Introduction
This chapter explains how to build
a SONiC virtual test environment on a Windows computer. First, we enable the
required Windows features for WSL 2 and update and verify the WSL installation.
Next, we install an Ubuntu distribution and validate that the Linux environment
is working correctly, including basic resource checks (CPU, memory, and disk).
After the Linux environment is ready, we install Docker Engine from Docker’s
official repository and complete the required post-installation steps to run
containers. We then install Containerlab, download the SONiC virtual switch
image (docker-sonic-vs.gz), copy it into WSL, and load it into Docker.
Finally, we install Visual Studio Code on Windows and connect it to WSL to make
creating and editing the YAML topology files easier. The next chapter uses this
environment to define and deploy a simple SONiC-based topology.
Phase 1: Enable Features for WSL
WSL 2 requires two Windows
features to be enabled. The first feature, Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
(Example 1-1), enables WSL. The second feature, VirtualMachinePlatform
(Example 1-2), is required to run WSL 2.
In this
example, both features are enabled using Microsoft PowerShell (Run as
Administrator) with the dism.exe command. The options used are:
·
/online:
Applies the changes to the running operating system
·
/enable-feature:
Specifies that a Windows feature is being enabled
·
/featurename:
Specifies the name of the feature
·
/all:
Enables all parent features required by the selected feature
·
/norestart:
Prevents an automatic restart after the operation
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart
Deployment
Image Servicing and Management tool
Version:
10.0.26100.5074
Image
Version: 10.0.26200.8246
Enabling
feature(s)
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The
operation completed successfully.
PS
C:\WINDOWS\system32>
Example
1-1: Enable
WSL in PowerShell.
PS
C:\WINDOWS\system32> dism.exe /online
/enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart
Deployment
Image Servicing and Management tool
Version:
10.0.26100.5074
Image
Version: 10.0.26200.8246
Enabling
feature(s)
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The
operation completed successfully.
PS
C:\WINDOWS\system32>
Example
1-2: Enable
Virtual Machine Platform in PowerShell.
Phase 2: Install WSL
Before
installing a Linux distribution, update the WSL platform (kernel and supporting
components) by running wsl --update.
PS
C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --update
Downloading:
Windows Subsystem for Linux 2.6.3
Installing:
Windows Subsystem for Linux 2.6.3
Windows
Subsystem for Linux 2.6.3 has been installed.
The
operation completed successfully.
Checking
for updates.
The
most recent version of Windows Subsystem for Linux is already installed.
Example
1-3: Update
WSL.
We can verify the installed WSL
components and the Linux kernel version by running wsl
--version. The
output includes WSLg (graphics support for Linux GUI apps) and MSRDC (Microsoft
Remote Desktop Client), which are used when running Linux GUI applications (for
example, a GUI web browser such as Firefox) through WSL. The output also shows
DXCore and Direct3D versions, which relate to GPU acceleration, as well as the
Windows build version of the host OS.
PS
C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --version
WSL
version: 2.6.3.0
Kernel
version: 6.6.87.2-1
WSLg
version: 1.0.71
MSRDC
version: 1.2.6353
Direct3D
version: 1.611.1-81528511
DXCore
version: 10.0.26100.1-240331-1435.ge-release
Windows
version: 10.0.26200.8246
Example
1-4: Verify
the WSL version.
Phase 3: Install a Linux Distribution
After
updating the WSL platform, we use the wsl --list --online command to see which Linux
distributions are available online.
PS
C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --list --online
The
following is a list of valid distributions that can be installed.
Install
using 'wsl.exe --install <Distro>'.
