Getting Started¶

In this tutorial, we will deploy, initialize, and configure Ella Core. We will use Multipass to create a virtual machine with multiple network interfaces, install Ella Core inside the virtual machine, access the Ella Core UI, initialize Ella Core, and configure it.

Pre-requisites¶

To complete this tutorial, you will need a Ubuntu 24.04 machine with the following specifications:

8GB of RAM
4 CPU cores
30GB of disk space

Setup a Virtual Machine with multiple network interfaces¶

From the Ubuntu machine, install Multipass:

sudo snap install multipass

Create two lxc networks:

lxc network create n3
lxc network create n6

Use Multipass to create a bare Ubuntu 24.04 instance with two additional network interfaces:

multipass launch noble --name=ella-core --network n3 --network n6

Validate that the instance has been created with the two additional network interfaces:

multipass list

You should see the following output:

guillaume@courge:~$ multipass list
Name                    State             IPv4             Image
ella-core               Running           10.103.62.227    Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
                                          10.243.161.26
                                          10.117.122.101

You should see three IP addresses. Take note of the first one. In this example, the IP address is 10.103.62.227. You will use this IP address later to access the Ella Core UI.

Connect to the instance:

multipass shell ella-core

Validate that the instance has the two additional network interfaces:

ip a

You should see that the instance has four network interfaces: lo, ens3, ens4, and ens5.

Install Ella Core¶

Inside of the ella-core Multipass instance, install the Ella Core snap:

sudo snap install ella-core --channel=edge --devmode

Info

The configuration file for Ella Core is located at /var/snap/ella-core/common/core.yaml. By default, this file will point to the ens4 and ens5 network interfaces. If you have different network interface names, you can update the configuration file accordingly.

Start Ella Core:

sudo snap start ella-core.cored

Validate that Ella Core is running:

sudo snap services ella-core.cored

You should see that the service is active:

ubuntu@ella-core:~$ sudo snap services ella-core.cored 
Service          Startup   Current  Notes
ella-core.cored  disabled  active   -

Exit the Multipass instance:

exit

Access the Ella Core UI¶

Navigate to https://<your instance IP>:5002 to access Ella Core's UI. Use the IP address you noted earlier.

You should see the Initialization page.

Note

Your browser may display a warning about the security of the connection. This is because the certificate used by Ella Core is self-signed. You can safely ignore this warning.

Initialize Ella Core¶

In the Initialization page, create the first user with the following credentials:

Email: admin@ellanetworks.com
Password: admin

After creating the user, you will be redirected to the login page. Use the credentials you just created to log in.

You will be redirected to the dashboard.

Ella Core is now initialized and ready to be used.

Configure Ella Core¶

Here, we will navigate through the Ella Core UI to create a radio, a profile, and a subscriber.

Create a Radio¶

Navigate to the Radios page and click on the Create button.

Create a radio with the following parameters:

Name: test
TAC: 001

Create a Profile¶

Navigate to the Profiles page and click on the Create button.

Create a profile with the name default. You can keep the default values for the other parameters:

Name: default
UE IP Pool: 172.250.0.0/24
DNS: 8.8.8.8
MTU: 1500
Bitrate Uplink: 200 Mbps
Bitrate Downlink: 100 Mbps

Create a subscriber¶

Navigate to the Subscribers page and click on the Create button.

Create a subscriber with the following parameters:

IMSI: Click on "Generate" to automatically generate the MSIN.
Key: Click on "Generate" to automatically generate a key.
Sequence Number: Keep the default value.
Profile: default

Success

You have successfully deployed, initialized, and configured Ella Core. You can now use Ella Core to manage your private 5G network.

Destroy the Tutorial Environment¶

When you are done with the tutorial, you can destroy the Multipass instance:

multipass delete ella-core

You can also delete the two lxc networks:

lxc network delete n3
lxc network delete n6