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Northbound Networks Zodiac FX

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Francesco Anselmo edited this page Apr 13, 2020 · 3 revisions

In this tutorial we will be using the Zodiac FX.

Zodiac FX

This is an inexpensive compact network switch that supports OpenFlow and that is designed for desk based operation and for learning.

Port layout and physical connections to the Zodiac FX

The zodiac FX network switch has only 4 ports. In the default configuration, the first 3 ports are connected to the data plane and the 4th one is connected to the control plane.

To use DAQ with the Zodiac FX or any other OpenFlow physical network switch, you need to connect the computer running DAQ to the control plane port and to one of the data plane ports.

For this tutorial, use one ethernet port on the DAQ computer to connect to port 4 (control plane) and one to port 3 (data plane). Take note of which ethernet adapter names are used, as these will need to be inputted into the dAQ configuration file.

Also connect a USB to micro-USB cable between the DAQ computer and the Zodiac FX.

For further information, refer to the test lab documentation page.

Configuration of the Zodiac FX

The following steps are device specific and based on the Zodiac FX. Consult your device manual if your physical switch is different for similar configuration options.

To configure the Zodiac FX, we will be using the screen command, pointing it to the correct USB device.

First, let's find the name of the Zodiac FX USB interface:

ls /dev/tty*

This will show all of the USB serial connections, including the Zodiac FX one, that is likely to be similar to /dev/ttyACM0.

Now connect to this serial terminal.

screen /dev/ttyACM0

This command will open a console terminal. Hit the Enter key a couple of times and you'll see the Zodiac FX prompt:

Zodiac_FX#

The help command will give you a list of commands you can use to configure the device. Type the config command;

config

This will put the device in configuration mode, as shown by the prompt:

Zodiac_FX(config)#

Now show the configuration with the following command:

show config

Something similar to this will be output

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Configuration
 Name: Zodiac_FX
 MAC Address: 70:B3:D5:6C:DF:A2
 IP Address: 10.0.1.99
 Netmask: 255.255.255.0
 Gateway: 10.0.1.1
 OpenFlow Controller: 10.0.1.8
 OpenFlow Port: 6633
 Openflow Status: Enabled
 Failstate: Secure
 Force OpenFlow version: Disabled
 EtherType Filtering: Disabled

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let's familiarise with the configuration commands by issuing following commands:

set ip-address 192.168.100.99

set netmask 255.255.0.0

set gateway 192.168.100.1

set of-controller 192.168.100.8

set of-port 6653

Now save and restart the device with the following commands:

save

restart

The Zodiac FX will restart. After restarting the show config command will show the following:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Configuration
 Name: Zodiac_FX
 MAC Address: 70:B3:D5:6C:DF:A2
 IP Address: 192.168.100.99
 Netmask: 255.255.0.0
 Gateway: 192.168.100.1
 OpenFlow Controller: 192.168.100.8
 OpenFlow Port: 6653
 Openflow Status: Enabled
 Failstate: Secure
 Force OpenFlow version: Disabled
 EtherType Filtering: Disabled

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note the MAC address of the Zodiac FX, as this will be needed in the next steps.

After this, you can kill the screen terminal by issuing a Ctrl+A followed by typing the letter k and then the letter y.

Configuration of DAQ to enable the physical switch

The misc/system_phy.conf file contains a template to help configuring DAQ to work with a physical switch.

The following configuration variables are provided by DAQ.

  • ext_dpid: Data plane ID for the connected physical switch.
  • ext_ctrl: Interface name of the control-plane network.
  • ext_intf: Interface name of the data-plane network.
  • ext_ofpt: Controller OpenFlow port (defaults to 6653).
  • ext_ofip: Controller control plane IP address (and subnet).
  • ext_addr: External switch IP address (used to verify the connection).
  • sec_port: Port of secondary (external) switch for the data-plane uplink (defaults to 7, but needs to be 3 for Zodiac FX).

Edit the file so that it looks like this:

# Load defaults.
source misc/system.conf

# Description description for dashboard.
site_description="Zodiac FX"

# Data plane ID for the connected physical switch.
ext_dpid=0x70b3d56cdfa2

# Interface name of the control-plane network.
ext_ctrl=enxb49cdff33826

# Interface name of the data-plane network.
ext_intf=enxb49cdff337cf

# Controller OpenFlow port (defaults to 6653).
ext_ofpt=6653

# Controller control plane IP address (and subnet).
ext_ofip=192.168.100.8/24

# External switch IP address (used to verify the connection).
ext_addr=192.168.100.99

# Enable access to the switch control plane.
ext_loip=192.168.100.%d/24

# Port of secondary (external) switch for the data-plane uplink (defaults to 7).
sec_port=3

No test mode

cmd/run -n

cmd/run -k

TODO

Go to the next tutorial > Allied Telesis x230

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