Getting started¶
In this tutorial, we will deploy and run an SD-Core 5G core network using Juju and Terraform. As part of this tutorial, we will also deploy additional components:
gNB Simulator: a 5G radio and a cellphone simulator,
SD-Core Router: a software router facilitating communication between the core and the Radio Access Network (RAN) to simulate usage of this network.
Both gNB Simulator and SD-Core Router serve only demonstration purposes and shouldn’t be part of production deployments.
To complete this tutorial, you will need a machine which meets the following requirements:
A recent
x86_64CPU (Intel 4ᵗʰ generation or newer, or AMD Ryzen or newer)At least 4 cores
8GB of RAM
50GB of free disk space
1. Install MicroK8s¶
From your terminal, install MicroK8s:
sudo snap install microk8s --channel=1.31-strict/stable
Add your user to the snap_microk8s group:
sudo usermod -a -G snap_microk8s $USER
newgrp snap_microk8s
Add the community repository MicroK8s addon:
sudo microk8s addons repo add community https://github.com/canonical/microk8s-community-addons --reference feat/strict-fix-multus
Enable the following MicroK8s addons. We must give MetalLB an address range that has at least 3 IP addresses for Charmed Aether SD-Core.
sudo microk8s enable hostpath-storage
sudo microk8s enable multus
sudo microk8s enable metallb:10.0.0.2-10.0.0.4
2. Bootstrap a Juju controller¶
From your terminal, install Juju.
sudo snap install juju --channel=3.6/stable
Bootstrap a Juju controller
juju bootstrap microk8s
Note
There is a bug in Juju that occurs when
bootstrapping a controller on a new machine. If you encounter it, create the following
directory:
mkdir -p /home/ubuntu/.local/share
3. Install Terraform¶
From your terminal, install Terraform.
sudo snap install terraform --classic
4. Deploy Charmed Aether SD-Core¶
On the host machine create a new directory called terraform:
mkdir terraform
Inside newly created terraform directory create a versions.tf file:
cd terraform
cat << EOF > versions.tf
terraform {
required_providers {
juju = {
source = "juju/juju"
version = ">= 0.12.0"
}
}
}
EOF
Create a Terraform module containing the SD-Core 5G core network and a router:
cat << EOF > core.tf
resource "juju_model" "sdcore" {
name = "sdcore"
}
module "sdcore-router" {
source = "git::https://github.com/canonical/sdcore-router-k8s-operator//terraform"
model = juju_model.sdcore.name
depends_on = [juju_model.sdcore]
}
module "sdcore" {
source = "git::https://github.com/canonical/terraform-juju-sdcore//modules/sdcore-k8s"
model = juju_model.sdcore.name
depends_on = [module.sdcore-router]
traefik_config = {
routing_mode = "subdomain"
}
}
EOF
Note
You can get a ready example by cloning this Git repository.
All necessary files are in the examples/terraform/getting_started directory.
Initialize Juju Terraform provider:
terraform init
Deploy SD-Core by applying your Terraform configuration:
terraform apply -auto-approve
The deployment process should take approximately 15-20 minutes.
Monitor the status of the deployment:
juju switch sdcore
watch -n 1 -c juju status --color --relations
The deployment is ready when all the charms are in the active/idle state.
It is normal for grafana-agent and traefik to be in blocked state.
Example:
ubuntu@host:~/terraform $ juju status
Model Controller Cloud/Region Version SLA Timestamp
sdcore microk8s-localhost microk8s/localhost 3.6.1 unsupported 11:35:07+02:00
App Version Status Scale Charm Channel Rev Address Exposed Message
amf 1.6.4 active 1 sdcore-amf-k8s 1.6/edge 908 10.152.183.217 no
ausf 1.6.2 active 1 sdcore-ausf-k8s 1.6/edge 713 10.152.183.19 no
grafana-agent 0.40.4 blocked 1 grafana-agent-k8s latest/stable 111 10.152.183.102 no Missing ['grafana-cloud-config']|['logging-consumer'] for logging-provider; ['grafana-cloud-config']|['send-remote-wr...
