Development of digital twins network topologies using emulation

Abstract

This diploma thesis examines the process of developing digital twins of various network topologies using the Containerlab emulation environment and a mechanism for the automatic generation of configurations, with the aim of freeing network engineers from the manual deployment of digital twins through the full automation of the process. Firstly, a brief comparison is made between light virtualization through the use of containers and the use of virtual machines (VMs). In the chapters 3 and 4 that follow, the tools Docker and Containerlab are presented in detail, as far as their operation, their most basic commands, and their role in the present work are concerned. The next chapter describes the network management tools that were used in the experimental part of the work, such as NetBox, nrx, and Graphite, as well as the automation tools that were developed entirely within the framework of the present thesis, such as the Python Script and the Jinja2 Template. In Chapter 6, the documentation of the work is completed with the analysis of the theoretical background of the topologies of the experimental part, and specifically of the routing protocols and the switching software that were used. Finally, the correctness of the operation of the mechanism for developing digital twins of specific topologies is investigated and confirmed through a series of tests that verify both the successful deployment of the topology’s twin and the automatic rendering of the configuration files to the topology’s devices. The final results highlight the character of the mechanism of the present work as a fully functional and extensible platform for developing digital twins of complex network topologies in a fully automated way, which is about to bring significant benefits to modern network engineers.