Installation of ns-3.47 in Mac M4 (MacBook Air M4)

Installation of ns-3.47 in Mac M4 (MacBook Air M4)

If you're working on network simulations and recently got your hands on a powerful MacBook Air M4, setting up ns-3 (version 3.47) is a great first step. While macOS (especially on Apple Silicon like M4) can sometimes feel tricky for open-source builds, the process is actually smooth if you follow the right steps.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through a clean and working installation of ns-3.47 on macOS running on an M4 chip.

Check the video for complete instructions: 



🔧 Prerequisites

Before installing ns-3, make sure your system has the required developer tools and package manager.

1. Install Homebrew

Homebrew is essential for managing dependencies:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Then configure your environment:

(echo; echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"') >> /Users/pradeepkumar/.zprofile

Apply the changes:

eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

2. Install Xcode Command Line Tools

xcode-select --install

This provides essential compilers and build tools.

3. Install Required Dependencies

brew install cmake ninja gnuplot ccache

⚠️ Note: This step may take some time as multiple packages will be installed.

Also install wget:

brew install wget

📥 Download and Extract ns-3.47

Download the official release:

wget https://www.nsnam.org/releases/ns-allinone-3.47.tar.bz2

Extract the archive:

tar jxvf ns-allinone-3.47.tar.bz2

Move into the ns-3 directory:

cd ns-allinone-3.47/ns-3.47

⚙️ Configure and Build ns-3

Configure the build with examples and tests enabled:

./ns3 configure --enable-examples --enable-tests

Now build the project:

./ns3 build

⏳ This step may take several minutes depending on your system performance—but the M4 should handle it quite efficiently.

✅ Verify Installation

Once the build completes, run the following commands to ensure everything is working correctly:

./ns3 run hello-simulator
./ns3 run first
./ns3 run second

If these execute without errors, your installation is successful 🎉

🚀 Final Thoughts

Installing ns-3.47 on a MacBook Air M4 is straightforward when you set up the environment properly. Apple Silicon provides excellent performance, making simulations faster and smoother.

If you plan to do advanced simulations or research work, you now have a solid foundation to build on.

🔖 Hashtags

#ns3 #NetworkSimulation #MacM4 #MacbookAirM4 #AppleSilicon #ComputerNetworks #ResearchTools #SimulationSetup #TechGuide #OpenSource #Networking #ns347 #MacSetup #EngineeringTools #AcademicResearch

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Installing ns3 in Ubuntu 22.04 | Complete Instructions

Image
In this post, we are going to see how to install ns-3.36.1 in Ubuntu 22.04. You can follow the video for complete details Tools used in this simulation: NS3 version ns-3.36.1  OS Used: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Installation of NS3 (ns-3.36.1) There are some changes in the ns3 installation procedure and the dependencies. So open a terminal and issue the following commands Step 1:  Prerequisites $ sudo apt update In the following packages, all the required dependencies are taken care and you can install all these packages for the complete use of ns3. $ sudo apt install g++ python3 python3-dev pkg-config sqlite3 cmake python3-setuptools git qtbase5-dev qtchooser qt5-qmake qtbase5-dev-tools gir1.2-goocanvas-2.0 python3-gi python3-gi-cairo python3-pygraphviz gir1.2-gtk-3.0 ipython3 openmpi-bin openmpi-common openmpi-doc libopenmpi-dev autoconf cvs bzr unrar gsl-bin libgsl-dev libgslcblas0 wireshark tcpdump sqlite sqlite3 libsqlite3-dev  libxml2 libxml2-dev libc6-dev libc6-dev-i386 libc...
Read more

How to Create Ubuntu 24.04 Bootable USB Using Rufus [Step-by-Step Guide]

Image
How to Create Ubuntu 24.04 Bootable USB Using Rufus [Step-by-Step Guide] Are you planning to install or try Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ? The easiest and most reliable method is to create a bootable USB drive using Rufus on a Windows system. This detailed guide will help you create a Ubuntu 24.04 USB bootloader using Rufus with easy-to-follow steps and screenshots (optional). Here is the complete video of the bootloader creation and OS installation in Windows 11. 🧰 Requirements A USB flash drive (minimum 8GB recommended) A Windows PC Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ISO file Rufus USB creation tool 🧾 Steps to Create a Ubuntu 24.04 Bootable USB Using Rufus ✅ Step 1: Download Ubuntu 24.04 ISO Visit the official Ubuntu website and download the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ISO file . ✅ Step 2: Download and Run Rufus Head to Rufus official site and download the latest version. Open the executable file (no installation required). ✅ Step 3: Insert USB Drive Plug in your USB drive. Rufus ...
Read more

Installation of NS2 in Ubuntu 22.04 | NS2 Tutorial 2

Image
NS-2.35 installation in Ubuntu 22.04 This post shows how to install ns-2.35 in Ubuntu 22.04 Operating System Since ns-2.35 is too old, it needs the following packages gcc-4.8 g++-4.8 gawk and some more libraries Follow the video for more instructions So, here are the steps to install this software: To download and extract the ns2 software Download the software from the following link http://sourceforge.net/projects/nsnam/files/allinone/ns-allinone-2.35/ns-allinone-2.35.tar.gz/download Extract it to home folder and in my case its /home/pradeepkumar (I recommend to install it under your home folder) $ tar zxvf ns-allinone-2.35.tar.gz or Right click over the file and click extract here and select the home folder. $ sudo apt update $ sudo apt install build-essential autoconf automake libxmu-dev gawk To install gcc-4.8 and g++-4.8 $ sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list make an entry in the above file deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic main universe $ sudo apt update Since, it...
Read more