NAME FRIENDLY NAME
Ubuntu Ubuntu
Ubuntu-24.04 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
Ubuntu-22.04 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Ubuntu-20.04 Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
openSUSE-Tumbleweed openSUSE Tumbleweed
openSUSE-Leap-16.0 openSUSE Leap 16.0
SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-15-SP7 SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP7
SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-16.0 SUSE Linux Enterprise 16.0
kali-linux Kali Linux Rolling
Debian Debian GNU/Linux
AlmaLinux-8 AlmaLinux OS 8
AlmaLinux-9 AlmaLinux OS 9
AlmaLinux-Kitten-10 AlmaLinux OS Kitten 10
AlmaLinux-10 AlmaLinux OS 10
archlinux Arch Linux
FedoraLinux-43 Fedora Linux 43
FedoraLinux-42 Fedora Linux 42
eLxr eLxr 12.12.0.0
GNU/Linux
OracleLinux_7_9 Oracle Linux 7.9
OracleLinux_8_10 Oracle Linux 8.10
OracleLinux_9_5 Oracle Linux 9.5
openSUSE-Leap-15.6 openSUSE Leap 15.6
SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-15-SP6 SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP6
PS
C:\WINDOWS\system32>
Example
1-5: List
available Linux distributions.
The
latest available Ubuntu-24.04 distribution
is used in this lab. A new Unix user
account is created during the installation process.
PS
C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --install -d
Ubuntu-24.04
Installing:
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
Distribution
successfully installed. It can be launched via 'wsl.exe -d Ubuntu-24.04'
Launching
Ubuntu-24.04...
Provisioning
the new WSL instance Ubuntu-24.04
This
might take a while...
Create
a default Unix user account: nwkt
New
password:
Retype
new password:
passwd:
password updated successfully
To run
a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo
<command>".
See
"man sudo_root" for details.
Example
1-6: Install
Ubuntu 24.04.
After installing
the Ubuntu 24.04 distribution, we can start it from Windows PowerShell by
running wsl
(or wsl -d Ubuntu-24.04).
By default, the shell often opens under /mnt/c/Windows/System32. Before running further
commands, we change to the Linux home directory with cd
~ (or simply cd). Working under the mounted
Windows system directory is discouraged: it is protected by Windows permissions
and is not a suitable location for creating project files.
Next, run cat
/etc/os-release to
verify details of the installed Ubuntu distribution.
PS
C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu
nwkt@Toni:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/system32$ cd ~
nwkt@Toni:~$ cat /etc/os-release
24.04.4
LTS"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION_ID="24.04"
VERSION="24.04.4
LTS (Noble Numbat)"
VERSION_CODENAME=noble
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
UBUNTU_CODENAME=noble
LOGO=ubuntu-logo
Example
1-7: Verify
the Linux distribution.
You can also run lsb_release
-a command (lsb-Linux
Standard Base) to check distribution details. The command relies on the lsb-release
package, which you may need to install if it is not included by default. You
can install it with sudo apt update && sudo apt install
lsb-release. The
first command refreshes the package list, and the second installs the package.
nwkt@Toni:~$ lsb_release -a
bash: lsb_release: command not found
nwkt@Toni:~$ sudo apt update && sudo apt install lsb-release
[sudo]
password for nwkt:
<snipped
for brevity>
nwkt@Toni:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB
modules are available.
Distributor
ID: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)
Release: 13
Codename: trixie
Example
1-8: Verify
the Linux distribution (lsb_release).
Before installing Docker Engine,
check the reserved memory and processor core count allocated to the WSL virtual
machine. By default, Windows may allocate a large share of the available memory
and many CPU cores to WSL. Examples 1-9 and 1-10 show how to verify the current
allocation in WSL and in Windows PowerShell.
nwkt@Toni:~$ free –h
&& nproc
total used free shared
buff/cache available
Mem:
62Gi 1.0Gi 61Gi 3.6Mi 180Mi 61Gi
Swap: 16Gi 0B 16Gi
36
Example
1-9: Check
memory and CPU allocation (WSL).
PS
C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-Content
"$env:USERPROFILE\.wslconfig"
[wsl2]
memory=61GB
processors=36
Example
1-10: Check
memory and CPU allocation (PowerShell).
In
this lab, the default WSL resource allocation exceeds the requirements, so you
can reduce it. Example 1-11 shows how to shut down WSL and then update the .wslconfig file to set the memory and CPU
limits.