mongodb active 1 mongodb-k8s 6/stable 61 10.152.183.18 no
nms 1.1.0 active 1 sdcore-nms-k8s 1.6/edge 849 10.152.183.42 no
nrf 1.6.2 active 1 sdcore-nrf-k8s 1.6/edge 790 10.152.183.234 no
nssf 1.6.1 active 1 sdcore-nssf-k8s 1.6/edge 669 10.152.183.40 no
pcf 1.6.1 active 1 sdcore-pcf-k8s 1.6/edge 710 10.152.183.129 no
router active 1 sdcore-router-k8s 1.6/edge 464 10.152.183.176 no
self-signed-certificates active 1 self-signed-certificates 1/stable 263 10.152.183.71 no
smf 2.0.2 active 1 sdcore-smf-k8s 1.6/edge 801 10.152.183.81 no
traefik 2.11.0 blocked 1 traefik-k8s latest/stable 234 10.152.183.244 no "external_hostname" must be set while using routing mode "subdomain"
udm 1.6.1 active 1 sdcore-udm-k8s 1.6/edge 664 10.152.183.241 no
udr 1.6.2 active 1 sdcore-udr-k8s 1.6/edge 645 10.152.183.96 no
upf 2.0.1 active 1 sdcore-upf-k8s 1.6/edge 767 10.152.183.173 no
Unit Workload Agent Address Ports Message
amf/0* active idle 10.1.194.206
ausf/0* active idle 10.1.194.235
grafana-agent/0* blocked idle 10.1.194.208 Missing ['grafana-cloud-config']|['logging-consumer'] for logging-provider; ['grafana-cloud-config']|['send-remote-wr...
mongodb/0* active idle 10.1.194.237 Primary
nms/0* active idle 10.1.194.255
nrf/0* active idle 10.1.194.213
nssf/0* active idle 10.1.194.243
pcf/0* active idle 10.1.194.250
router/0* active idle 10.1.194.210
self-signed-certificates/0* active idle 10.1.194.239
smf/0* active idle 10.1.194.202
traefik/0* blocked idle 10.1.194.230 "external_hostname" must be set while using routing mode "subdomain"
udm/0* active idle 10.1.194.249
udr/0* active idle 10.1.194.245
upf/0* active idle 10.1.194.217
Offer Application Charm Rev Connected Endpoint Interface Role
amf amf sdcore-amf-k8s 908 0/0 fiveg-n2 fiveg_n2 provider
nms nms sdcore-nms-k8s 849 0/0 fiveg_core_gnb fiveg_core_gnb provider
upf upf sdcore-upf-k8s 767 0/0 fiveg_n3 fiveg_n3 provider
5. Configure the ingress¶
Get the external IP address of Traefik’s traefik-lb LoadBalancer service:
microk8s.kubectl -n sdcore get svc | grep "traefik-lb"
The output should look similar to below:
ubuntu@host:~/terraform $ microk8s.kubectl -n sdcore get svc | grep "traefik-lb"
traefik-lb LoadBalancer 10.152.183.83 10.0.0.2 80:30462/TCP,443:30163/TCP 9m4s
In this tutorial, the IP is 10.0.0.2. Please note it, as we will need it in the next step.
Configure Traefik to use an external hostname. To do that, edit traefik_config in the core.tf file:
:caption: core.tf
(...)
module "sdcore" {
(...)
traefik_config = {
routing_mode = "subdomain"
external_hostname = "10.0.0.2.nip.io"
}
(...)
}
(...)
Apply new configuration:
terraform apply -auto-approve
6. Deploy the gNodeB and a cellphone simulator¶
Inside the terraform directory create a new module:
cat << EOF > ran.tf
resource "juju_model" "ran-simulator" {
name = "ran"
}
module "gnbsim" {
source = "git::https://github.com/canonical/sdcore-gnbsim-k8s-operator//terraform"
model = juju_model.ran-simulator.name
depends_on = [module.sdcore-router]
}
resource "juju_integration" "gnbsim-amf" {
model = juju_model.ran-simulator.name
application {
name = module.gnbsim.app_name
endpoint = module.gnbsim.requires.fiveg_n2
}
application {
offer_url = module.sdcore.amf_fiveg_n2_offer_url
}
}
resource "juju_integration" "gnbsim-nms" {
model = juju_model.ran-simulator.name
application {
name = module.gnbsim.app_name
endpoint = module.gnbsim.requires.fiveg_core_gnb
}
application {
offer_url = module.sdcore.nms_fiveg_core_gnb_offer_url
}
}
EOF
Initialize Juju Terraform provider:
terraform init
Apply new configuration:
terraform apply -auto-approve
Monitor the status of the deployment:
juju switch ran
watch -n 1 -c juju status --color --relations
The deployment is ready when the gnbsim application is in the Waiting/Idle state and the message is Waiting for TAC and PLMNs configuration.
