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Zip and VMWare
Accessing the Remote Desktop with NX
Detailed instructions for a 2-PC experiment
Detailed instructions for a 3-PC experiment with DHCP and DNS
Administrative Functions
3 PCs, DHCP and DNS
  1. Install NX on your system (see sidebar)
  2. Go to https://reassure.cerias.purdue.edu/, read the terms of use and request an account.
  3. Wait for an email to arrive, and click on the ReAssure url in the email.
  4. 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 three 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, Owl-0.82-ubuntu-vmware.zip for PC1, and NetBSD3-utility.zip for PC2. We saved it as an XML file .
  5. Log into the ReAssure testbed and go to the "Files" section and choose "Search for files." Choose "Show all public files" and choose the NetBSD3-utility image. Use the copy button to copy the file over into your account. [If the copy fails, choose to download the image and follow the same procedure as for the other images listed below.] Repeat for the images Browser-Appliance-1.0.0.zip and Owl-0.82-ubuntu-vmware.zip. Alternatively, you could upload other images (obtained from vmware.com or elsewhere) as follows:
    • 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).
    • In 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.
  6. Click on "Experiments", click on "Create a new one". Give a name to that experiment.
  7. 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).
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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. If prompted, choose to keep the current settings rather than generating new ones (it is important that the MAC addresses of the machiens do not change so the DHCP server can recognize them). Make sure Ethernet 1 points to /dev/vmnet0. 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.
  11. The first machine you should boot is the one using the NetBSD3-utility image. This is the DHCP/DNS server which the other machines will use for DHCP leases and DNS requests. When the machine is fnished booting, log in as root with the password vm-ware. Type the following at the prompt: 
    ifconfig pcn0 192.168.0.1
dhcpd
rndc reload
  12. Boot the other machines. If all has gone well, the Owl machine and the Browser Appliance machine should automatically configure their networking using the DHCP server during boot. You may log into the Owl machine (owl:owl), but it is actually unnecessary.
  13. In the Browser Appliance machine, load "http://www.owl.net/" in Firefox. You should see the Owl content management system front page.