PS
C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --shutdown
PS
C:\WINDOWS\system32> Set-Content -Path
"$env:USERPROFILE\.wslconfig" -Value
"[wsl2]`nmemory=32GB`nprocessors=8"
PS
C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-Content
"$env:USERPROFILE\.wslconfig"
[wsl2]
memory=32GB
processors=8
Example
1-11: Adjust
memory and CPU allocation.
Phase 4: Install Docker Engine
In
this phase, install Docker Engine inside the Ubuntu distribution.
4.1 Install prerequisites
First, install the packages required to validate HTTPS certificates and download files from Docker’s repository.
nwkt@Toni:~$ sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl gnupg lsb-release
Reading
package lists... Done
Building
dependency tree... Done
Reading
state information... Done
ca-certificates
is already the newest version (20240203).
curl is
already the newest version (8.5.0-2ubuntu10.8).
gnupg
is already the newest version (2.4.4-2ubuntu17.4).
lsb-release
is already the newest version (12.0-2).
0
upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
Example
1-12: Install
prerequisites.
Next, create a directory for
third-party repository keys. The sudo command is required because /etc is a protected system directory.
The -p
option creates the full directory path if it does not exist.
nwkt@Toni:~$ sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
Example
1-13: Create
a keyring directory.
Ubuntu verifies a repository’s
digital signature when downloading software using apt (Advanced Package Tool). To
ensure that the Docker packages we install are authentic, we first download
Docker’s GPG signing key and store it in the keyring directory created in the
previous step. After that, every time packages are downloaded from the Docker
repository, apt
can verify that the packages come from Docker and have not been tampered with.
nwkt@Toni:~$ curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg
--dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
Example
1-14: Add
Docker’s GPG key.
4.2 Add the Docker repository
Before
downloading the installation packages, add the official Docker repository to
Ubuntu’s package source list. To ensure that the system downloads an authentic
Docker version directly from Docker’s servers, we use the command shown below.
Instead of manually typing platform-specific values, the command uses command
substitution (the parts inside $( ... )) to detect the system
architecture and the Ubuntu release codename.
The
output displayed in the terminal is the result of the variables being
"expanded" (replaced with actual values) before the text is written
to the configuration file:
·
[arch=amd64]: Matches $(dpkg
--print-architecture). It identifies that the system is running on a 64-bit
Intel or AMD processor.
·
signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg: This path tells Ubuntu to use
the specific GPG security key we downloaded earlier to verify that the Docker
files haven't been tampered with.
·
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu: This is the official URL of the
Docker repository.
·
noble: Matches $(. /etc/os-release
&& echo "$VERSION_CODENAME"). It automatically identified
that you are using Ubuntu 24.04, which is codenamed "noble" (see
example 1-7: line VERSION_CODENAME=noble ).
·
stable: This indicates that we want the
officially tested and stable version of Docker, rather than experimental or
test builds.
nwkt@Toni:~$ echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture)
signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg]
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(. /etc/os-release && echo
"$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | sudo tee
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list
#the command returns
deb [arch=amd64
signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg]
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu noble stable
Example
1-15: Add the
Docker repository.
After adding the repository, run sudo apt-get update
to synchronize the local package index with the Docker repository. This
downloads the latest package lists so the Docker packages can be installed.
nwkt@Toni:~$ sudo apt-get update
Hit:1
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-security InRelease
Hit:2
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble InRelease
Get:3
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu noble InRelease [48.5 kB]
Hit:4
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates InRelease
Hit:5
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports InRelease
Get:6
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu noble/stable amd64 Packages [51.4 kB]
Fetched 99.9 kB in 1s (69.9 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Example
1-16: Update
the package index.
4.3 Install and start Docker Engine from the repository
Once the package index has been synchronized (Example 1-16), install Docker Engine and related components with sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin. This installs the Docker Engine (docker-ce), the Docker CLI (docker-ce-cli), and supporting components such as containerd.io and the Docker Compose plugin. After this step, your WSL Linux environment is ready to run containerized workloads such as a SONiC virtual switch.
nwkt@Toni:~$ sudo apt-get install
docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were
automatically installed and are no longer required:
bridge-utils dns-root-data dnsmasq-base ubuntu-fan
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to
remove them.
