3. Creating and Configuring a free5GC VM - anhtien17/free5GC GitHub Wiki

The aims of this guide are:

Cloning an existing VM to install free5GC
Installing and testing the free5GC core network
Configuring free5GC.

A. Create A `free5GC` VM

1. Clone a VM

First, let’s clone a new VM:

Select an existing VM (ubuntu) and Right-click and choose Clone
Name the new VM as free5gc
The MAC address rule: Create new MAC addresses for all network cards
Choose the Full Clone option.

2. Change Hostname

The cloned free5gc VM still has the hostname ubuntu (or the name you gave it in the original VM). Let’s rename the VM to free5gc. You can do this by editing the file /etc/hostname (using vi or nano):
```
   sudo nano /etc/hostname  # or sudo vi /etc/hostname
```
Then, change the file /etc/hosts by replacing the ubuntu inside into free5gc:
```
   sudo nano /etc/hosts
```

3. Set Static IP

Now we change the IP of free5gc machine to a static IP (in the IP's range of your network), e.g., 192.168.31.101/24. You also need change the DNS's mode from Automatically to Manual (8.8.8.8).

B. Install & Test `free5GC` Core Network

1. Install Basic Tools

First make sure Golang (go) is not installed:
```
   go version
```
If go is installed, remove it first (assuming it is installed at /usr/local/go):
```
   sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go
```
To install the latest go, search golang on the web, and get the website: Golang. On the website page, choose Linux, and obtain the download URL (by right-clicking the box Download Go for Linux and chose something like Copy link address). The URL address looks like this:
```
   https://golang.org/dl/go1.17.linux-amd64.tar.gz
```

With the URL address, we can install the latest go using:

   cd ~
   wget https://golang.org/dl/go1.17.linux-amd64.tar.gz
   sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.17.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Then, execute the following commands (copy and paste):

   mkdir -p ~/go/{bin,pkg,src}
   echo 'export GOPATH=$HOME/go' >> ~/.bashrc
   echo 'export GOROOT=/usr/local/go' >> ~/.bashrc
   echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin:$GOROOT/bin' >> ~/.bashrc
   echo 'export GO111MODULE=auto' >> ~/.bashrc
   source ~/.bashrc

And check if go is installed successfully:
```
   go version
```

Next, we will install MongoDb:

    sudo apt -y update
    sudo apt -y install mongodb
    sudo systemctl start mongodb

Finally, install other development tools:

   sudo apt -y install git gcc g++ cmake autoconf libtool pkg-config libmnl-dev libyaml-dev
   go get -u github.com/sirupsen/logrus

2. Set up Networking

To setup network rules, copy and paste:

   sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
   sudo iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o enp0s3 -j MASQUERADE
   sudo systemctl stop ufw

Note:
- The name enp0s3 is the network interface free5GC use to connect to Data Network (i.e. Internet).
- These network settings will disappear after reboot. So make sure you run the above commands after each reboot.

3. Install free5GC Core Network

Let’s install the latest free5GC directly:

   cd ~
   git clone --recursive https://github.com/free5gc/free5gc.git

To build free5GC, do:
```
   cd ~/free5gc
   make
```

We also need to install kernel module gtp5g:

   cd ~
   git clone https://github.com/PrinzOwO/gtp5g.git
   cd gtp5g
   make
   sudo make install

To check if gtp5g is installed successfully, see if the following command shows some information:
```
   lsmod | grep gtp
```

4. Testing free5GC

free5GC provides some testing procedures to make sure it works properly. First let’s just test the basic registration procedure:
```
   cd ~/free5gc
   ./test.sh TestRegistration
```
If everything runs properly without Red error messages, and the word PASS appears near the end of the screen output, then free5GC is running properly.

We can further check other free5GC procedures:

   ./test.sh TestGUTIRegistration
   ./test.sh TestServiceRequest
   ./test.sh TestXnHandover
   ./test.sh TestDeregistration
   ./test.sh TestPDUSessionReleaseRequest
   ./test.sh TestPaging
   ./test.sh TestN2Handover
   ./test.sh TestNon3GPP
   ./test.sh TestReSynchronisation
   ./test_ulcl.sh -om 3 TestRegistration

C. Configuring `free5GC`

1. Install free5GC WebConsole

free5GC provides a simple web tool WebConsole to help to create and manage UE registrations to be used by various 5G network functions (NF). To build WebConsole we need Node.js and Yarn.

First, remove obsolete tools that may exist:

   sudo apt remove cmdtest
   sudo apt remove yarn

Then, install Node.js and Yarn:

   curl -sS https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/pubkey.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
   echo "deb https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/ stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yarn.list
   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install -y nodejs yarn

Build WebConsole:
```
   cd ~/free5gc
   make webconsole
```

2. Add a UE via WebConsole

First, start up the WebConsole server:

   cd ~/free5gc/webconsole
   go run server.go

The result screen shows the port number :5000 at the end. Open your web browser from your host machine, and enter the following URL (the IP address of free5gc + :5000): http://192.168.31.101:5000
- On the login page, enter username admin and password free5gc
- Once logged in, widen the page until you see Subscribers tab on the left-hand side column.
- Choose Subscribers tab and create a new data
  - Note that other than the Operator Code Type field which you should choose OP for now, leave other fields unchanged. This registration data is used for ease of testing and actual use later.
- After the data is created successfully, you can press Ctrl-C on the terminal to quit WebConsole.

3. Setting free5GC Parameters

 In free5gc VM, we need to edit three files:

      * ~/free5gc/config/amfcfg.yaml
      * ~/free5gc/config/smfcfg.yaml
      * ~/free5gc/NFs/upf/build/config/upfcfg.yaml

First, change file amfcfg.yaml in path: ~/free5gc/config/amfcfg.yaml

Replace ngapIpList IP from 127.0.0.1 to the IP address of free5gc, e.g., 192.168.31.101
```
   ...
      ngapIpList:  # the IP list of N2 interfaces on this AMF
      - 192.168.31.101  # 127.0.0.1
```

Next, edit file smfcfg in path: ~/free5gc/config/smfcfg.yaml

Replace UPF IP from 127.0.0.1 to the IP address of free5gc, e.g., 192.168.31.101

   ...
      interfaces: # Interface list for this UPF
      - interfaceType: N3 # the type of the interface (N3 or N9)
        endpoints: # the IP address of this N3/N9 interface on this UPF
          - 192.168.31.101  # 127.0.0.8

Finally, edit file upfcfg in path: ~/free5gc/NFs/upf/build/config/upfcfg.yaml

Replace gtpu IP from 127.0.0.1 to the IP address of free5gc, e.g., 192.168.31.101
```
   ...
      gtpu:
      - addr: 192.168.31.101  # 127.0.0.8
```