Installing NetStorm for VM Servers

Overview

This section provides insights on the prerequisites and steps for installing NetSotrm on Linux operating system.

  • Pre-installation requirements
  • Installing NetStorm software for Ubuntu
  • Validating Server after installation

Pre-Installation Requirements

This section describes all the pre-requisites of the server on which Cavisson NetStorm is to be installed. It includes:

  • Platform requirements
  • Software requirements
Platform Requirements

The minimum platform requirements for installing Cavisson NetStorm are outlined as:

  • 8 GB RAM and 4 CPU.
  • Hard Disk space minimum of 512 GB.
  • One 1000 Mbps network interface. In some cases, one 100 Mbps network interface is sufficient.

The actual RAM, hard disk space and number/speed of network interface required for running Cavisson NetStorm depends on various factors, such as the load to be generated, the complexity of recorded scripts, CPU usage required by these scripts, and number of test results to be kept in the system.

For a high-end enterprise testing environment, we recommend following Server specifications:

48Core CPU (E5-2650V4)
512 GB memory
64TB disk space
10 Gbps Network Interface

Software Requirements

The software requirements for installing Cavisson NetStorm Server on Ubuntu are:

For Ubuntu: Select Ubuntu12/Ubuntu16 while launching any server and according to the version, the Cavisson CavBin binary is provided by Cavisson team.

Installing NetStorm for Ubuntu

Pre-requisites for Cavisson NetStorm

Before user starts installation of Cavisson software, make sure that following are ready:

  • Ubuntu server.
  • 1 Corporate LAN static IP addresses (See table below and fill this table).
  • Download latest Cavisson software package (For example, Cav4.1.5.32.Ubuntu1204_64.bin) provided by Cavisson team.

        Fill the following tables for each NetStorm machine to be installed.

InterfaceUseIP AddressNetMaskComments
Eth0Administration Interface<Fill Here><Fill Here> 

Table 1: NetStorm Details

The interface name can be changed depending upon the interface connected.

Installation of Cavisson NetStorm Software

Follow these steps to install NetStorm software on the server:

  1. Open a terminal window (using left mouse button). Ensure that user is working as root.
  2. Clean old files (if any) by running following command:
    • rm -rf /root/netstorm_libs
  3. Create following directory:
    • mkdir /root/netstorm_libs
  4. Copy NetStorm Software in /root/netstorm_libs directory from Cavisson team.
  5. Install NetStorm software by running following command:

./Cav4.1.5.32.Ubuntu1204_64.bin

(Note – Release Number (Cav4.1.5) and Build Number (32) will change for future build)

  1. User is prompted for DNS and NTP configuration as shown below. Please enter appropriate values of input as below.
Configuring DNS server
To configure DNS server name, enter y else n: n
Configuring NTP server for time synchronization
To configure NTP server name, enter y else n: n
 NoteTo edit the DNS server configuration, use the /etc/resolv.conf file.
  1. On specifying the required details, user is prompted for system configuration as shown below. Please enter appropriate values of input as per table above.
Enter System Configuration
Enter 1 for NetStorm and 2 for NetOcean: 1 or 2
Enter the NetStorm Admin Interface: [As provided by the vendor]
Enter the NetStorm Admin IP (Enter in IP/Netbits format): [As provided by the vendor]
Enter the NetStorm Admin Gateway to reach NetOcean Admin IP (Enter -, if none): -
Enter the NetStorm Load Interface(s), if multiple enter as eth1|eth2: [Use admin interface]
Enter the NetOcean Admin Interface: [As provided by the vendor]
Enter the NetOcean Admin IP (Enter in IP/Netbits format): [As provided by the vendor]
Enter the NetOcean Admin Gateway to reach NetStorm Admin IP (Enter -, if none): -
Enter the NetOcean Load Interface(s), if multiple enter as eth1|eth2: [Use admin interface here]
  1. After installation is completed, reboot machine using reboot command:
 NoteUser can do the necessary changes in /etc/cav.conf file (if required).

Validating Server after Installation

  1. Run the command bash –l so that changes can be reflected to support NS successfully. User can check this by running any ns command, such as nsu_get_version. It should work properly.

Sample Output for successful installation

netstorm@Fremont71:~/Cloud_Testing/scenarios/default/default$ nsu_get_version
NetStorm:Version 4.1.6 (build# 56)
GUI:Version 4.1.6 (build# 56)
HPD:Version not available
CMON:Version 4.1.7 (build# 38)
LPS:Version 4.1.6 (build# 56)
NDC:Version 4.1.6 (build# 56)
NETDIAGNOSTICS:Version 4.1.7 (build# 38)
ThirdParty:Version not available

Post Installation

  1. Take the license file from cavisson team to start any test.

Build Upgradation Process for Latest Release

Take the latest certified build from cavisson team and use the following steps to upgrade the same:

  1. Login into the machine using ssh admin IP, example ssh 10.10.30.2 with root user and password.
  2. Select controller work or press key1 to access the working directory.
  3. Use cd upgrade command to go inside the upgrade directory.
  4. Run wget buildname [as provided by cavisson team]

Or

Take the build files in a pen drive and copy the same into upgrade directory

  1. Check permission of thirdparty and netstorm downloaded build [It should have executable permission, use chmod +x thirdpartybuild netstormbuild.
  2. First, upgrade thirdparty build using ./thirdpartybuild. It includes the compatible libraries required in the upgradation of netstormbuild.
  1. After successful installation, run ./netstormbuild. It is the actual build which contains all the changes related to any feature, it also includes additional functionalities and fixes.

Basic Validation

Steps to record the script from GUI

  1. Login to NetStorm from the browser.
  2. Click on Launch Script to open script manager GUI.
  3. Once script manager is launched, then press start recording button available at the left top corner.
  4. Once login into the script record window then do the following operation:
    • Enter the script name.
    • Enter the URL to record example – http://www.google.com
    • Click OK to start the recording. The URL gets displayed on the new Browser window. Now, navigate to the Page for which the information is required to be captured in the script.
    • Click on Stop Recording once the navigation is completed.
    • If required, change the name of the default pages. 

How to test the Script

Script Testing is useful for quick test of recorded script. Following are the steps to validate the same.

  1. Select Test script from the top pane of script manager.
  2. Select the option of Override recorded page think time. If it is not selected, recorded think time is applied. On selecting, update the think time to override the recorded think time.
  3. Select OK to start the test execution (Default is the test of 1 user 1 session)
  4. Once the test is executed, system is redirected to trace log. Select view reports from the top pane, which redirects to the report management window.

User can validate basic information from following option in Report Management GUI:

  1. Progress Report: Using this basic information like Number of URL, Page, Transaction, and Session Executed.
  2. Page Dump GUI: Using Page Dump, validate the Request Response and Reply Body.
 NoteFor more details on script recording and validation, contact Cavisson team.

Requirements in Cloud

On running any cloud test with Akamai, then before hitting the server, first white-list the IPs from Akamai. On hitting this IP without whitelisting, user gets 403 in the response.