The following additional packages
will be installed:
docker-buildx-plugin docker-ce-rootless-extras libslirp0 slirp4netns
Suggested packages:
cgroupfs-mount | cgroup-lite docker-model-plugin
The
following packages will be REMOVED:
containerd docker.io runc
The
following NEW packages will be installed:
containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-ce
docker-ce-cli docker-ce-rootless-extras docker-compose-plugin libslirp0
slirp4netns
0 upgraded, 8 newly installed, 3
to remove and 2 not upgraded.
Need
to get 94.9 MB of archives.
After this operation, 87.5 MB of
additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
Get:1
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu noble/stable amd64 containerd.io amd64
2.2.3-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble [23.6 MB]
Get:2
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 libslirp0 amd64
4.7.0-1ubuntu3 [63.8 kB]
Get:3
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/universe amd64 slirp4netns amd64
1.2.1-1build2 [34.9 kB]
Get:4
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu noble/stable amd64 docker-ce-cli amd64
5:29.4.1-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble [17.0 MB]
Get:5
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu noble/stable amd64 docker-ce amd64
5:29.4.1-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble [22.7 MB]
Get:6
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu noble/stable amd64
docker-buildx-plugin amd64 0.33.0-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble [16.9 MB]
Get:7
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu noble/stable amd64
docker-ce-rootless-extras amd64 5:29.4.1-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble [6559 kB]
Get:8
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu noble/stable amd64
docker-compose-plugin amd64 5.1.3-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble [8023 kB]
Fetched 94.9 MB in 4s (26.4 MB/s)
(Reading database ... 41782 files
and directories currently installed.)
Removing docker.io
(29.1.3-0ubuntu3~24.04.1) ...
'/usr/share/docker.io/contrib/nuke-graph-directory.sh'
-> '/var/lib/docker/nuke-graph-directory.sh'
Stopping 'docker.service', but its
triggering units are still active:
docker.socket
Removing containerd
(2.2.1-0ubuntu1~24.04.2) ...
Removing runc
(1.3.4-0ubuntu1~24.04.1) ...
Selecting previously unselected
package containerd.io.
(Reading database ... 41502 files
and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack
.../0-containerd.io_2.2.3-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking containerd.io
(2.2.3-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble) ...
Selecting previously unselected
package docker-ce-cli.
Preparing to unpack
.../1-docker-ce-cli_5%3a29.4.1-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking docker-ce-cli
(5:29.4.1-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble) ...
Selecting previously unselected
package docker-ce.
Preparing to unpack
.../2-docker-ce_5%3a29.4.1-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking docker-ce
(5:29.4.1-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble) ...
Selecting previously unselected
package docker-buildx-plugin.
Preparing to unpack
.../3-docker-buildx-plugin_0.33.0-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking docker-buildx-plugin
(0.33.0-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble) ...
Selecting previously unselected
package docker-ce-rootless-extras.
Preparing to unpack
.../4-docker-ce-rootless-extras_5%3a29.4.1-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking
docker-ce-rootless-extras (5:29.4.1-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble) ...
Selecting previously unselected
package docker-compose-plugin.
Preparing to unpack
.../5-docker-compose-plugin_5.1.3-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking docker-compose-plugin
(5.1.3-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble) ...
Selecting previously unselected
package libslirp0:amd64.
Preparing to unpack
.../6-libslirp0_4.7.0-1ubuntu3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libslirp0:amd64
(4.7.0-1ubuntu3) ...
Selecting previously unselected
package slirp4netns.
Preparing to unpack
.../7-slirp4netns_1.2.1-1build2_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking slirp4netns
(1.2.1-1build2) ...
Setting up docker-buildx-plugin
(0.33.0-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble) ...
Setting up containerd.io
(2.2.3-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble) ...
Setting up docker-compose-plugin
(5.1.3-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble) ...
Setting up docker-ce-cli
(5:29.4.1-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble) ...
Setting up libslirp0:amd64
(4.7.0-1ubuntu3) ...
