README - lava/vland.git - Linaro Git Browser

 VLANd - complex networks on demand

 What is VLANd?
 ==============

 VLANd is a python program intended to make it easy to manage
 port-based VLAN setups across multiple switches in a network. It is
 designed to be vendor-agnostic, with a clean pluggable driver API to
 allow for a wide range of different switches to be controlled
 together.

 Various of the switch vendors have management applications available
 which should be able to do a similar job, but they're typically not
 scriptable, or locked to only control their own vendor's
 equipment. VLANd is designed (and hoped!) to be better. We've found
 that other network management programs also exist, but either they
 don't manage VLANs in the way we want or they depend on large
 frameworks like Openstack.

 VLANd currently includes four drivers for different models of switch
 from three different vendors:

  * CiscoCatalyst  for the Cisco Catalyst 3750 (and compatible)
  * CiscoSX300     for the Cisco SF300 and SG300 (and compatible)
  * NetgearXSM     for the Netgear XSM 7224S (and compatible)
  * TPLinkTLSG2XXX for the TP-Link TL-SG2216 (and compatible)

 These cover a range of switches across a huge range of prices, from
 100M up to 10G ports. VLANd supports interoperable VLANs across all
 these devices, verified using the Linaro test lab and our test suite.

 VLANd also includes a "Dummy" switch driver which can be used for
 testing and validation. Read the comments in drivers/Dummy.py for more
 details on how to use it.

 It is expected that more drivers will be included in future
 releases. Please feel free to propose more target devices, or (better)
 send patches!

 Why VLANd?
 ==========

 VLANd has been written to accompany Linaro's LAVA platform.

 LAVA is the Linaro Automated Validation Architecture - see
 https://validation.linaro.org/ for more information.

 LAVA started off as a framework to help perform validation and testing
 on simple single devices such as Android development boards. Since
 then, the range of tests and devices has grown hugely. Some users have
 added multi-node tests, i.e. tests that start up multiple devices that
 run tests against each other (e.g. client-server testing). The next
 step on from that is to test devices with multiple network interfaces,
 where on top of the client-serer testing it is required that their
 connectivity can be controlled and isolated (e.g. for network
 performance testing).

 This can be done by simply changing physical network connections, of
 course, but that doesn't scale for sequences of tests and it makes a
 lie of the "Automated" bit in the LAVA definition.

 VLANd is the solution that we have implemented for this problem. It
 provides a simple VLAN management abstraction for users. LAVA can use
 VLANd to set up complex networks on demand as tests are initiated, and
 can then tear them down again when tests are complete.

 Dependencies
 ============

 postgres server and psycopg2, for the back-end database. See
 db/setup_db.py for help in setting up the database for access.

 If you want to use the visualisation feature, you'll need to install
 python-gd (used for generating the graphics) and a font for it to
 use. The default font suggested is Inconsolata, but others should work
 too.

 How to use
 ==========

 For now, things are easiest run as "vland" with appropriate
 permissions in the database for that user.

 The core VLANd code is simple to configure - see vland.cfg for an
 example config file. Once your copy of VLANd is running, use the
 administration utility admin.py to control what it does. For now, this
 is single-threaded and has *no* security. This *will* change in the
 future, but for very early development has not been a priority.

 The visualisation interface has very few configuration options as
 yet - again, see the default vland.cfg.

 Future plans
 ============

 As a start...

  * More documentation
  * More drivers to control more devices, both real and virtual
  * Improved visualisation options
  * Better (some!) security
  * Background sanity checking
  * Other filtering options - MAC-based rather than just port-based
    (needed to support virtual machines, etc.)

 If you have other ideas, please talk to us!

 Contact
 =======

 VLANd mailing list: vland-devel@linaro.org

 Code
 ====

 https://git.linaro.org/lava/vland.git

 License
 =======

 VLANd is Copyright 2014-2016 Linaro Limited, and is distributed under
 the GNU General Public License, version 2 (or any later version). See
 the accompanying COPYING file for more details.

