Connecting to the host network¶
Renode allows you to connect a host network interface to a simulated wired network.
To do that you need to be able to create a TAP interface.
Renode will try to create one, provided you have sufficient privileges.
Regarding time flow¶
All devices simulated in Renode operate in virtual time, which is typically slower than the real time flow. Moreover, network packets are delivered in periodical synchronisation points, delaying the communication even further.
This means that time constraints (e.g. timeouts) placed by applications trying to connect to the simulated network from the host may need to be altered to take these delays into account.
Opening a TAP interface¶
To create and open a TAP interface which will be listed on your host system as tap0 and inside Renode as host.tap, run:
(monitor) emulation CreateTap "tap0" "tap"
If you want the interface to be retained after Renode closes, add a true parameter:
(monitor) emulation CreateTap "tap0" "tap" true
Depending on your system configuration, you may be asked for a password to open the interface.
Note
The newly created interface needs to be enabled and configured on your host machine.
By default it has no IP address assigned and is in down state.
Please refer to your system documentation for further instructions.
Using TAP interface on Windows¶
In order to create a TAP device on Windows, you need to install a third-party driver that is a part of the OpenVPN project.
If OpenVPN is installed on your computer, Renode should detect it when trying to create a TAP interface.
The feature has been specifically tested with OpenVPN 2.5.6.
Note
You need Administrator Privileges to create a TAP on Windows.
To create a TAP interface on your Windows PC, first, you need to create a new TAP interface in Renode using the usual command::
(monitor) emulation CreateTap "tap0" "tap"
Then you need to assign an IP address to your TAP using the command prompt:
netsh interface ipv4 set address name=tap0 static X.X.X.X
Note
You can also create a TAP interface directly using the tapctl.exe driver from OpenVPN:
tapctl.exe create --name tap0
Then assign it an IP address:
netsh interface ipv4 set address name=tap0 static X.X.X.X
Finally, connect it to Renode using:
(monitor) emulation CreateTap "tap0" "tap"
Connecting TAP interface switch¶
Assuming you have already configured the simulated network, you can connect a TAP interface to a switch device by running:
(monitor) connector Connect host.tap switch
Starting the interface¶
The TAP interface is created as “paused”. To enable communication with the host system you must start it manually, either by running:
(monitor) start
or, if your emulation is already started, with:
(monitor) host.tap Start
Transferring files from host¶
If you successfully created a TAP interface, files can be transferred from the host computer to emulation using wget.
To do it you will need to use an IP address associated with the TAP interface on the host machine, for example:
wget http://192.168.100.1/home/user/file.txt
Note
There are other methods of file transfer: built-in TFTP server and Virtio. Those methods are recommended if you want to avoid the limitations of the host-guest networking via TAP.