Setting up
docker-ce-rootless-extras (5:29.4.1-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble) ...
Setting up slirp4netns
(1.2.1-1build2) ...
Setting up docker-ce
(5:29.4.1-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble) ...
Could
not execute systemctl: at
/usr/bin/deb-systemd-invoke line 148.
Processing triggers for man-db
(2.12.0-4build2) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin
(2.39-0ubuntu8.7) ...
nwkt@Toni:~$
Example
1-17: Install
Docker Engine.
The installation log shows that the package manager first identified and removed the default Ubuntu versions of Docker and its runtime components, specifically docker.io, containerd, and runc, to prevent conflicts with the official Docker versions. Once the old versions were removed, the system downloaded approximately 95 MB of archives from the official Docker repository and installed eight new packages, including the core Docker Engine (docker-ce), the command-line interface (docker-ce-cli), and the Docker Compose plugin. Additionally, essential networking libraries like libslirp0 and slirp4netns were installed to provide the necessary infrastructure for container networking in a virtualized environment.
During the process,
we may see a notice about systemctl. This can occur in WSL
environments where systemd is not enabled. In that case, services do not
start via systemctl
and must be started using alternative mechanisms (for example, the service command shown next).
Before
downloading the SONiC image, we complete a few post-installation steps. First,
we start the Docker service with sudo
service docker start.
nwkt@Toni:~$ sudo service docker start
[sudo]
password for nwkt:
nwkt@Toni:~$
Example
1-18: Start
Docker Engine.
Next,
we add our user to the Docker group with sudo
usermod -aG docker $USER,
then we restart the WSL session to apply the change.
nwkt@Toni:~$ sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
Example
1-19: Add
your user to the docker group.
4.4 Install pv (optional)
It is also recommended to install the pv (Pipe Viewer) utility, which provides a progress bar when loading large compressed images into Docker.
nwkt@Toni:~$ sudo apt update && sudo apt
install -y pv
Hit:1
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-security InRelease
Hit:2
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu noble InRelease
Hit:3
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble InRelease
Hit:4
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates InRelease
Hit:5
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
2 packages can be upgraded. Run
'apt list --upgradable' to see them.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were
automatically installed and are no longer required:
bridge-utils dns-root-data dnsmasq-base ubuntu-fan
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to
remove them.
Suggested packages:
doc-base
The following NEW packages will be
installed:
pv
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0
to remove and 2 not upgraded.
Need to get 73.9 kB of archives.
After this operation, 188 kB of
additional disk space will be used.
Get:1
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 pv amd64 1.8.5-2build1 [73.9
kB]
Fetched 73.9 kB in 1s (87.4 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected
package pv.
(Reading database ... 41743 files
and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack
.../pv_1.8.5-2build1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking pv (1.8.5-2build1) ...
Setting up pv (1.8.5-2build1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db
(2.12.0-4build2) ...
Example
1-20: Install
pv (Pipe Viewer) (optional).
We
verify the installation by running the docker
run hello-world test
container.
nwkt@Toni:~$ docker run hello-world
Unable to find image
'hello-world:latest' locally
latest: Pulling from
library/hello-world
4f55086f7dd0: Pull complete
d5e71e642bf5: Download complete
Digest:
sha256:f9078146db2e05e794366b1bfe584a14ea6317f44027d10ef7dad65279026885
Status: Downloaded newer image for
hello-world:latest
Hello from Docker!
This message shows that your
installation appears to be working correctly.
To generate this message, Docker
took the following steps:
1. The Docker client contacted the Docker
daemon.
2. The Docker daemon pulled the
"hello-world" image from the Docker Hub.
(amd64)
3. The Docker daemon created a new container
from that image which runs the
executable that produces the output you are currently reading.
4. The Docker daemon streamed that output to
the Docker client, which sent it
to your terminal.
To try something more ambitious,
you can run an Ubuntu container with:
$ docker run -it ubuntu bash
Share images, automate workflows,
and more with a free Docker ID:
https://hub.docker.com/
For more examples and ideas,
visit:
https://docs.docker.com/get-started/
Example
1-21: Test
Docker with Hello-world.
