See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/326556349

Deployment of NS-3 with Eclipse IDE

Preprint · July 2018

DOI: 10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

CITATIONS READS

0 1,164

4 authors:

José David Vega Sánchez Lesly Maygua- Marcillo

Escuela Politécnica Nacional Escuela Politécnica Nacional
40 PUBLICATIONS 353 CITATIONS 7 PUBLICATIONS 10 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Luis Felipe Urquiza Aguiar Pablo Barbecho

Escuela Politécnica Nacional Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
102 PUBLICATIONS 645 CITATIONS 20 PUBLICATIONS 115 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Luis Felipe Urquiza Aguiar on 31 July 2020.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

Article
Deployment of NS-3 with Eclipse IDE
José Vega-Sánchez1 , Lesly Maygua-Marcillo1 , Luis Urquiza-Aguiar1, * and Pablo
Barbecho-Bautista2 ,
1
Departamento de Electrónica, Telecomunicaciones y Redes de Información, Facultad de Eléctrica y
Electrónica, Escuela Politécnica Nacional (EPN), C. Ladrón de Guevara E11-253, Quito PO.Box
17-01-2759, Ecuador; [email protected], [email protected]
2
Departamento de Ingeniería Telemática, Universidad Politécnica de Catalunia (UPC). España;
[email protected]
* Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.:+593 2297-6300 ext:2311

Abstract: Network Simulators is typically used to study services and applications in complex
scenarios due to the infeasibility of deploying real testbeds. Many problems can be solved by using
network simulators such as NS-3. With this in mind, the aim of this article is to introduce new NS-3
users through detailed information. It is sometimes difficult to handle by new users the traditional
manuals developed by NS-3 project official website. In this article, NS-3 for communication network
and Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for powerful programming language are
integrated step-by-step, explaining the main features of these open source software packages and
concluding with an example simulation. Our effort is to make it easy for a beginner to be part of the
NS-3 research community and to maintain an open environment of knowledge.

Keywords: Network simulators, NS-3, simulation, network

1. Introduction
Nowadays, communications are present in everything. The different applications allow to connect
organizations, universities, colleges, hospitals, vehicles and even countries. Metrics such as, throughput,
delay, number of retransmissions, jitter or packet error rate are essential for assessing and designing
communication networks. For this purpose, simulation is the most utilized method to study networks,
it is the imitation of the real situations through tools called simulators, such as: NS-2, NS-3, OPNET
[1], NetSim, OMNeT++, among others [2]. Network simulators predicts the behavior of the different
networks e.g., allow the study of wired networks, wireless networks [3] [4], mobile telephony [5], QoS
analysis [6], protocols analysis[7] [8], etc.
In this context, the new generation of network simulator NS-3 includes a more accurate physical
(PHY) layer metrics [9] [10]. The NS-3 started in 2006, is an open source software which is written
from C++ and is not an evolution of NS-2, it is a new simulator . On the other hand, several external
animators and visualization tools can be used with NS-3 such as C++ and/or Python packages [11].
This article makes use of Eclipse IDE C++ as integration tool on NS-3. Eclipse is widely used in
computer programming. Although, the Eclipse is written primarily in Java, it supports plug-ins that
allow developers to develop applications in different programming languages (e.g. PHP, Perl, Cobol and
Python) [12]. Integrated graphical user interface on NS-3 is a good idea for improving performance of
new generation of simulators. The article is organized as follows: Section 2 is focused in the Installation
of NS-3 and Eclipse CDT. The Installation of Java Development Kit (JDK) is derived in Section 3.
Finally, Section 4 deals with the Installation and Configure Eclipse for C++ Developers for running
the first script in NS-3 on Eclipse IDE.

© 2018 by the author(s). Distributed under a Creative Commons CC BY license.

Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

2 of 19

2. Installation of NS-3 and Eclipse CDT

2.1. Prerequisite Package for Ubuntu

First of all, it is advisable to update the Ubuntu 16.04 with its latest components through the
following instructions in a terminal. Remember you need "sudo" operation to run the commands as
root user, you will be prompted for your password only once.

