program using the NCP firmware as provided in the [Nordic Thread SDK](http://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.nordic.infocenter.threadsdk.v0.8.0%2Findex.html)



        cd nRF5_SDK_for_Thread_v0/examples/thread/experimental/ncp/pca10056/blank/armgcc

        make flash ../../../hex/nrf52840_xxaa.hex



4. Run the `vagrant up` command



        vagrant up



5. Log in to the vagrant box



        vagrant ssh



6. Run the border router



        cd /vagrant/

        chmod 755 ./script/thread_border_router

        sudo ./script/thread_border_router



7. In a separate shell window, you should see a few network interfaces show up

  once wpantund has initialized. Most important to note that both nat64 and wpan0

  has been initialized.



        vagrant@jessie:~$ /sbin/ifconfig

        eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 08:00:27:8d:c0:4d  

                  inet addr:10.0.2.15  Bcast:10.0.2.255  Mask:255.255.255.0

                  inet6 addr: fe80::a00:27ff:fe8d:c04d/64 Scope:Link

                  UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

                  RX packets:5843 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

                  TX packets:5678 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

                  collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000

                  RX bytes:392092 (382.9 KiB)  TX bytes:544621 (531.8 KiB)



        lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  

                  inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0

                  inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host

                  UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1

                  RX packets:18 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

                  TX packets:18 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

                  collisions:0 txqueuelen:0

                  RX bytes:1647 (1.6 KiB)  TX bytes:1647 (1.6 KiB)



        nat64     Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00  

                  inet addr:192.168.255.1  P-t-P:192.168.255.1  Mask:255.255.255.255

                  inet6 addr: 2001:db8:1:ffff::1/128 Scope:Global

                  inet6 addr: 2001:db8:1::1/128 Scope:Global

                  UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

                  RX packets:126 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

                  TX packets:126 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

                  collisions:0 txqueuelen:500

                  RX bytes:5922 (5.7 KiB)  TX bytes:8442 (8.2 KiB)



        wpan0     Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00  

                  inet6 addr: fdde:ad00:beef:0:c6e4:f108:a9a6:737a/64 Scope:Global

                  inet6 addr: fdff:cafe:cafe:cafe:f43d:3e29:fcab:e233/64 Scope:Global

                  inet6 addr: fe80::f43d:3e29:fcab:e233/64 Scope:Link

                  UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1280  Metric:1

                  RX packets:126 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

                  TX packets:7 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

                  collisions:0 txqueuelen:500

                  RX bytes:8442 (8.2 KiB)  TX bytes:672 (672.0 B)



8. On a separate development kit, install the CLI example:



        cd nRF5_SDK_for_Thread_v0/examples/thread/experimental/cli/pca10056/blank/armgcc

        make flash ../../../hex/nrf52840_xxaa.hex



9. Connect to the CLI example using a terminal program. In my case i'm using

  CoolTerm. (11500 Baudrate)



  ![Cool Term](images/coolterm.png)



10. Ping the border router



        ping 2001:db8:1:ffff::1

        > 8 bytes from 2001:db8:1:ffff:0:0:0:1: icmp_seq=1 hlim=64 time=34ms



11. Ping Google's DNS server



        ping 2001:db8:1:ffff:0:0:808:808

        > 8 bytes from 2001:db8:1:ffff:0:0:808:808: icmp_seq=2 hlim=57 time=43ms



## Going further



  I also modified one of Nordic's Cloud CoAP examples to send data to my CoAP

  server example. Both links are below:



  [nRF52840 Cloud CoAP Example]()



  [Node + Websockets + Express CoAP Server Example]()



## Debugging:



  Sometimes the NCP and the wpantund script get into a bad state. The best way to

  handle is to temporarily un-plug USB and re-connect. Normally this would be

  handled by a GPIO but because we're not using an embedded platform we have to

  manually restart things. I typically watch the wpantund output reinitialize

  to confirm everything is going smoothly.