This is a distrubuted system for creating load on a OpenWIFI system. The goal is to generate load over time, keep statistics on time-outs, response times, and number of concurrent users. The system maybe distributed over several nodes to provide multiple realtime numbers.

Getting started

Pre-requisites

You must install Erlang OTP 22 or newer.

Linux

Ubuntu

sudo apt install erlang

Other Linux distributions

Please visit https://www.erlang-solutions.com/resources/download.html in order to get instructions for other Linux distributions and operating systems.

OS X

brew install erlang

From source

Please visit https://erlang.org/doc/installation_guide/INSTALL.html to build Erlang from scratch.

Windows

Their is currently no plan to support Windows based hosts.

Verifying if Erlang is available

From the command line, simply type

prompt > erl

Your should see something like this

Erlang/OTP 23 [erts-11.1.1] [source] [64-bit] [smp:16:16] [ds:16:16:10] [async-threads:1] [hipe] [dtrace]

Eshell V11.1.1  (abort with ^G)
1>

To exit, enter q()., like this

Erlang/OTP 23 [erts-11.1.1] [source] [64-bit] [smp:16:16] [ds:16:16:10] [async-threads:1] [hipe] [dtrace]

Eshell V11.1.1  (abort with ^G)
1> q().
ok
2>                                                                                
prompt >

Compiling the code

You need to clone the repository, run a configuration command, and start doing the simulation

git clone https://github.com/stephb9959/owls
cd owls

Choosing a node type

In a simulation, you have 2 types of nodes.

simmanager node

There is only one simmanager node. This node is responsible for directing all the other nodes in the simulation. It is a central management point and gathers all the data about the simulation. You will be interacting with the simmanager through a command line interface or a web UI. If you wish to start a simmanager node, you should do the following and answer the questions for the initial configuration.

./simmanager_config
./simnanager

simnode node

You can have multiple simnode nodes. Each of these nodes can be started on the same host, or a number of other virtual or physical machines. Once a simnode is running, you will be able to monitor it trough a command line interface or a local web UI. If you wish to start a simnode, please follow these instructions and answer the questions for the initial configuration.

./simnode_config
./simnode

On running multiple node types on a single machine

If you wish to run multiple nodes on a single host, you should run this from multiple copies of the repository code.

mkdir ~/projects
cd ~/projects
mkdir simnode1
cd simnode1
git clone https://github.com/stephb9959/owls
cd owls
./simnode_config
./simnode

in another terminal window

cd ~/projects
mkdir simnode2
cd simnode2
git clone https://github.com/stephb9959/owls
cd owls
./simnode_config
./simnode

Before starting the node, you must go and change the hostname and port for each node. On a simnode, you must change the -name parameter in the config/simnode.args file. Each node must have a unique name. You must also change the web_ui port in the config/simnode.config file to a unique port.

Basic configuration

Hostname

The file config/simmanager.args or config/simnode.args contains the only value you must change. Near the top of the file, you will find the following commands:

-name simmanager@renegademac.local

You must change that value. This is NOT an email address. The first part is used to locate the VM on a given host. simnode1 or something like that is good. Next, change the hostname portion of that entry to the hostname where you are running the simulator. This must be an FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name). This just means that the hostname has to contain at least 1 period. Do not use localhost. Usually you can use your PC name followed by .local. You can try to ping that name to see if your PC can find it. This step is critical. If all fails, enter something in your /etc/hosts file.

For nodes to accept communication between eachother, they must share the same cookie. You an change this in the config/simmanager.args or the config/simnode.args.

-setcookie oreo

Whatever value you pick, you will need to enter the same value on all the additional hosts (simmanager and simnodes) that will participate in this simulation. In the case, replace oreo with your favorite password. Please note that this simulation is not meant to run accross the internet and is expected to run behind firewalls. Security is beyond the scope of this project.

Custom CA configuration

Once you run simmanager_config or simnode_config, you will get a customized configuration file located in the config directory.

Planning the simulation

In order to create a successful simualtion, a bit of planning is necessary. Here is what you will need:

1 simmanager node
1 or more simnode Wether the node is a simmanager or simnode, you will need to have a copy of this repo. Therefore, if you use different physical hosts, you just need to clone this repo. If you plan on running multiple nodes on a single host, you should clone this repo in a separate directory for each node.

Creating the `simmanager`

In order to create the simmanager you need to clone the repo and launch the simmanager_config command. The command will ask you for several questions. In many cases the default values are just fine. Here's an example:

cd ~
github clone https://github.com/stephb9959/owls
cd owls
./simmanager_config
Please enter a node name [simmanager@renegademac.arilia.com] :
Please enter a network cookie [oreo] :
Please enter a directory name [/Users/stephb/Desktop/Dropbox/dhcp/test_repos3/owls] :
Please enter the WEB UI port [9091] :

All the values between brackets are the default values. The most important value is the host part of the node name. You must be able to ping any host used as a node for this simulation.

Once the simmanager is started, you should be able to start it like this:

./simmanager
heart_beat_kill_pid = 17839
Erlang/OTP 23 [erts-11.1.1] [source] [64-bit] [smp:16:16] [ds:16:16:10] [async-threads:5] [hipe] [dtrace]

Eshell V11.1.1  (abort with ^G)
(simmanager@renegademac.arilia.com)1>

The prompt should show the node name you entered when you configured the node initially.

Creating the `simnodes`

In order to create the simnodes you need to clone the repo and launch the simnode_config command. The command will ask you for several questions. In many cases the default values are just fine. Here's an example:

cd ~
github clone https://github.com/stephb9959/owls
cd owls
./simnode_config
Please enter a node number(1..99) [1] :
Please enter a node name [simnode1@renegademac.arilia.com] :
Please enter a network cookie [oreo] :
Please enter a directory name [/Users/stephb/Desktop/Dropbox/dhcp/test_repos3/owls] :
Please enter the WEB UI port(9096..9196) [9096] :
Please enter the OVSDB reflector port [6643] :
Please enter the OVSDB port [6640] :