Figure 1. Prerequisite Package for Ubuntu.

Now, the core of NS-3 requires a list of packages that are needed to support different NS-3 options,
as detailed below [13]:

Minimal Requirements for Python

• gcc, g++, python, python-dev, mercurial, bzr.

Debugging and GNU Scientific Library (GLS) support

• gdb, valgrind, gsl-bin, libgsl0-dev, libgsl2, libgsl2:i386.

Requirements for Network Simulation Cradle

• flex, bison.

Reading pcap packet traces

• tcpdump.

Database support for statistics framework

• sqlite, sqlite3, libsqlite3-dev.

Xml-based version of the config store

• libxml2, libxml2-dev.

A GTK-based configuration system

• libgtk2.0-0, libgtk2.0-dev.

Support for utils/check-style.py code style check program

• uncrustify.

Doxygen and related inline documentation

• doxygen, graphviz, imagemagick, texlive, texlive-latex-extra,

texlive-generic-extra, texlive-generic-recommended, texinfo, dia,
texlive-extra-utils, texi2html.

Support for Gustavo Carneiro's NS-3-pyviz visualizer

• python-pygraphviz, python-kiwi, python-pygoocanvas, libgoocanvas-dev,

python-pygccxml, python-gnome2, python-gnomedesktop, python-rsvg, ipython.
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

3 of 19

In short, provide the following commands in a terminal for the installation of these prerequisites
which were described above:

sudo apt-get install gcc g++ python python-dev mercurial bzr gdb valgrind
gsl-bin libgsl0-dev libgsl2 libgsl2:i386 flex bison tcpdump sqlite sqlite3
libsqlite3-dev libxml2 libxml2-dev libgtk2.0-0 libgtk2.0-dev uncrustify
doxygen graphviz imagemagick texlive texlive-latex-extra texlive-generic-
extra texlive-generic-recommended texinfo dia texlive texlive-latex-extra
texlive-extra-utils texlive- generic-recommended texi2html python-pygraphviz
python-kiwi python-pygoocanvas libgoocanvas- dev python-pygccxml.

Figure 2. Prerequisite Package for NS-3.

After pressing the ENTER button, you should see something like the following:

Figure 3. Successful installation of Prerequisite Package for NS-3.

2.2. Download and Install NS-3

With the previous step completed, create a directory of your preference in the home folder (e.g. in
my case ns3). After that, extract the downloaded NS-3 package in the new location using the following
commands from a terminal:

Figure 4. Commands to Download the NS-3 package.

Once download and extracted the NS-3 package, is time to compile and build the default examples.
You should be patient; the compilation takes several minutes. Then, run the command below:
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

4 of 19

Figure 5. Command to build and compile the examples of NS-3.

If the build is successful, the message “build finished successfully " will appear

Figure 6. Confirmation message of successful compilation.

At this point, it is necessary to build using waf builder by running the commands below:

Figure 7. Command to build the examples of NS-3 with waf tool.

If all is ok, you will get this message "configure finished successfully"

Figure 8. Confirmation message of successful compilation.

It is time to check if the installation is successfully installed by running python test file. Type the
following command: ./test.py.
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

5 of 19

If all modules passed, you will get the following output. Congratulations, NS-3 is successfully
installed.

Figure 9. Successful installation of NS-3.

Finally, you only need to run a “hello word" program by typing the following:

Figure 10. Running the first script.

The above commands produce the following output:

Figure 11. Output message of the first script.

2.3. Install Eclipse CDT

It is worth mentioning that there are two ways to install Eclipse CDT: either running the commands
of installation from a terminal, or using the Synaptic package manager. In this article, we choose the
first option, because in the second alternative, the synaptic package needs to be installed and in some
cases you may experience some errors in this installation process. Having said that, open a terminal
and execute the following command:
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

6 of 19

Figure 12. Command to install the Eclipse CDT

The image below shows how it looks upon successful execution

Figure 13. Successful installation of Eclipse CDT

3. Install Java Development Kit (JDK)

3.1. Prerequisite Package for Java

As a first step, it is necessary to check the java version in Ubuntu. For this, in a terminal use the
following command:

Figure 14. Command to check the Java version in Ubuntu.

