package on Ubuntu or Fedora (deb or rpm) using the distribution's package
manager
to automatically install dependencies, see :ref:`Installing_from_Packages`.
Ubuntu and Fedora Linux are the recommended distributions for running CORE. Ubuntu |UBUNTUVERSION| and Fedora |FEDORAVERSION| ship with kernels with support for namespaces built-in. They support the latest hardware. However,
A Linux operating system is required. The GUI uses the Tcl/Tk scripting toolkit, and the CORE daemon requires Python. Details of the individual software packages required can be found in the installation steps.
Any computer capable of running Linux should be able to run CORE. Since the physical machine will be hosting numerous virtual machines, as a general rule you should select a machine having as much RAM and CPU resources as possible.
CORE requires a Linux operating systems because it uses virtualization provided by the kernel. It does not run on the Windows or Mac OS X operating systems (unless it is running within a virtual machine guest.)
The virtualization technology that CORE currently uses:
see :ref:`How_Does_it_Work?` for virtualization details.
**Linux network namespaces is the recommended platform.** Development is focused here and it supports the latest features. It is the easiest to install because there is no need to patch, install, and run a special Linux kernel.
The CORE GUI requires the X.Org X Window system (X11), or can run over a
remote X11 session. For specific Tcl/Tk, Python, and other libraries required
to run CORE, refer to the :ref:`Installation` section.
..NOTE::
CORE :ref:`Services` determine what runs on each node. You may require
other software packages depending on the services you wish to use.
For example, the `HTTP` service will require the `apache2` package.
.._Installing_from_Packages:
Installing from Packages
========================
..index:: installer
..index:: binary packages
The easiest way to install CORE is using the pre-built packages. The package
* Turn off SELINUX by setting ``SELINUX=disabled`` in the :file:`/etc/sysconfig/selinux` file, and adding ``selinux=0`` to the kernel line in
your :file:`/etc/grub.conf` file; on Fedora 15 and newer, disable sandboxd using ``chkconfig sandbox off``;
you need to reboot in order for this change to take effect
* Turn off firewalls with ``systemctl disable firewalld``, ``systemctl disable iptables.service``, ``systemctl disable ip6tables.service`` (``chkconfig iptables off``, ``chkconfig ip6tables off``) or configure them with permissive rules for CORE virtual networks; you need to reboot after making this change, or flush the firewall using ``iptables -F``, ``ip6tables -F``.
* Start the CORE daemon as root. Fedora uses the ``systemd`` start-up daemon
instead of traditional init scripts. CentOS uses the init script.
After running the ``core-gui`` command, a GUI should appear with a canvas
for drawing topologies. Messages will print out on the console about
connecting to the CORE daemon.
.._Installing_from_Source:
Installing from Source
======================
This option is listed here for developers and advanced users who are comfortable patching and building source code. Please consider using the binary packages instead for a simplified install experience.
.._Installing_from_Source_on_Ubuntu:
Installing from Source on Ubuntu
--------------------------------
To build CORE from source on Ubuntu, first install these development packages.
These packages are not required for normal binary package installs.
You can obtain the CORE source from the `CORE source <http://downloads.pf.itd.nrl.navy.mil/core/source/>`_ page. Choose either a stable release version or
You can obtain the CORE source from the `CORE source <http://downloads.pf.itd.nrl.navy.mil/core/source/>`_ page. Choose either a stable release version or
the development snapshot available in the :file:`nightly_snapshots` directory.
To build CORE from source on CentOS/EL6, first install the `EPEL <http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL>`_ repo (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) in order
there are two different Quagga packages that you may use:
*`Quagga <http://www.quagga.net>`_ - the standard version of Quagga, suitable for static wired networks, and usually available via your distribution's package manager.
`OSPF MANET Designated Routers <http://www.nrl.navy.mil/itd/ncs/products/ospf-manet>`_ (MDR) - the Quagga routing suite with a modified version of OSPFv3,
CORE is capable of running inside of a virtual machine, using
software such as VirtualBox,
VMware Server or QEMU. However, CORE itself is performing machine
virtualization in order to realize multiple emulated nodes, and running CORE
virtually adds additional contention for the physical resources. **For performance reasons, this is not recommended.** Timing inside of a VM often has
problems. If you do run CORE from within a VM, it is recommended that you view
the GUI with remote X11 over SSH, so the virtual machine does not need to
emulate the video card with the X11 application.
..index:: VCORE
A CORE virtual machine is provided for download, named VCORE.
This is the perhaps the easiest way to get CORE up and running as the machine
is already set up for you. This may be adequate for initially evaluating the
tool but keep in mind the performance limitations of running within VirtualBox
or VMware. To install the virtual machine, you first need to obtain VirtualBox
from http://www.virtualbox.org, or VMware Server or Player from
http://www.vmware.com (this commercial software is distributed for free.)
Once virtualization software has been installed, you can import the virtual
machine appliance using the ``vbox`` file for VirtualBox or the ``vmx`` file for VMware. See the documentation that comes with VCORE for login information.