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 README for VLANd 0.6, 24th March 2016
 Steve McIntyre <steve.mcintyre@linaro.org>
	VLANd - complex networks on demand

	What is VLANd?
	==============

	VLANd is a python program intended to make it easy to manage
	port-based VLAN setups across multiple switches in a network. It is
	designed to be vendor-agnostic, with a clean pluggable driver API to
	allow for a wide range of different switches to be controlled
	together.

	Various of the switch vendors have management applications available
	which should be able to do a similar job, but they're typically not
	scriptable, or locked to only control their own vendor's
	equipment. VLANd is designed (and hoped!) to be better. We've found
	that other network management programs also exist, but either they
	don't manage VLANs in the way we want or they depend on large
	frameworks like Openstack.

	VLANd currently includes four drivers for different models of switch
	from three different vendors:

	* CiscoCatalyst for the Cisco Catalyst 3750 (and compatible)
	* CiscoSX300 for the Cisco SF300 and SG300 (and compatible)
	* NetgearXSM for the Netgear XSM 7224S (and compatible)
	* TPLinkTLSG2XXX for the TP-Link TL-SG2216 (and compatible)

	These cover a range of switches across a huge range of prices, from
	100M up to 10G ports. VLANd supports interoperable VLANs across all
	these devices, verified using the Linaro test lab and our test suite.

	VLANd also includes a "Dummy" switch driver which can be used for
	testing and validation. Read the comments in drivers/Dummy.py for more
	details on how to use it.

	It is expected that more drivers will be included in future
	releases. Please feel free to propose more target devices, or (better)
	send patches!

	Why VLANd?
	==========

	VLANd has been written to accompany Linaro's LAVA platform.

	LAVA is the Linaro Automated Validation Architecture - see
	https://validation.linaro.org/ for more information.

	LAVA started off as a framework to help perform validation and testing
	on simple single devices such as Android development boards. Since
	then, the range of tests and devices has grown hugely. Some users have
	added multi-node tests, i.e. tests that start up multiple devices that
	run tests against each other (e.g. client-server testing). The next
	step on from that is to test devices with multiple network interfaces,
	where on top of the client-serer testing it is required that their
	connectivity can be controlled and isolated (e.g. for network
	performance testing).

	This can be done by simply changing physical network connections, of
	course, but that doesn't scale for sequences of tests and it makes a
	lie of the "Automated" bit in the LAVA definition.

	VLANd is the solution that we have implemented for this problem. It
	provides a simple VLAN management abstraction for users. LAVA can use
	VLANd to set up complex networks on demand as tests are initiated, and
	can then tear them down again when tests are complete.

	Dependencies
	============

	postgres server and psycopg2, for the back-end database. See
	db/setup_db.py for help in setting up the database for access.

	If you want to use the visualisation feature, you'll need to install
	python-gd (used for generating the graphics) and a font for it to
	use. The default font suggested is Inconsolata, but others should work
	too.

	How to use
	==========

	For now, things are easiest run as "vland" with appropriate
	permissions in the database for that user.

	The core VLANd code is simple to configure - see vland.cfg for an
	example config file. Once your copy of VLANd is running, use the
	administration utility admin.py to control what it does. For now, this
	is single-threaded and has no security. This will change in the
	future, but for very early development has not been a priority.

	The visualisation interface has very few configuration options as
	yet - again, see the default vland.cfg.

	Future plans
	============

	As a start...

	* More documentation
	* More drivers to control more devices, both real and virtual
	* Improved visualisation options
	* Better (some!) security
	* Background sanity checking
	* Other filtering options - MAC-based rather than just port-based
	(needed to support virtual machines, etc.)

	If you have other ideas, please talk to us!

	Contact
	=======

	VLANd mailing list: vland-devel@linaro.org

	Code
	====

	https://git.linaro.org/lava/vland.git

	License
	=======

	VLANd is Copyright 2014-2016 Linaro Limited, and is distributed under
	the GNU General Public License, version 2 (or any later version). See
	the accompanying COPYING file for more details.

	--------------------------------------------------------------------------
	README for VLANd 0.6, 24th March 2016
	Steve McIntyre <steve.mcintyre@linaro.org>