OWL Remote Connect

Owned by Herbert Eiselt
Last updated: Mar 13, 2021 by Martin Skorupski
4 min read

If there is the need to connect remotely here a proposal about how to manage this. This setup could be used to access the NETCONF/YANG interface of the device and allow VES Registration at SMO.

Prerequisite "Remote Site"

  • Provide wifi/wlan with internet access for "tunnel computer"

  • Allow cable or network connection from "Tunnel computer" to  "Remote RAN/Netconf device"

  • Make sure that setup is according to local security rules

  • Below you can find for this standalone configuration an installation guide. If you want to use it in another environment than this, e.g. with an existing dhcpv6 please contact us before installing

Configuration

  • Remote device mountpoint at non-realtimne-ric is configured with "SSH tunnel server" IP and &NCPORT.

  • Example is with one remote device. If there are more remote devices, additonal ports could be configured to be forwarded.

  • ONAP VES Collector is supported in the example. Further ONAP services could be additonally configured with further tunnels.

  • SSH tunnel client setup uses standard Linux with SSH Client/Server and SSH Keyauthentification. 

Overview



Remote Netconf Device

  • IPV4 or IPV6

  • Point-to-point connection to "tunnel client"

  • "tunnel client" IP is used as termination IP for VES Message

SSH tunnel Client

  • Linux machine (e.g. Raspberry Pi 3B with 1 gig ram) 

  • Configuration with IPV6 and IPV4 DHCP

  • SSH Client, with setup to connect to "SSH tunnel server" via "OWL SSH" Gateway



Installation Guide using the existing configuration of PI

Requirements for PI

  • Electrical RJ45 connection to IP network

  • IP V6 subnetwork configuration.

  • DHCP V6 service available

  • Bidirectional ipv6 route between PI and O-RAN device configured (L2 or L3)

  • WiFi access point to public internet

  • If WiFi access needs a browser interaction:

    • PI has linux server edition. But GUI could be installed via SSH.

    • Use SSH port forwarding for browser on diffent machine.
      "ssh  -L8080:<WiFiGwIP>:80 <raspiip>" to connect with url "localhost:8080" to WiFiGwIP

Steps to configure PI

  1. Connect Laptop directly  to Raspberry PI for configuration of the PI.

  2. ssh pi@raspberrypi.local (user: pi pw: raspberry)

  3. sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

  4. Please update the parameters accordently



    network={   ssid="JoyToTheWorld" psk="temp_password" }



  5. sudo service radvd stop 

  6. sudo systemctl disable radvd.service // to deactivate DHCPv6

  7. sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

  8. comment the following line



    # static ip6_address=2001:db8::1/64



  9. save and close (ctrl-o, ctrl-x)

  10. Restart the Pi with sudo reboot 

  11. wait 60s

  12. Discconect cable from Labtop, connect cable end to O-RAN device network

  13. Connect Labtop to WIFI of the SSID as configured above.

  14. ssh pi@raspberrypi.local (user: pi pw: raspberry)

  15. ifconfig

    1. remember the IPv6 of eth0 which is close to the IpV6 of the O-RAN device (should be different to fe80:...)

  16. Edit tunnel.sh for NCPORT and REMOTEIP with O-RAN device parameters (remote from PI point of view)

    #variables: here you can change # netconf port of the device NCPORT=830 # user for winlab access WINLAB_USER="micha" # ip of the remote RAN device REMOTEIP="[2001:db8::4e50:afd7:a5c6:3d88]"



  17. start tmux

  18. ping6 <device-v6-ip of step 15a>

  19. start tunnel.sh to OWL (./tunnel.sh)

  20. Configure VES EndPoint in O-RAN device

    1. use for IP the one from step 15a

    2. VES port is 30235

      1. url: http://<ip-from-15a>:30235

    3. no_auth

  21. Configure in OWL ONAP SDN-R the mount point with the 10.31.3.71:<NCPORT> of step 16.



Installation Guide from scratch

  • Download raspbian-lite image (https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/)

  • extract zip file

  • flash img file to microsd card

    • linux: dd bs=1M if=file/to/flash.img of=/dev/devicetoflash

    • windows: use win32diskimager

  • after finished flashing, remount microsd on your computer to add some files

    • create an empty file on boot partition named "ssh"

    • create a file on boot partition named "wpa_supplicant" with the following content

  • unmount microsd card and put it into raspberry pi and start

  • now you have to find out the ip address the pi gets in your wifi

    • for me with nmap -sn 192.168.202.0/24

  • then you can login with ssh pi@ip-address

  • if you do not have a local dns in your network you can also try ssh pi@raspberrypi.local

  • now we create a script called tunnel.sh

  • and make it afterwards executable with "chmod +x tunnel.sh"

  • provide the generated ssh public key to a valid winlab user



Example of using the PI to connect any device to OWL

The PI has the SSH tunnel pre-configured. However, the SSID and its password need to be configured.

```

ssh pi@raspberrypi.local

```



Cabling

Just power cables and Ethernet between the Device and the PI.



Detailed view



Connection Status in OWL at ONAP