A Docker Container for ns-3 Development Environment

An ns-3 development environment in a docker container based on ubuntu jammy x86_64.

Dockerfile

This repo contains two Dockerfile configurations:

• ns3_3.30-3.35.dockerfile to build an image for versions number 3.30 to 3.35
• ns3_3.36p.dockerfile to build an image for 3.36 and higher versions.

Environment Setup

A bash script ns3env.sh is appended to the .bashrc file to make distribution directories and build process easily accessible:

PATH="/opt:$PATH"
# set env var for ns-3 base path
DISTDIR=/code
NS3DIR=${DISTDIR}/ns-3
NS3LOGDIR=${HOME}/ns-3/build/log
# utility env vars
NS3CONFIG="--enable-examples --enable-tests"
NS3DEBUG="--build-profile=debug --out=build/debug"
NS3OPT="--build-profile=optimized --out=build/optimized"

A custom command, for versions 3.30 to 3.35, is also added to work and build from the same dir (e.g. $NS3DIR/scratch)

waff() {
    CWD="${NS3LOGDIR}"
    cd $NS3DIR >/dev/null
    ./waf --cwd="$CWD" $*
    cd - >/dev/null
}

Building image

A docker image can be built with a one-liner like:

docker build -f ns3_3.36p.dockerfile -t ns3-box:jammy3.36plus .

Prebuilt images for versions >= 3.36 are avaliable on docker hub.

Spin up a Container

A local directory, to store the ns-3 distribution, is required to be mounted as a volume on to /code in the container.

docker container run \
    --rm -it \
    --name="ns3.test" \
    --volume="./dist:/code:rw" \
    ns3-box:jammy3.36plus \
    /bin/bash

Distribution Download

A bash script get-ns to download the latest (or any) verion of NS3 is placed on the PATH in the container. The user should run it to setup the NS3 distribution on the mounted volume. Finally, the distribution can be built using waf or ns3 python script depending on the distro version.

Wish List

• add neovim with a custom config to be used as a C++/Python IDE