free5gc_deployment_using_microk8s

I have created this repository to help the people who are trying to deploy the free5gc network using Kubernetes.

Step by step procedure to create free5gc network using Kubernetes

1. Download & install Oracle Virtual Box from the following link : https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

2. Create a VM with following specifications :

3. Download and install Ubuntu on the above VM (Link to download VM -> https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop: ubuntu-22.04.2-desktop-amd64)

4. Clone the repository for gtp5g - 5G compatible GTP kernel module from : https://github.com/free5gc/gtp5g

Compile :

git clone https://github.com/free5gc/gtp5g.git && cd gtp5g make clean && make

Install kernel module (Install the module to the system and load automatically at boot) :

sudo make install

5. Install the required packages for user-plane :

sudo apt -y install git gcc g++ cmake autoconf libtool pkg-config libmnl-dev libyaml-dev

6. Install microk8s with the help of following commands:

sudo snap install microk8s --classic sudo snap list newgrp microk8s sudo usermod -a -G microk8s <userid_using_microk8s> sudo chown -f -R <userid_using_microk8s> ~/.kube

7. Install the command line tool for microk8s i.e., nothing but kubectl with the help of following commands:

curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/`curl -s https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/stable.txt`/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl

chmod +x kubectl

sudo mv kubectl /usr/local/bin/

8. Install helm (The Package Manager to install free5gc helm chart for the ue , access and core network) with the help of following commands:

curl -fsSL -o get_helm.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/master/scripts/get-helm-3

chmod 700 get_helm.sh

./get_helm.sh

9. Start a single-node cluster and enable Multus-CNI

microk8s disable ha-cluster --force

microk8s enable dns ingress dashboard storage community helm3

microk8s enable multus

10. Add & pull the repositories of free5gc & ueramsim using below Helm Commands :

cd /root/ ; mkdir kubedata

mkdir /root/5gc ; cd /root/5gc

helm repo add towards5gs 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Orange-OpenSource/towards5gs-helm/main/repo/'

helm repo update

helm search repo

helm pull towards5gs/free5gc; helm pull towards5gs/ueransim

11. Create a persistent volume :

cd /root/5gc/

vi pv.yaml

---

apiVersion: v1 kind: PersistentVolume metadata: name: example-local-pv9 labels: project: free5gc spec: capacity: storage: 8Gi accessModes:

• ReadWriteOnce persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain local: path: /root/kubedata nodeAffinity: required: nodeSelectorTerms:
  • matchExpressions:
    • key: kubernetes.io/hostname operator: In values:

13. Check the physical network interface on Kubernetes node & if the names of network interfaces are different from eth0 and eth1 then we will have to apply the Networks configuration as mentioned on (https://github.com/Orange-OpenSource/towards5gs-helm/tree/main/charts/free5gc#networks-configuration)

Use ip addr command to check the physical network interface

root@______:~/5gc# ip addr

1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000

link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00

inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo

   valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

inet6 ::1/128 scope host 

   valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

2: enp0s3: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000

link/ether 08:00:27:b5:20:f4 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

inet 10.0.2.15/24 brd 10.0.2.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute enp0s3

   valid_lft 84360sec preferred_lft 84360sec

inet6 fe80::5b3a:afa8:91b7:6d60/64 scope link noprefixroute 

   valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

As you can see from the above output of ip addr command the name of the physical network interface is different from eth0 i.e., enp0s3 so I will make the necessary configuration changes into the network.

Enable the promiscous mode [In a network, promiscuous mode allows a network device to intercept and read each network packet that arrives]on this interface by the command: sudo ip link set enp0s3 promisc on

Deploy the Helm chart for free5GC’s core network components as given below : a. Create a namespace for free5gc:

root@______:~/5gc# microk8s kubectl create ns free5gc

root@______:~/5gc# microk8s kubectl get ns -n --all

b. Deploy the helm chart using following command:

root@______:~/5gc# microk8s helm -n free5gc install free5gc-core towards5gs/free5gc --set global.n2network.masterIf=enp0s3,global.n3network.masterIf=enp0s3,global.n4network.masterIf=enp0s3,global.n6network.masterIf=enp0s3,global.n9network.masterIf=enp0s3,global.n6network.subnetIP=10.0.2.0,global.n6network.gatewayIP=10.0.2.1,global.n6network.cidr=24,free5gc-upf.upf.n6if.ipAddress=10.0.2.14,global.n2network.type=macvlan,global.n3network.type=macvlan,global.n4network.type=macvlan,global.n6network.type=macvlan,global.n9network.type=macvlan

Check if the free5gc core network pods are up and running or not by using following command :

root@______:# microk8s kubectl get pods --all-namespaces

References:

1. https://github.com/Orange-OpenSource/towards5gs-helm/blob/main/docs/demo/Setup-free5gc-and-test-with-UERANSIM.md#networks-configuration
2. https://github.com/Orange-OpenSource/towards5gs-helm/tree/main/charts/free5gc#networks-configuration
3. https://github.com/devopsjourney23/free5gcdemo/blob/master/README.md
4. https://hackmd.io/@haidinhtuan/ryRuKdEI3
5. https://medium.com/rahasak/deploying-5g-core-network-with-free5gc-kubernets-and-helm-charts-29741cea3922

***** Note : I would like to thank the github community to help me create open-source free5gc network with the help of Kubernetes *****