SR-SIM overview

SR-SIM overview

The Containerized Service Router Simulator, known as the SR-SIM, is a simulation tool available to Nokia customers who have an active SR-SIM subscription, to assist with:

  • labs
  • training
  • education
  • automation development
  • network simulation
  • emulating the control and management plane of a device under test (DUT) in preparation for deployment into a production network

The SR-SIM does not provide identical functionality to the hardware platforms as some functionality is provided by the hardware datapath implementation.

SR-SIM concept

The SR-SIM provides a simulation tool to emulate a 7250 IXR, 7450 ESS, 7750 SR, or 7950 XRS router. This tool is provided as a container and designed to run on an x86 system within common containerization systems, such as Docker and Kubernetes.

The SR-SIM is a containerized version of the SR OS software that simulates the software that runs on the hardware platforms. Configuration of hardware elements (such as provisioning line cards) and software elements (such as interfaces, network protocols, and services) is performed the same way as on the physical SR OS platforms.

Containerization benefits

The ability to use the Containerized Network Functions (CNFs) on commodity hardware (which previously depended on custom hardware), using standard IT containerization technologies, provides significant benefits for network operators, including:

  • reduced CAPEX by using industry-standard hardware that is potentially easier to upgrade
  • reduced OPEX (space, power, cooling) by consolidation of multiple functions on fewer physical platforms
  • faster and simpler testing and rollout of new services
  • flexibility to scale capacity up or down, as needed
  • flexibility to create specific network topologies for a given scenario
  • decoupling the operator from the physical lab location allowing engineers and developers to create SR-SIM in multiple locations

SR-SIM instance

The SR-SIM is delivered as a native container, rather than a virtual machine wrapped inside a container. A single SR-SIM instance comprises one or more containers coupled together.

Some functionality of the SR-SIM may be offloaded to the host machine (as is common practice in containerized solutions).

Note: Care must be taken to prevent over-subscription of host resources. SR-SIM containers do not need dedicated CPU cores or dedicated vRAM memory as this is arbitrated by the containerization system, but not providing enough resources will render the container unstable. In addition, combining SR-SIM containers with any other program on the host machine with intensive memory access requirements should be avoided for stability reasons. Recommended minimum memory requirements are provided to start the container, but may not meet the minimum memory required for your specific use case.