ns-3 base Docker images

ns-3 installations using Docker.

The scope of this repository is to automate the installation process of ns-3 in order to provide a hassle-free setup process for a simulation environment.

Images ship with ns-3 installations, provided pre-built in debug and optimized profiles, with the former being the active version on a first run; utility scripts to quickly switch between them are provided (see below).

Available configurations (latest first)

Docker image name: egiona/ns3-base.

Docker image tag	OS	ns-3	Build system	Dockerfile
u22.04-n3.41	Ubuntu 22.04	3.41	CMake	link
u22.04-n3.40	Ubuntu 22.04	3.40	CMake	link
u20.04-n3.40	Ubuntu 20.04	3.40	CMake	link
u18.04-n3.35-boosted	Ubuntu 18.04 with Boost C++ v1.74	3.35	Waf	link
u18.04-n3.35	Ubuntu 18.04	3.35	Waf	link
u18.04-n3.34-boosted	Ubuntu 18.04 with Boost C++ v1.74	3.34	Waf	link
u18.04-n3.34	Ubuntu 18.04	3.34	Waf	link
u18.04-n3.33-boosted	Ubuntu 18.04 with Boost C++ v1.74	3.33	Waf	link
u18.04-n3.33	Ubuntu 18.04	3.33	Waf	link

Full changelog can be found at this page.

Contributing

Any problems should be reported via the GitHub issue tracker.

Users are welcomed to contribute new images (e.g. different base image or other ns-3 versions) via Pull Request and adhering to the following style:

• Directory named <A-B> with: A equal to an arbitrary versioned base image short-hand (i.e. u20.04 refers to Ubuntu 20.04); and B equal to the ns-3 version bundled (i.e. n3.40 refers to ns-3.40).

  Such directory name will also be used as image tag.

• The directory shall contain a well-commented Dockerfile for the image creation.

  Other contents may be freely modified, although for uniformity purposes it is advised to maintain the same functionality they provide. The ns3-build directory contains useful scripts to swap between ns-3 builds and development utilities; if modified, you should take care of solving this task.

Usage guidelines

Core instructions

The following instructions should apply to all platforms supported by Docker. However, utility scripts are only provided for UNIX-like systems.

1. Install Docker (please refer to official guidelines w.r.t. your own OS)

2. Select your desired Docker image according to the table above using

   docker pull egiona/ns3-base:<tag>

   Please refer to the table above for latest available tags.
   Usage of old tags found on DockerHub is generally discouraged, unless you have a reason to do it.

3. Retrieve the desired image identifier using

   docker images

4. Launch a container using the selected image using

   docker run -td --name <container name> <image ID>

5. Launch a live terminal from the container using

   docker exec -it <container ID or name> /bin/bash

   You can obtain a running container's ID using  docker ps , or  docker container ls -a (the latter also includes containers in any state).

Utility scripts

1. You can switch between debug and optimized builds of ns-3 (see details) using

   ./build-debug.sh or ./build-optimized.sh respectively.

   The aforementioned utility scripts are placed in the directory /home of a container's filesystem.

2. A utility script in the form of a Makefile is provided.

   Similarly to build scripts, this utility Makefile is placed in the directory /home of a container's filesystem.

   This script allows for easy decoupling of development directory from ns-3's source directory. Indeed, it is possible to keep novel modules and program driver scripts outside src (or contrib) and scratch directories of the ns-3 installation directory during development, and only copying them afterwards. This is especially useful when paired with mounted directories.

   Multiple targets are present, allowing: ns-3 current version checking, compilation and execution of simulation driver programs (copying them to scratch subdir first), management of ns-3 modules (creation in contrib subdir and copy outside, synchronization of contents, elimination), and debugging (GNU debugger, Valgrind, ns-3 tests).

   Use the following command for all details:

   make help

Optional instructions

As long as you docker restart the same container, any modification to its contents will be preserved. However, it is advisable to keep a local backup copy of your modules and experiment results.

1. Copy an arbitrary local file into the container's filesystem using

   docker cp <path/to/file> <container ID>:<desired/path/to/file>

2. Copy an arbitrary container's file to local filesystem using

   docker cp <container ID>:<path/to/file> <local/path/to/file>

3. Mount a local directory into a container (just once, instead of docker run) using

   docker run -td --mount type=bind,source=<local/FS/path>,target=<container/FS/path> --name <container name> <image ID>

   Paths to be mounted must be absolute.

   This is only needed the first time a container is instantiated, subsequent calls to  docker start on the same container will automatically load the mounted directory.

   Warning: existing container contents at the same target path will be overwritten with the ones provided by the local filesystem.

4. An environment variable CXX_CONFIG is available for user-defined scripts to adapt their GCC compilation parameters; by default, such variable holds the following contents:

   CXX_CONFIG="-Wall -Werror -Wno-unused-variable"

   Moreover, build scripts provide an exit value reflective of ns-3's configuration and build outcome: this might be leveraged in CD/CI pipelines.

Citing this work

If you use any of the Docker images described in this repository, please cite this work using any of the following methods:

APA

Giona, E. ns-3 Docker images [Computer software]. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10657287

BibTeX

@software{Giona_ns-3_Docker_images,
author = {Giona, Emanuele},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.10657287},
license = {MIT},
title = {{ns-3 Docker images}},
url = {https://github.com/emanuelegiona/ns3-base-docker}
}

Bibliography entries generated using Citation File Format described in the CITATION.cff file.

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Emanuele Giona (SENSES Lab, Sapienza University of Rome)

This repository and Docker images themselves are distributed under MIT license.

However, ns-3 is distributed under its own license. All installed packages may also be subject to their own license, and the license chosen for the Docker images does not necessarily apply to them.

Diclaimer: Docker, Ubuntu, ns-3, Boost, and other cited or included software belongs to their respective owners.