AGSA Labs Network Simulation & Emulation Environment (NSE2)

NSE2 is a docker-compose-based network simulator/emulator that can also simulate fluctuating network connectivity with contact plans and automated playback of commands on the virtual nodes.

Requirements

• python3
• docker
• docker compose

Installation

Create a virtual environment and install the project:

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install .

When developing, use an editable install so changes take effect immediately:

pip install -e ".[dev]"

To pin dependencies to the exact versions tested in this repo (recommended), add -c constraints.txt to either command.

Once installed, all nse2_* tools and helpers are available on PATH whenever the venv is active.

Documentation

For a comprehensive guide, please see the NSE2 User Manual (AsciiDoc source available in doc/manual/manual.adoc).

Usage

There are a few main commands for running and controlling a simulation:

• nse2_topo to start the containers and setup topology.
• nse2_contacts to playback a contact file.
• nse2_actions to execute actions at specific points in time.
• nse2_sh to open a shell on any of the containers.
• nse2_cmd to interact with the simulation contacts backend and control playback.
• nse2_netviz to run the web visualizer.
• nse2_mgr to run the docker testbed manager webui for live changes to link properties.

Examples

Various example scenarios are provided under scenarios/ that include network topologies, contact plans and demo actions.

• scenarios/simple is a basic 3-node testing scenario.
• scenarios/eo is a simple earth observation scenario.
• scenarios/lc is complex scenario modelling lunar communication.
• scenarios/mc is a mid-size mars communication scenario.