If you do not have any java version installed, you should see output that looks similar to the
following:

Figure 15. Prerequisite Package for Java JDK.

Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

7 of 19

Now, install all packages required by java (e.g. sudo apt-get install default-jre). Afterwards, you
should see something like the following:

Figure 16. Successful installation of the prerequisite Package for Java.

3.2. Install Oracle Java JDK 8

For this tutorial, the JDK 8 package is the last available version in the official Java website
http://tipsonubuntu.com/2016/07/31/install-oracle-java-8-9-ubuntu-16-04-linux-mint-18/.
Once the Java version is chosen, download Oracle through the following line in a terminal:

Figure 17. Command to download the Oracle Java.

If the download is successful, you should see the following output. Also, you will be asked if you
want to continue, press [ENTER].

Figure 18. Message for downloading Java.

After that, it’s necessary check updates in the repositories using: sudo apt-get update.
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

8 of 19

Although Oracle JDK 9 is now considered stable, it is not compatible with Eclipse. We have to
type the following command to install Oracle Java 8:

Figure 19. Command to install Oracle Java.

Next step, you must accept the license terms by pressing [Ok] and [Yes]

Figure 20. Acceptance of the License Agreement.

If you find below output it means your installation is successful.

Figure 21. Successful installation of Oracle Java.

Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

9 of 19

Once the installation has been completed, the command of Fig. 14 produces the following output:

Figure 22. Installed version of Java in Ubuntu.

4. Install and Configure Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers

4.1. Download and Install Eclipse IDE

Before installing Eclipse IDE, you should check if your operative system (OS) is 32bit or 64bit
version by using: uname -m. With this information, download the suitable package for your Ubuntu
version from website https://eclipse.org/downloads/. Later, unpack the Eclipse package and install it
by using the commands from a terminal:

Figure 23. Commands to download and install Eclipse IDE.

A window will open to you. Choose "Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers"

Figure 24. Available versions of Eclipse IDE.

Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

10 of 19

next step, click on "Install". It will take a few minutes.

Figure 25. Eclipse IDE installer.

Then, accept the license terms, and then wait to see if package is installed successfully. Afterwards,
click on "Launch" and Eclipse IDE will open to you.

Figure 26. Eclipse IDE interface.

4.2. Configure Eclipse Setting for NS-3 Environment

4.2.1. Install MercurialEclipse

To achieve a friendly environment between Eclipse and NS-3, MercurialEclipse plugin needs to
be installed for efficient project management. There are two ways to install MercurialEclipse, in this
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

11 of 19

tutorial both techniques are explained. In addition, it is shown the pros and cons of each of these options.

Option 1

This alternative has a major drawback, the MercurialEclipse installation package is unavailable in
the official Eclipse Studio website, this issue is shown below. On the other hand, for this option, use
the following instructions:

∗ In the main menu go to Help → Install New Software

∗ In “Work with" textbox enter the following website http://cbes.javaforge.com/update and clicking
on "Add".
∗ A new window will open to you. In “Name" textbox enter again the website http://cbes.javaforge.
com/update and pressing the "OK" button.

Figure 27. MercurialEclipse installer-Option 1.

As previously mentioned, the only available repository in the Fig. 27 is the codeBeamer Eclipse
Studio package. Therefore, we recommend using option 2.

Option 2

This alternative is an user-friendly application, but the Eclipse Marketplace tool needed for
this option is only available in the latest versions of Eclipse IDE. However, this article provides the
installation instructions for latest portable eclipse, so you will not have any problem. Then, follow the
instructions for this choice:

∗ In the main menu go to Help → Eclipse Marketplace

∗ Click on Search tab and write “MercurialEclipse"
∗ Click on "Install".
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

12 of 19

Figure 28. MercurialEclipse installer-Option 2.

then, accept the license terms and press the Finish button

Figure 29. Acceptance of License Agreement for MercurialEclipse.

Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

13 of 19

4.2.2. Create a New C++ Project

Now, it is time to create the first C++ project with the necessary configurations to link NS-3 with
Eclipse IDE. To this end, follow the instructions:

∗ Go to File → New → C++Project

Fill the settings with the information below:

∗ Choose a project name
∗ Select Cross GCC compiler
∗ Select NS-3's folder as location
∗ Click on "Next".

Figure 30. Configurations for the new C++ Project.

Next step, click on "Next" and "Finish". The new C++ project was created:

Figure 31. Eclipse IDE interface.

Share the project, To do that: Right click on the C++ project → Team → share project. In
the new window choose the “Mercurial" option and click on "Next".
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

14 of 19

Figure 32. Mercurial plugin selection.

Confirm the Mercurial Repository Location and press the "Finish" button

Figure 33. Mercurial plugin location.

4.2.3. Configure WAF Builder

Waf is a piece of software written in Python and used to help building software projects [14]. As
shown in Fig. 10, the setting of this tool is essential for running the NS-3 scripts. Knowing this, follow
the instructions:

∗ Right click on the C++ project → Properties → C/C++ Build.

∗ Uncheck the box Use default build command
∗ Uncheck the box Generate makefile automatically
∗ In "Build command" write the location to waf, in my case
"/home/jose/ns3/ns-allinone-3.25/ns-3.25/waf" .
∗ In "Build directory" write the location to build, in my case
"/home/jose/ns3/ns-allinone-3.25/ns-3.25/build" .

Now, switch to Behavior tab and change the word "all" to "build" in the box incremental build

4.2.4. Configure the debugger

This setting aims to debug a test application under the scratch folder. Here are the steps:

∗ In the main menu go to Run → Debug Configurations

∗ Click on C/C++ Application and choose the C++ project created, in my case “TutorialNS3Debug"
∗ Click on the “Browse" button under the “Project" section and select the current project
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

15 of 19

Figure 34. WAF Builder Settings.

Figure 35. WAF Builder Settings.

∗ Click on the “Search Project" and type “scratch-simulator"

Switch to Environment tab, and click on "New" to create a new variable. Write "LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
in the name field. On the other hand, in the value name file write the directory where build exists,
in my case "/home/jose/ns3/ns-allinone-3.25/ns-3.25/build". Finally, verify that "Append
environment to native envir press the "Apply" and "Close" buttons.
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

16 of 19

Figure 36. Debug configurations.

Figure 37. Debug configurations.

4.2.5. Configure External Runner

The purpose of this configuration is to link the commands used to run a program (See Fig. 10) to
the Play button of Eclipe IDE interface. For this, follow the steps provided:

∗ Go to Run → External Tools → External Tools Configuration

∗ Add a new program (e.g. Run)
∗ In location textbox, write your waf location (e.g. /home/jose/ns3/ns-allinone-3.25/ns-3.25/waf)
∗ In Working Directory textbox, write your NS-3 directory (e.g.
/home/jose/ns3/ns-allinone-3.25/ns-3.25)
∗ In Argumentes textbox, type: –-run ${string_prompt} –-vis
∗ Click on "Apply".
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

17 of 19

Figure 38. External Tools Configurations.

4.2.6. Running the first script in NS-3 on Eclipse IDE

After all installation steps have been completed, an example program must be run to verify the
successful integration of NS-3 on Eclipse. It is worth mentioning that any NS3 script can be chosen.
For this tutorial, the “ third.cc ” script of the default examples of NS-3 repository is shown. Then, the
steps for running a program file:

∗ Go to C++ Project_name (e.g. TutorialNS3) → Examples → Tutorial and double click on

"third.cc" to open it.

Figure 39. Example Script file.

Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

18 of 19

From the Run menu, select the name of external runner created, in my case "Run". The following
window appears, write the name of the program file without using the extension.

Figure 40. Enter the Project's name.

Finally, press "F3" button to simulate the program file.

Figure 41. Output simulation.

This concludes our tutorial. To learn more, please read the references.

5. Conclusions
A simulator is a very useful tool for learning and research. However, the first steps can be somewhat
difficult and its complete domain is a long process. This work aims to ease the path of researchers
by presenting a tutorial that indicates step by step how to install NS-3 in conjunction with Eclipse.
Eclipse can become essential to debug elements (protocols) or create new ones. It help to track errors
and better understand the interactions between these components. As a future work we plan to develop
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 20 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201805.0313.v2

19 of 19

a similar tutorial for another well-known simulator, OMNET ++. In addtion, we want to develop a
tutorial that facilitates the execution of block simulations and their subsequent analysis
Supplementary Materials: The following are available at https://perpapr2.lfurquiza.com/results , a virtual
machine with NS3 3.27 under Lubuntu (a lightweight version of Ubuntu)
Acknowledgments: The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Escuela
Politécnica Nacional, for the development of the project PIJ-16-01 - “Modelamiento de la Packet Error Rate
(PER) incluyendo condiciones de Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) para transmisiones Ad-Hoc”.
José David Vega Sánchez is the recipient of a teaching assistant fellowship from Escuela Politécnica
Nacional for doctoral studies in Electrical Engineering.
Pablo Barbecho is a SENESCYT scholar from the Ecuadorian Government.

Bibliography
1. J.-D. Medjo, T. Kunz, and M. St-Hilaire, “Directional antennas in fanets: A performance analysis of routing
protocols,” Selected Topics in Mobile and Wireless Networking (MoWNeT), 2017.
2. S. Siraj, A. Gupta, and R. Badgujar, “Network simulation tools survey,” International Journal of Advanced
Research in Computer and Communication Engineering, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 199–206, 2012.
3. K. Ravi and N. Sarma, “Simulation analysis of multi-dimensional wsns using ns-3,” Region 10 Conference,
TENCON 2017, 2017.
4. L. Weiwei, W. Xichen, Y. Wenli, Zhang ; Lin, and P. Chao, “Coordinative simulation with sumo and ns3
for vehicular ad hoc networks,” Communications (APCC), 2016.
5. M. Tom, Y. Zhenhui, and M. Gabriel-Miro, “Real time emulation of an lte network using ns-3.” IET, 2013.
6. A. Fahimeh, K. Mohsen, and M. Seyed, “Analysis of qos parameters for video traffic in homeplug av
standard using ns-3,” Smart Grids Conference (SGC), 2017.
7. A. Nosiba and A. Hamid, “Performance evaluation of tcp congestion control mechanisms using ns-2,” Basic
Sciences and Engineering Studies (SGCAC), 2016.
8. J. Anton, M. Nair, G. Bok-Min, and M. Ezra, “Performance monitoring of power line communication mac
protocol in the presence of impulsive noise using network simulator-3,” Communications (MICC), 2017.
9. Q. Bui and S. Houcke, “Network simulator: Importance of an accurate model of the physical layer,”
Advanced Technologies for Communications (ATC), 2010.
10. K. Sunil, R. Priya, R. Radhakrishnan, and T. Malay, “An ns3 implementation of physical layer based on
802.11 for utility maximization of wsn,” Computational Intelligence and Communication Networks (CICN),
2016.
11. G. Carneiro, “Ns-3: Network simulator 3,” in UTM Lab Meeting April, vol. 20, 2010.
12. D. Geer, “Eclipse becomes the dominant java ide,” Computer, vol. 38, no. 7, pp. 16–18, 2005.
13. MediaWiki. (2017) Ns-3 installation. [Online]. Available: https://www.nsnam.org/wiki/Installation
14. hmgaudecker. (2013) Introduction to waf. [Online]. Available: http://hmgaudecker.github.io/
econ-project-templates/waf.html

View publication stats