Example:
ubuntu@host:~/terraform $ juju status
Model Controller Cloud/Region Version SLA Timestamp
ran microk8s-localhost microk8s/localhost 3.6.0 unsupported 12:18:26+02:00
SAAS Status Store URL
amf active local admin/sdcore.amf
nms active local admin/sdcore.nms
App Version Status Scale Charm Channel Rev Address Exposed Message
gnbsim 1.4.5 waiting 1 sdcore-gnbsim-k8s 1.6/edge 638 10.152.183.85 no installing agent
Unit Workload Agent Address Ports Message
gnbsim/0* waiting idle 10.1.194.239 Waiting for TAC and PLMNs configuration
7. Configure the 5G core network through the Network Management System¶
Retrieve the NMS credentials (username and password):
juju switch sdcore
juju show-secret NMS_LOGIN --reveal
The output looks like this:
cvn3usfmp25c7bgqqr60:
revision: 2
checksum: f2933262ee923c949cc0bd12b0456184bb85e5bf41075028893eea447ab40b68
owner: nms
label: NMS_LOGIN
created: 2025-04-03T07:57:40Z
updated: 2025-04-03T08:02:15Z
content:
password: pkxp9DYCcZG
token: eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJleHAiOjE3NDM2NzA5MzMsInVzZXJuYW1lIjoiY2hhcm0tYWRtaW4tVlNMTSIsInJvbGUiOjF9.Qwp0PIn9L07nTz0XooPvMb8v8-egYJT85MXjoOY9nYQ
username: charm-admin-VSLM
Retrieve the NMS address:
juju run traefik/0 show-proxied-endpoints
The output should be https://sdcore-nms.10.0.0.2.nip.io/. Navigate to this address in your
browser and use the username and password to login.
Assign Tracking Area Code (TAC) to the gNodeB¶
In the Network Management System (NMS) navigate to the Inventory tab. Click the Edit button next to the integrated gNB name and set TAC to 1:
Confirm new TAC value by clicking the Submit button.
Create a Network Slice¶
Navigate to the Network slices tab and create a network slice with the following attributes:
Name:
defaultMCC:
001MNC:
01UPF:
upf-external.sdcore.svc.cluster.local:8805gNodeB:
ran-gnbsim-gnbsim
You should see the following network slice created:
Create a Device Group¶
Navigate to the Device groups tab and create a device group with the following attributes:
Name:
device-groupNetwork Slice:
defaultSubscriber IP pool:
172.250.1.0/16DNS:
8.8.8.8MTU (bytes):
1456Maximum bitrate (Mbps):
Downstream:
200Upstream:
20
QoS:
5QI:
1: GBR - Conversational VoiceARP:
6
You should see the following device group created:
Create a Subscriber¶
Navigate to Subscribers tab and click the Create button. Fill in the following:
Network Slice:
defaultDevice Group:
device-group
Click the two Generate buttons to automatically fill in the values in the form. Note the IMSI, OPC, Key and Sequence Number; we are going to use them in the next step.
After clicking the Submit button you should see the subscriber created:
8. Run the 5G simulation¶
Switch to the ran model and set up the subscriber information using the values noted in the previous step:
juju switch ran
juju config gnbsim imsi=<IMSI> usim-opc=<OPC> usim-key=<Key> usim-sequence-number=<Sequence Number>
Make sure that the gnbsim application is in Active/Idle state.
juju status
The output should be similar to below:
Example:
ubuntu@host:~/terraform $ juju status
Model Controller Cloud/Region Version SLA Timestamp
ran microk8s-localhost microk8s/localhost 3.6.0 unsupported 12:18:26+02:00
SAAS Status Store URL
amf active local admin/sdcore.amf
nms active local admin/sdcore.nms
App Version Status Scale Charm Channel Rev Address Exposed Message
gnbsim 1.4.5 active 1 sdcore-gnbsim-k8s 1.6/edge 638 10.152.183.85 no
Unit Workload Agent Address Ports Message
gnbsim/0* active idle 10.1.194.239
Run the simulation:
juju run gnbsim/leader start-simulation
The simulation executed successfully if you see success: "true" as one of the output messages:
ubuntu@host:~$ juju run gnbsim/leader start-simulation
Running operation 1 with 1 task
- task 2 on unit-gnbsim-0
Waiting for task 2...
info: 5/5 profiles passed
success: "true"
9. Destroy the environment¶
Destroy Terraform deployment:
terraform destroy -auto-approve
Note
Terraform does not remove anything from the working directory. If needed, please clean up
the terraform directory manually by removing everything except for the core.tf, ran.tf
and versions.tf files.
Destroy the Juju controller and all its models:
juju kill-controller microk8s-localhost