tcp-plugin-ubuntu

TCP Plugin Ubuntu

This folder contains the IETF TCP plugin prototype for the Ubuntu operating system. The implementation is based on the YANG-based configuration manager Clixon.

Architecture

Clixon is a management framework that can be used by network devices and other computer systems. It consists of a backend daemon with configuration data stores, a set of internal clients (cli, restconf and netconf) and (multiple) plugins which implement the system interactions specified in YANG models.

The backend manages a configuration data store and provides appropriate transaction mechanism. The clients provide interfaces to the external user and communicate with the backend via the inter-process communication (IPC) bus.

The system interaction with the base system, which is modeled in a YANG model, is handled by plugins. These can be written in C or C++ and use the Clixon API and a set of plugin callbacks.

The prototype plugin for the new IETF TCP YANG model interacts with the network stack of the target system as shown in the next figure.

Implementation

The TCP statistics and connection list specified in the YANG model are retrieved from /proc/net/snmp and /proc/net/tcpof the target operating system using the utility methods in utility_tcp.cpp.

The assembly of the corresponding netconf message is performed in plugin_state.cpp.

Installation (Ubuntu)

If Clixon is already installed and configured on the target system you can skip the next step.

Install Clixon (additional information)

Install required packages:

sudo apt-get install flex bison

Install and build CLIgen:

git clone https://github.com/clicon/cligen.git
cd cligen;
configure
make;
make install

Add a clxion user and group:

sudo useradd -M -U clixon
sudo usermod -a -G clixon <your user>

Configure NETCONF as SSH-Subsystem in etc/sshd_config

Subsystem netconf /usr/local/bin/clixon_netconf

Configure TCP plugin

• Create the required folder structure for the TCP plugin (optional)

  mkdir -p /usr/local/var/clixon-plugin-tcp && chown -R <your user> /usr/local/var/clixon-plugin-tcp
  

• Copy the required YANG models of the TCP YANG model into a folder

• Configure path entries in plugin_config.xml to adapt to the system configuration

  • General

    <!-- Process-id file of backend daemon -->
    <CLICON_BACKEND_PIDFILE>/your/tcp/plugin/location/example.pidfile</CLICON_BACKEND_PIDFILE>

  • Plugin Directories

    <!-- Location of backend .so plugins. Load all .so plugins in this dir as backend plugins -->
    <CLICON_BACKEND_DIR>/your/tcp/plugin/location</CLICON_BACKEND_DIR>

  • YANG

    <!-- A list of directories (yang dir path) where Clixon searches for module and submodules. -->
    <CLICON_YANG_DIR>/your/yang/models/location</CLICON_YANG_DIR>

  • CLI

    <!-- Directory containing frontend cli loadable plugins. Load all .so plugins in this directory as CLI object plugins.  -->
    <CLICON_CLI_DIR>/your/tcp/plugin/location</CLICON_CLI_DIR>
    
    <!-- Directory containing frontend cligen spec files. Load all .cli files in this directory as CLI specificationfiles.  -->
    <CLICON_CLISPEC_DIR>/your/tcp/plugin/location</CLICON_CLISPEC_DIR>

  • Sockets

    <!-- If family above is AF_UNIX: Unix socket for communicating with clixon_backend. -->
    <CLICON_SOCK>/your/tcp/plugin/location/example.sock</CLICON_SOCK>

  • Datastores

    <!-- The mandatory CLICON_XMLDB_DIR option determines where the datastores are placed -->
    <CLICON_XMLDB_DIR>/your/tcp/plugin/location</CLICON_XMLDB_DIR>

Build & Run TCP plugin

CMake 3.16 is used as build system for the plugin. Therefore the source code can be compiled with the command cmake --build .

To execute the plugin, the clixon_backend executable (see step: Install Clixon) must be launched with the following parameters -f /your/tcp/plugin/location/plugin_config.xml.

Further Information

• Clixon Documentation
• IETF TCP Plugin
• TCP Plugin