Finally,
we confirm that we have enough free disk space for the SONiC image and the lab
files.
nwkt@Toni:~$ df -h
Filesystem Size
Used Avail Use% Mounted on
none 16G 0
16G 0%
/usr/lib/modules/6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2
none 16G 4.0K
16G 1% /mnt/wsl
drivers 953G
139G 815G 15% /usr/lib/wsl/drivers
/dev/sdd 1007G
5.8G 950G 1% /
none 16G 84K
16G 1% /mnt/wslg
none 16G 0
16G 0% /usr/lib/wsl/lib
rootfs 16G
2.7M 16G 1% /init
none 16G 1004K 16G
1% /run
none 16G 0
16G 0% /run/lock
none 16G 0
16G 0% /run/shm
none 16G 76K
16G 1% /mnt/wslg/versions.txt
none 16G 76K
16G 1% /mnt/wslg/doc
C:\ 953G 139G
815G 15% /mnt/c
snapfuse 64M
64M 0 100% /snap/core20/2769
snapfuse 381M
381M 0 100% /snap/code/235
snapfuse 50M
50M 0 100% /snap/snapd/26865
tmpfs 3.2G 20K
3.2G 1% /run/user/1000
Example
1-22: Verify
free disk space.
Phase 5: Install Containerlab
The last step before setting up a
SONiC NOS-based network is to install Containerlab. Containerlab is an
open-source orchestrator designed specifically for running network operating
systems in a containerized environment. It simplifies SONiC deployments by
automating the creation of virtual links and management interfaces defined in a
YAML topology file. In this lab environment, Containerlab is already installed,
so Example 1-23 is informational and does not show the full installation
process.
nwkt@Toni:~$ bash -c "$(curl -sL https://get.containerlab.dev)"
nwkt@Toni:~$ which containerlab
/usr/bin/containerlab
nwkt@Toni:~$ cd /etc/containerlab
nwkt@Toni:/etc/containerlab$
Example
1-23: Install
Containerlab.
Phase 6: Install the docker-sonic-vs.gz image
6.1 Download the docker-sonic-vs.gz image
The SONiC image used in this
chapter is downloaded from:
https://sonic-build.azurewebsites.net/ui/sonic/pipelines
In this lab, I use the virtual
switch platform (vs) from row 79 with BranchName 202411. Click Build History in
the Builds column to open the list of builds.
Home / Pipelines
SONiC Image Azure Pipelines
Go to All Azure Pipelines: here
|
Seq. |
Platform |
BranchName |
DefinitionId |
DefinitionName |
Builds |
|
1 |
aspeed-arm64 |
master |
3372 |
Azure.sonic-buildimage.official.aspeed-arm64 |
Build History |
|
… |
… |
… |
… |
||
|
79 |
vs |
202411 |
142 |
Azure.sonic-buildimage.official.vs |
Build History |
Select a build where the Result
column shows succeeded. In this book, build ID 1097472 is used. Then click the Artifacts
link.
Home /
Pipelines / Builds
|
BuildId |
BuildNumber |
BranchName |
BuildName |
Result |
StartTime |
FinishTime |
Commit |
BuildLink |
Artifacts |
|
1099584 |
20260427.4 |
202411 |
Azure.sonic-buildimage.official.vs |
failed |
2026-04-27T08:00:48 |
2026-04-27T16:34:31 |
f1b9ef048d |
Build Link |
Artifacts |
|
1098952 |
20260426.4 |
202411 |
Azure.sonic-buildimage.official.vs |
succeeded |
2026-04-26T08:06:51 |
2026-04-26T15:47:55 |
f1b9ef048d |
Build Link |
Artifacts |
|
1098349 |
20260425.4 |
202411 |
Azure.sonic-buildimage.official.vs |
succeeded |
2026-04-25T08:00:36 |
2026-04-25T15:43:32 |
f1b9ef048d |
Build Link |
Artifacts |
|
1097472 |
20260424.4 |
202411 |
Azure.sonic-buildimage.official.vs |
succeeded |
2026-04-24T08:06:46 |
2026-04-24T16:00:50 |
f1b9ef048d |
Build Link |
Artifacts |
Select the sonic-buildimage.vs
link in the Name column to open the artifact download page.
