
Mininet: Rapid Prototyping for Software Defined Networks
========================================================

*The best way to emulate almost any network on your laptop!*

Version 2.0.0

### What is Mininet?

Mininet emulates a complete network of hosts, links, and switches
on a single machine.  To create a sample two-host, one-switch network,
just run:

  `sudo mn`

Mininet is useful for interactive development, testing, and demos,
especially those using OpenFlow and SDN.  OpenFlow-based network
controllers prototyped in Mininet can usually be transferred to
hardware with minimal changes for full line-rate execution.

### How does it work?

Mininet creates virtual networks using process-based virtualization
and network namespaces - features that are available in recent Linux
kernels.  In Mininet, hosts are emulated as `bash` processes running in
a network namespace, so any code that would normally run on a Linux
server (like a web server or client program) should run just fine
within a Mininet "Host".  The Mininet "Host" will have its own private
network interface and can only see its own processes.  Switches in
Mininet are software-based switches like Open vSwitch or the OpenFlow
reference switch.  Links are virtual ethernet pairs, which live in the
Linux kernel and connect our emulated switches to emulated hosts
(processes).

### Features

Mininet includes:

* A command-line launcher (`mn`) to instantiate networks.

* A handy Python API for creating networks of varying sizes and
  topologies.

* Examples (in the `examples/` directory) to help you get started.

* Full API documentation via Python `help()` docstrings, as well as
  the ability to generate PDF/HTML documentation with `make doc`.

* Parametrized topologies (`Topo` subclasses) using the Mininet
  object.  For example, a tree network may be created with the
  command:

  `mn --topo tree,depth=2,fanout=3`

* A command-line interface (`CLI` class) which provides useful
  diagnostic commands (like `iperf` and `ping`), as well as the
  ability to run a command to a node. For example,

  `mininet> h11 ifconfig -a`

  tells host h11 to run the command `ifconfig -a`

* A "cleanup" command to get rid of junk (interfaces, processes, files
  in /tmp, etc.) which might be left around by Mininet or Linux. Try
  this if things stop working!

  `mn -c`

### New features in 2.0.0

Mininet 2.0.0 is a major upgrade and provides
a number of enhancements and new features, including:

* "Mininet-HiFi" functionality:

    * Link bandwidth limits using `tc` (`TCIntf` and `TCLink` classes)

    * CPU isolation and bandwidth limits (`CPULimitedHost` class)

* Support for Open vSwitch 1.4+ (including Ubuntu OVS packages)

* Debian packaging (and `apt-get install mininet` in Ubuntu 12.10)

* First-class Interface (`Intf`) and Link (`Link`) classes for easier
  extensibility

* An upgraded Topology (`Topo`) class which supports node and link
  customization

* Man pages for the `mn` and `mnexec` utilities.

[Since the API (most notably the topology) has changed, existing code
that runs in Mininet 1.0 will need to be changed to run with Mininet
2.0. This is the primary reason for the major version number change.]

### Installation

See `INSTALL` for installation instructions and details.

### Documentation

In addition to the API documentation (`make doc`), much useful
information, including a Mininet walkthrough and an introduction
to the Python API, is available on the
[Mininet Web Site](http://openflow.org/mininet).
There is also a wiki which you are encouraged to read and to
contribute to, particularly the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ.)

### Support

Mininet is community-supported. We encourage you to join the
Mininet mailing list, `mininet-discuss` at:

<https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/mininet-discuss>

### Contributing

Mininet is an open-source project and is currently hosted at
<https://github.com/mininet>. You are encouraged to download the code,
examine it, modify it, and submit bug reports, bug fixes, feature
requests, and enhancements!

Best wishes, and we look forward to seeing what you can do with
Mininet to change the networking world!

### Credits

The Mininet Team:

* Bob Lantz
* Brandon Heller
* Nikhil Handigol
* Vimal Jeyakumar