The main objective of [RARE / FreeRouter 101] series is to help you getting started with FreeRouter from scratch without any prior knowledge.

Overview

freeRouter is a free, open source router control plane software. For nostalgic and old networkers from prehistoric era (like me), freeRouter besides Ethernet, is able to handle HDLC, X25, frame-relay, ATM encapsulation. Since it handles packets itself at the socket layer, it is independent of underlying Operation System capabilities. We  We will see in the next articles how freeRouter subtlety leverage this inherently independence to connect different data-plane such as OpenFlow, P4 and other possible data-plane that would appear in the near future.

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• no global routing table: every routed interface must be in a virtual routing table
• positive side effect: there are no vrf-awareness questions

Article objective

This article is meant to simply deploy 2 instances of freeRouter on the same fresh linux installed linux box. We are voluntary using freeRouter (freerouter.nop.hu) "raw" official repository in order to get familiar with the deployment manual process. Even if the deployment process is straightforward, it is not self explanatory for people non familiar with java/linux.

In order to simplify the deployment we have deployed a daily builtautomated freeRouter daily builds on:

• launchpad packages for ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04
• debian 10 (aka buster) package  on OpenSuse Build System
• container on Docker Hub

But let's get our "hand dirty" and follow the simple manual installation. 

Diagram

Image RemovedImage Added

[ #001 ] - Cookbook

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Expand
title Install your favorite operating system
In our example we will use a genuine debian stable image (buster) installed as a VirtualBox VM.

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Expand
title Get your system up to date
Start & connect your VM as root  Update your VM Code Block language bash theme Midnight apt-get update apt-get upgrade Install operating system default java package Code Block language bash theme Midnight apt-get install default-jre-headless

Expand
title Install operating system java package
In this example, we won't recompile freeRouter so installing headless java runtime is enough. This set up is recommended for production environment in order to ensure minimal software footprint Code Block language bash theme Midnight apt-get install default-jre-headless --no-install-recommends

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Expand
title Create freeRouter configuration files for router: R1
FreeRouter uses 2 configuration files in order to run, let's write these configuration files for R1 in ~/freeRouter/etc Code Block language bash theme Midnight title freeRouter hardware file: ${ROUTER_NAME}r1-hw.txt int eth1 eth 0000.1111.0001 127.0.0.1 26011 127.0.0.1 26021 tcp2vrf 1123 v1 23 Code Block language bash theme Midnight title freeRouter software configuration file: ${ROUTER_NAME}r1-sw.txt hostname r1 ! vrf definition v1 exit ! int eth1 desc r1@e1 -> r2@e1 vrf forwarding v1 ipv4 address 1.1.1.1 255.255.255.252 ipv6 address 1234::1 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:: exit ! server telnet tel security protocol telnet no exec authorization no login authentication vrf v1 exit !

...

Expand
title Create freeRouter configuration files for router: R2
Repeat the same configuration for R2 in ~/freeRouter/etc Code Block language bash theme Midnight title freeRouter hardware file: ${ROUTER_NAME}r2-hw.txt int eth1 eth 0000.2222.0001 127.0.0.1 26021 127.0.0.1 26011 tcp2vrf 2223 v1 23 Code Block language bash theme Midnight title freeRouter software configuration file: ${ROUTER_NAME}r2-sw.txt hostname r2 ! vrf definition v1 exit ! int eth1 desc r2@e1 -> r1@e1 vrf forwarding v1 ipv4 address 1.1.1.2 255.255.255.252 ipv6 address 1234::2 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:: exit ! server telnet tel security protocol telnet no exec authorization no login authentication vrf v1 exit !

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Launch freeRouter without any parameter

