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free5GC Helm Installation

Prerequirements

MicroK8s Installation

  • Install MicroK8s
    sudo snap install microk8s --classic --channel=1.28/stable
    • Join the group
      sudo usermod -a -G microk8s $USER
mkdir -p ~/.kube
chmod 0700 ~/.kube
    • Re-enter the session
      su - $USER
    • Verify the Installation 
      microk8s status --wait-ready
  • To work with local kubectl
    sudo snap install kubectl --classic
sudo snap install helm --classic
microk8s config > ~/.kube/config
su - $USER
  • Create namespace for free5GC
    kubectl create ns free5gc

Network configuration

  • Reference: Toward5Gs -- Network Configuration
  • This Helm chart requires two network interfaces: eth0 and eth1
    • Both of them should have the ability to connect to the Internet
    • By default, one of them (eth1) will be the N6 network interface
  • In Summary, the value.yaml in each configuration should be set up correctly
    • Suppose we have two NW interfaces:
      1. eth0: 172.19.244.39/20
      2. eth1: 192.168.50.43/24
    • We take eth1 as the interface connected to DN, the following values should be changed:
      1. global.n6network.subnetIP, global.n6network.gatewayIP
      2. free5gc-upf.n6if.ipAddress
      3. For changing the interface, these values should be modified: global.n2network.masterIf, global.n3network.masterIf, global.n4network.masterIf, global.n6network.masterIf
    • free5gc-helm/charts/free5gc/value.yaml
      global:
  n6network:
    enabled: true
    name: n6network
    type: ipvlan
    masterIf: eth1
    subnetIP: 192.168.50.0
    cidr: 24
    gatewayIP: 192.168.50.1
    excludeIP: 10.100.100.254
    • free5gc-helm/charts/free5gc/charts/free5gc-upf/values.yaml
      upf:    
    n6if:  # DN
        ipAddress: 192.168.50.66
      • When choosing "ULCL" architecture for the user plane, n6if configuration in upf1, upf2, upfb should also be changed to the DN interface
    • These values could be setup by using helm install --set, see helm chart installation

CNI Plugin Configuration

  • Starting from version 1.19, MicroK8s clusters use the Calico CNI by default (ref).
    • To enable IP forwarding on UPF, Calico CNI needs some necessary configurations.
    • Some CNI plugin, like Flannel, kube-ovn, allow this funtionality by default
  • Setup Calico CNI for IP Forwarding
    1. /var/snap/microk8s/current/args/cni-network/cni.yaml
      kind: ConfigMap
data:
    cni_network_config: |-
        {
            # ...
            "plugins": [
                {
                    # Append IP forwarding settings
                    "container_settings": {
                        "allow_ip_forwarding": true
                    },
                }
            ]
        }
    2. /var/snap/microk8s/current/args/kubelet
      • append the following line
        --allowed-unsafe-sysctls "net.ipv4.ip_forward"
    3. Apply settings
      kubectl apply -f /var/snap/microk8s/current/args/cni-network/cni.yaml
    4. Restart MicroK8s
      microk8s stop
microk8s start
  • Otherwise, Use kube-ovn CNI plugin
    sudo microk8s enable kube-ovn --force

multus-cni plugin

Installation

Create Persistent Volumn

  • Use kubectl apply to declarative create persistent volume for mongo
    • kubectl apply -f persistent-vol-for-mongodb.yaml
    • persistent-vol-for-mongodb.yaml
      apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
  name: free5gc-pv-mongo
  labels:
    project: free5gc
spec:
  capacity:
    storage: 8Gi
  accessModes:
  - ReadWriteOnce
  persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain
  storageClassName: microk8s-hostpath
  local:
    path: </path/to/storage>
  nodeAffinity:
    required:
      nodeSelectorTerms:
      - matchExpressions:
        - key: kubernetes.io/hostname
          operator: In
          values:
          - <work-node-name>
      • directory on /path/to/storage should be created previously
  • Use kubectl apply to declarative create persistent volume for nrf.pem
    • kubectl apply -f persistent-vol-for-cert.yaml
    • persistent-vol-for-cert.yaml
      apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
name: free5gc-pv-cert
labels:
    project: free5gc
spec:
capacity:
    storage: 2Mi
accessModes:
- ReadOnlyMany
persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain
storageClassName: microk8s-hostpath
local:
    path: </path/to/storage>
nodeAffinity:
    required:
    nodeSelectorTerms:
    - matchExpressions:
        - key: kubernetes.io/hostname
        operator: In
        values:
        - <work-node-name>
      • directory on /path/to/storage should be created previously
  • Check persistent volume
    kubectl get persistentvolume

Helm Chart

  • Clone the repository
    git clone https://github.com/free5gc/free5gc-helm.git
  • Enter the directory: free5gc-helm/charts/
  • free5GC
    helm install -n free5gc free5gc-helm ./free5gc/
    • Install with customized interface settings
      helm install -n free5gc free5gc-helm ./free5gc/ \
--set global.n6network.subnetIP="192.168.50.0" \
--set global.n6network.gatewayIP="192.168.50.1" \
--set free5gc-upf.upf.n6if.ipAddress="192.168.50.66"
  • UERANSIM
    helm install -n free5gc ueransim ./ueransim/
  • Verification
    • List installed charts
      helm ls -A
    • Check services, pods, repicaets, and deployments 
      kubectl get all -n free5gc
  • Check IP forwarding is avalible in upf
    kubectl exec -it -n free5gc deployment/free5gc-helm-free5gc-upf-upf \
-- cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
    • This output should be 1
  • Result

Test

  • Add subscribors via webui
    1. Port forwarding 
      kubectl port-forward svc/webui-service 5000:5000  --address 0.0.0.0
    2. access <externel_ip>:5000
  • Ping externel network with tunnel 
    kubectl exec -it -n free5gc deployment/ueransim-ue \
-- ping -I uesimtun0 8.8.8.8