Home /
Pipelines / Builds /
Artifacts
|
Seq. |
ArtifactId |
Name |
|
1 |
1219546 |
sonic-buildimage.vs |
In the file list, locate target/docker-sonic-vs.gz and select it to start the
download.
Home /
Pipelines / Builds / Artifacts / Files
|
Seq. |
Name |
Size |
Type |
Latest
Link |
|
1 |
target |
26002540805 |
directory |
Copy
Latest Static Link |
|
2 |
target/_manifest |
3169545 |
directory |
Copy
Latest Static Link |
|
… |
… |
… |
… |
… |
|
918 |
target/docker-sonic-vs.gz |
225721287 |
file |
Copy
Latest Static Link |
6.2 Copy the image to WSL
After downloading the image to
Windows, create a folder structure ~/simple-lab/images for the lab environment. Then
copy the downloaded docker-sonic-vs.gz file into WSL (for example, from /mnt/c/Users/<your-user>/Downloads) and verify that the file is
present in the destination directory.
nwkt@Toni:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/system32$ cd ~
nwkt@Toni:~$
nwkt@Toni:~$ mkdir –p simple-lab/images && cd “$_”
nwkt@Toni:~/simple-lab/images$
nwkt@Toni:~/simple-lab/images$ cp /mnt/c/Users/NWKT/Downloads/docker-sonic-vs.gz
.
nwkt@Toni:~/simple-lab/images$ ls
docker-sonic-vs.gz
Example
1-24: Create
the project folders and copy the SONiC image.
6.3 Load the image into Docker
Next, load the docker-sonic-vs.gz
image into Docker:
nwkt@Toni:~/simple-lab/images$ docker load <
docker-sonic-vs.gz
6ade88c30b77: Loading layer
[==============================================>] 121.4MB/121.4MB
2f468ee5a0d0: Loading layer
[==============================================>] 138.2MB/138.2MB
4c1e1c77f38c: Loading layer
[==============================================>] 1.536kB/1.536kB
a922292be2a7: Loading layer [==============================================>] 63.44MB/63.44MB
fc971f5af0da: Loading layer [==============================================>] 1.536kB/1.536kB
e7d7b92125c7: Loading layer
[==============================================>] 29.25MB/29.25MB
ccdb24368e35: Loading layer
[==============================================>] 1.536kB/1.536kB
c20dcc5a486a: Loading layer
[==============================================>] 484.3MB/484.3MB
ff7d44d583aa: Loading layer
[==============================================>] 1.536kB/1.536kB
The image docker-sonic-vs:latest
already exists, renaming the old one with ID
sha256:60ef70161146df78bd20a780d5ff3a38058e16d5b042f40d857a1c78d1b85974 to
empty string
Loaded image:
docker-sonic-vs:latest
nwkt@Toni:~/simple-lab/images$
Example
1-25: Load
the docker-sonic-vs.gz image into Docker.
Phase 7: Install Visual Studio Code
on Windows
While we can use WSL’s built-in
editor (such as nano) to create and edit YAML files, I am using
Microsoft Visual Studio Code (VS Code). YAML relies on precise indentation, and
VS Code makes this easier by providing visual indentation guides. You can
download VS Code from various sources, including the Microsoft Store. During
installation, enable the Add to PATH option so you can launch VS Code
from within WSL.
Figure 1-1: Visual Studio Code installation.
After
installing VS Code, we connect it to our Linux environment. In VS Code, we
select the Extensions icon (1) on the left sidebar, search for “WSL” (2), and
then install the extension. The VS Code – WSL integration is done, and you can
start VS Code from the WSL console using the code . command.
Figure
1-2: Visual
Studio Code WSL extension.
The next chapter explains how to
create a network topology file that defines a simple two-tier Clos topology
with two SONiC leaf switches connected to a single spine switch.
