[Fun] Project to create a "Virtual Internet"

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ajhlinuxuser
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[Fun] Project to create a "Virtual Internet"

Post by ajhlinuxuser » Fri Jan 11, 2019 4:00 pm

Hi,

I am thinking of a fun and educational project to create a virtual Internet. This would appeal to beginner / intermediate hobbyists who would like to learn more about the software that runs the real Internet, and to get practice doing so.

This virtual Internet would have its own domains, root nameservers, IP addresses to delegate, routing tables to configure and best of all, the chance to make mistakes and learn from them - without, you know, goofing up the real Internet.

OpenVPN software could be used for this, although it is a hub-and-spoke system and wouldn't be able to replicate the capabilities of Internet routers which can re-route if a node goes down. Maybe there is software which is more suitable, or a project of this kind already which is already underway... I am just starting to look into this.

If you're interested in participating or have any leads on where people might be doing this kind of thing, please let me know!

Thanks


EDIT: This from #openvpn on IRC:
[quote<@ecrist> ca-on-adam: there are articles on setting up RIP and OSPF with OpenVPN, even BGP if you wanted.
<@ecrist> no reason losing a node has to be a major even if you engineer it right.
[/quote]

If a web of OpenVPN servers can have the redundancy of the real Internet, then there may not be a readily-available piece of software which is more suitable than it. And this will hopefully make the project even more appealing to other hobbyists or people studying Internet infrastructure.

I will keep looking for communities that have similar interests to try and find an existing project rather than start my own. This is something that I'd really like to work with a group of people on. So far I have not found a similar project on-line. The search terms "virtual" and "Internet" are very broad and unlikely to help me find an existing project with the same goals. The only remotely close search hit was an expensive piece of simulator software for Cisco hardware.

I admit that because I'm not in school, nor am I a member of any large organization related to computers, I won't have an easy time finding people. But I will keep trying -- what's the point of building another Internet if I'm the only one there?

TinCanTech
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Re: [Fun] Project to create a "Virtual Internet"

Post by TinCanTech » Sun Jan 13, 2019 12:26 am

This is ok:
https://github.com/coreemu/core

So long as you over look the obvious security issue .. #75

ajhlinuxuser
OpenVpn Newbie
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Re: [Fun] Project to create a "Virtual Internet"

Post by ajhlinuxuser » Sun Jan 13, 2019 3:02 am

TinCanTech wrote:
Sun Jan 13, 2019 12:26 am
This is ok:
https://github.com/coreemu/core
...
That looks like it will be an excellent tool for preparing and testing network designs (keeping it somewhere safe considering that serious vulnerability), but for my purpose, it does not scale out to other people. I have some hardware machines at home that I have already allocated to be hosts on this "virtual Internet", and coreemu doesn't connect people across the real Internet in a way that would let them access these machines as if they were servers hosting websites on our "virtual web."

But, that requires having people who would be interested in participating in all of this, and if I end up going it alone, then I might as well build my virtual Internet in a coreemu instance and save myself a lot of extra configuration and work.

blackexpresso
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Re: [Fun] Project to create a "Virtual Internet"

Post by blackexpresso » Sat Jan 19, 2019 11:57 pm

Hi guys!

i like those who create the world!

I have some ideas too.

But if i understand well...This is internet you speak about....

Or a social place with vpn...

The virtual world is already created and stand up itself.

Facebook is a social place.

You want a chat with vpn or tor? go to darknet.

I really dont understand what is new.

But maybe i dont understand well.

so ok, let go to create a social place, what the user want new?

Share..not...

the only thing open and nice to create is a place where we all share our internet capacities (from isp).

A "internet bank"...

some give when they don't use, others subscribe to have the less, connecting to the lan...

i remember from 10 years maybe, an American creator on android system had already create an app to do this.

It was creating a virtual lan as you speak about.

The app was let down i don't know why.

It's money...some societies can buy it to it disappear from market.

Other?

ok..when the users need to have a good internet speed....for streaming, video communications, and for downloading simply.

So let create a "openvpnqtorrentdnscrytprpoxytor v1

^^

ajhlinuxuser
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 6
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Re: [Fun] Project to create a "Virtual Internet"

Post by ajhlinuxuser » Fri Jan 25, 2019 7:14 pm

blackexpresso wrote:
Sat Jan 19, 2019 11:57 pm
...
I really dont understand what is new.
...
There is nothing new, but it will allow learning and practice. I want to create a place to practice managing core infrastructure - something that the average person isn't able to do - and to have people responsible for different parts work together to build and maintain it.
blackexpresso wrote:
Sat Jan 19, 2019 11:57 pm
...
So let create a "openvpnqtorrentdnscrytprpoxytor v1
Participants could create social network sites, or chat sites, anything that a website on the real Internet can do, should be possible in a virtual Internet. I can imagine somebody creating a search engine for it as well.

You may be confused if you expect that this idea will do something new, or that it will provide a service that a single website would provide. That is not the goal. The goal is to practice managing the infrastructure that websites rely on for their existence, not to be a website in itself.

blackexpresso
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Dec 19, 2018 10:40 pm

Re: [Fun] Project to create a "Virtual Internet"

Post by blackexpresso » Fri Feb 01, 2019 5:21 am

Okey, i understand well.

So a platform with only vpn access.
And open site?
community creating about each type?

What is the positive point for a site to participate this platform?

Whit a big admin who? how to manage? what to manage?

i'm interested , but i'm not engineer and not programmers.

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