Simulation Platform Manager

Example Project: Energy-Saving App

This installation manual uses the Energy-Saving App as a concrete example of how a simulator is registered and executed by the Simulation Platform Manager.

Installation Manual: Simulation Subsystem

Scope: Simulation Platform, Energy-Saving App Simulator, and NFS Configuration.

Deployment Note: In production, NDTwin-Kernel, Energy-Saving-App, and Simulation-Platform-Manager can run on different machines (e.g., Kernel on the NDTwin server, Simulation Platform Manager on a multi-core simulation server, and the App on any client host).
In this demo, we run all three components on the same machine for simplicity.

1. System Requirements

  • Operating System: Linux Ubuntu 22.04.X ~ 24.04.X
  • Language Standard: C++23
  • Compiler: g++

2. Dependencies

The Simulation subsystem requires specific libraries for networking, logging, and cryptographic hashing.

2.1. Get the Source Code

Clone the example simulator and the Simulation Platform Manager:

# Clone the Simulation Platform Manager
git clone https://github.com/ndtwin-lab/Simulation-Platform-Manager.git

# Clone the example simulator (Energy-Saving App)
git clone https://github.com/ndtwin-lab/Energy-Saving-App.git

2.2 Install Packages

Execute the following commands:

# Core Utilities and JSON
sudo apt install nlohmann-json3-dev
sudo apt install libboost-all-dev

# Logging
sudo apt install libspdlog-dev
sudo apt install libfmt-dev

# Cryptography (Required for Flow Rule Hashing in Simulator)
sudo apt install libssl-dev

3. NFS Configuration

The Simulation Platform must share a file system with the NDTwin.

3.1 Server-Side Setup (On NDTwin Machine)

  1. Install NFS Server:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y nfs-kernel-server
sudo systemctl enable --now nfs-kernel-server
  1. Create Directory:
sudo mkdir -p /srv/nfs/sim
sudo chown nobody:nogroup /srv/nfs/sim
sudo chmod 777 /srv/nfs/sim
  1. Configure Exports: Edit /etc/exports to include the Simulation Platform’s IP:
/srv/nfs/sim <Sim_Server_IP>(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,all_squash)

Note: If the Simulation Platform Manager and NDTwin Kernel run on the same machine, you can set <Sim_Server_IP> to localhost (or 127.0.0.1).

  1. Restart NFS:
sudo systemctl restart nfs-kernel-server

3.2 Client-Side Setup (On Simulation Platform Machine)

  1. Install Client:
sudo apt install nfs-common
  1. Create Mount Point:
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/nfs/app

Note: If you change this path, you must update the source code configuration to match.

4. Configure Energy-Saving-App and Simulation-Platform-Manager settings (before build)

4.1 Configure Energy-Saving-App settings

Before compiling, edit the example settings file and set your IP/port values:

  1. Open: Energy-Saving-App/include/app/settings.hpp.example
  2. Update fields such as:
    • app_ip, app_port
    • ndt_ip, ndt_port
    • request_manager_ip, request_manager_port
    • nfs_server_ip, nfs_mnt_dir, etc.
  3. Save it as Energy-Saving-App/include/app/settings.hpp

If your Makefile supports auto-generation, you can also run make all once to create include/app/settings.hpp from the example, then edit the generated file.

4.2 Configure Simulation-Platform-Manager settings

Before compiling, edit the example settings file:

  1. Open: Simulation-Platform-Manager/include/settings/sim_server.hpp.example
  2. Update fields such as:
    • request_manager_ip, request_manager_port, request_manager_target
    • sim_server_port, sim_server_target
    • nfs_server_ip, nfs_server_dir, nfs_mnt_dir
  3. Save it as Simulation-Platform-Manager/include/settings/sim_server.hpp

If your Makefile supports auto-generation, you can run make all once to create include/settings/sim_server.hpp from the example, then edit it.

Same-machine demo tip: If NDTwin-Kernel, Energy-Saving-App, and Simulation-Platform-Manager run on the same machine, you can set all *_ip fields (e.g., app_ip, ndt_ip, request_manager_ip, nfs_server_ip) to localhost (or 127.0.0.1) and keep the ports as configured.

5. Compilation & Deployment

5.1 Build Flags

  • Logging: Compile with -DSPDLOG_ACTIVE_LEVEL=SPDLOG_LEVEL_TRACE to ensure debug logs function correctly when the -l debug flag is used.

5.2 Simulator Registration and Build Energy-Saving App (Crucial Step)

The Simulation Platform does not compile the simulator logic directly into itself; it runs it as an external binary. You must “register” the Energy-Saving Simulator by placing the compiled binary in a specific directory.

  1. Compile the Energy-Saving Simulator code.
  2. Deploy the binary to the following path structure inside the Simulation Platform directory: Path: Simulation-Platform-Manager/registered/energy_saving_simulator/1.0/ Filename: executable Command Example:
# Assuming you are in the source root of Energy-Saving-App
cp ./energy_saving_simulator ../Simulation-Platform-Manager/registered/energy_saving_simulator/1.0/executable

Makefile option (recommended): The Energy-Saving App repository already automates simulator registration in its Makefile.
Run the sim target to build the simulator and copy it into the Simulation Platform Manager’s registered folder:

# From the source root of Energy-Saving-App
cd Energy-Saving-App
make all

This will generate ./energy_saving_simulator and copy it to: ../Simulation-Platform-Manager/registered/energy_saving_simulator/1.0/executable.

5.3 Build Simulation Platform Manager

cd Simulation-Platform-Manager
make all

5.4 NDTwin Integration Check

For the Simulation Platform to receive tasks, the NDTwin must know its address.

  • Action: Update setting/AppConfig in the NDTwin-Kernel source code:
std::string SIM_SERVER_URL = "http://<YOUR_SIM_IP>:8003/submit";

Note: If the Simulation Platform Manager and NDTwin Kernel run on the same machine, you can set <YOUR_SIM_IP> to localhost (or 127.0.0.1).

  • Recompile NDTwin-Kernel: After updating setting/AppConfig, rebuild and restart the NDTwin-Kernel.

See the NDTwin-Kernel build steps in the Installation Manual.

6. Launch Guide

For step-by-step instructions on how to launch the NDTwin-Kernel, Simulation-Platform-Manager, and Energy-Saving-App, see: