An experiment with 2 PCs
STEP-BY-STEP Instructions for using ReAssure with a web browser appliance and the OWL demo
The process may seem long and onerous, but most of these steps are things you need to do only once. Creating new experiments is much faster.- Install NX on your system (see sidebar)
- Go to https://reassure.cerias.purdue.edu/, read the terms of use and request an account.
- Wait for an email to arrive, and click on the ReAssure url in the email.
- Download the Java Network GUI and create a test network. If you are using MacOS X, follow the instructions on that page to configure Java so that the Network GUI will run. For the purposes of this demo, we created two PCs connected through a VLAN. The network should look like this:
The Software_Image field for PC0 was set to Browser-Appliance-1.0.0.zip, and to Owl-0.82-ubuntu-vmware.zip for PC1. We saved it as an XML file. - Setup the images in the ReAssure system. You have two choices: Uploading the images, or (if you're lucky) using the images someone else already uploaded.
To upload images:
- Get the images (Browser-Appliance-1.0.0.zip, Owl-0.82-ubuntu-vmware.zip) from vmware.com.
- Use an sftp client to upload the images to img.reassure.cerias.purdue.edu, using your ReAssure login and password. Alternatively, you could log into the ReAssure system and upload with a form (see next step below).
- Log into ReAssure. Under "Files" click upload files. If you used sftp in the previous step, click "Upload with sftp". Otherwise click on "Upload using a form". In this step, you will be telling ReAssure which file you uploaded for use in experiments, give it a description, and specify if you want to share it. The ReAssure system will then move the uploaded file to a safeguarded area, and will transfer it automatically to experimental PCs as needed.
- Click on "Experiments", click on "Create a new one". Give a name to that experiment.
- Click on "Upload new topography". You then have the choice of uploading an XML file by copying and pasting, or by specifying the file on your computer using the "Choose File" button. This is the file you would have created with the Network GUI (or you could just upload our example XML file).
- Click on "Start experiment now" or on "Manage Reservations". "Start experiment now" assigns experimental PCs to your experiment now, with a 24-hour window. At the end of that window the experimental PCs will be wiped. With "Manage Reservations", you can specify the time when the experiment should start and when it should end.
- Wait to receive an email telling you that your experiment has started. Then use the NX client to communicate with the experimental PCs that were assigned to your experiment. You can find out which experimental PCs are setup by going to the top menu and clicking "My Reservations" and then the number of the reservation. You need to use the NX client to start a VMWare window for each experimental PC.
- In the VMWare console window, choose the local server. You may have to browse to /home/vmware to find the uploaded and unzipped virtual machine. Make sure Ethernet 1 points to vmnet 0. The following bridged networks are available: vmnet 0, 2, 3, 4, 5. These respectively correspond to topography NICs # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The gap is due to VMWare assigning a special meaning to vmnet 1. Vmnet 1 is not available on these machines.
- Because there is no DHCP server in our network, the browser appliance needs to be given an IP address. Once the machine is started (no login necessary), go to the system tab, network option (the password is "vmware"). Click on the ethernet adapter and give an IP address such as 192.168.1.2. For the owl virtual machine, you need to login (owl/owl) and issue the command "ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.1"
- Point the browser of the browser appliance to 192.168.1.1. You should now see the OWL page load up!