Expand
title Launch freeRouters R1 & R2
Code Block language bash theme Midnight title freeRrouter launch with blank parameters ╭─[12:58:45]floui@debian ~/freeRouter ╰─➤ java -jar ./lib/rtr.jar java -jar ./lib/rtr.jar <parameters> parameters: router <cfg> - start router background routerc <cfg> - start router with console routerw <cfg> - start router with window routercw <cfg> - start router with console and window routers <hwcfg> <swcfg> - start router from separate configs routera <swcfg> - start router with sw config test <cmd> - execute test command show <cmd> - execute show command exec <cmd> - execute exec command Code Block language bash theme Midnight title R1 launch with supplied r1-hw.txt and r1-sw.txt with a console prompt ╭─[12:59:11]floui@debian ~/freeRouter ╰─➤ java -jar lib/rtr.jar routersc etc/r1-hw.txt etc/r1-sw.txt info cfg.cfgInit.doInit:cfgInit.java:556 booting info cfg.cfgInit.doInit:cfgInit.java:680 initializing hardware info cfg.cfgInit.doInit:cfgInit.java:687 applying defaults info cfg.cfgInit.doInit:cfgInit.java:695 applying configuration info cfg.cfgInit.doInit:cfgInit.java:721 done welcome line ready r1# Code Block language bash theme Midnight title R2 launch with supplied r2-hw.txt and r2-sw.txt with a console prompt ╭─[12:58:52]floui@debian ~/freeRouter ╰─➤ java -jar lib/rtr.jar routersc etc/r2-hw.txt etc/r2-sw.txt info cfg.cfgInit.doInit:cfgInit.java:556 booting info cfg.cfgInit.doInit:cfgInit.java:680 initializing hardware info cfg.cfgInit.doInit:cfgInit.java:687 applying defaults info cfg.cfgInit.doInit:cfgInit.java:695 applying configuration info cfg.cfgInit.doInit:cfgInit.java:721 done welcome line ready r2#

Verification

╭─[1:09:28]floui@debian ~  
╰─➤  telnet localhost 1123
Trying ::1...
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
welcome
line ready
r1#                   

╭─[1:15:37]floui@debian ~  
╰─➤  telnet localhost 2223                                                                                                                                           1 ↵
Trying ::1...
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
welcome
line ready
r2#                  

r1#sh run                                                                      
hostname r1
buggy
!
!
vrf definition v1
 exit
!
interface ethernet1
 description r1@e1 -> r2@e1
 vrf forwarding v1
 ipv4 address 1.1.1.1 255.255.255.252
 ipv6 address 1234::1 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff::
 no shutdown
 no log-link-change
 exit
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!                  
!
!
!
!
server telnet tel
 security protocol telnet
 no exec authorization
 no login authentication
 vrf v1
 exit
!
!
end

r1#                 

r2#sh run                                                                      
hostname r2
buggy
!
!
vrf definition v1
 exit
!
interface ethernet1
 description r2@e1 -> r1@e1
 vrf forwarding v1
 ipv4 address 1.1.1.2 255.255.255.252
 ipv6 address 1234::2 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff::
 no shutdown
 no log-link-change
 exit
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!                  
!
!
!
!
server telnet tel
 security protocol telnet
 no exec authorization
 no login authentication
 vrf v1
 exit
!
!
end

r2#                  

r1#ping 1.1.1.2 /vrf v1                                                        
pinging 1.1.1.2, src=null, cnt=5, len=64, tim=1000, ttl=255, tos=0, sweep=false
!!!!!
result=100%, recv/sent/lost=5/5/0, rtt min/avg/max/total=1/2/3/13
r1#
r1#ping 1234::2 /vrf v1                                                        
pinging 1234::2, src=null, cnt=5, len=64, tim=1000, ttl=255, tos=0, sweep=false
!!!!!
result=100%, recv/sent/lost=5/5/0, rtt min/avg/max/total=1/4/11/23
r1#                                                                                                      

r2#ping 1.1.1.1 /vrf v1                                                        
pinging 1.1.1.1, src=null, cnt=5, len=64, tim=1000, ttl=255, tos=0, sweep=false
!!!!!
result=100%, recv/sent/lost=5/5/0, rtt min/avg/max/total=0/1/2/12
r2#    
r2#ping 1234::1 /vrf v1                                                        
pinging 1234::1, src=null, cnt=5, len=64, tim=1000, ttl=255, tos=0, sweep=false
!!!!!
result=100%, recv/sent/lost=5/5/0, rtt min/avg/max/total=0/1/3/7
r2#                                                                     

r1#telnet 1.1.1.2 23 /vrf v1                                                   
 - connecting to 1.1.1.2 23

welcome
line ready
r2#                                                                         

r2#telnet 1234::1 /vrf v1                                                      
 - connecting to 1234::1 23

welcome
line ready
r1#                                                                      

Conclusion

In this article you:

• had a brief introduction of freeRouter networking Swiss army knife
• learn how to deploy 2 instances of freeRouter and interconnect them via 2 UNIX sockets on a VM guest running on VirtualBox 
• this setup is ideal, for network simulation encompassing hundreds of nodes, self contained in the same VM without interaction with the external world. (protocol experimentation, convergence test etc.)