1.3. Fast DDS Suite Image

eProsima provides the Fast DDS Suite Docker image for those who want a Docker image with a set of eProsima’s tools and libraries running on an Ubuntu platform. It can be downloaded from eProsima’s downloads page.

This Docker image contains the complete Fast DDS suite. This includes:

  • eProsima Fast DDS library and examples: Fast DDS library bundled with several examples that showcase a variety of capabilities of eProsima’s Fast DDS implementation. For more information about Fast DDS please refer to Fast DDS documentation page.

  • DDS Monitor: eProsima DDS Monitor is a graphical desktop application aimed at monitoring DDS environments deployed using the eProsima Fast DDS library, which contains an open-source version of the DDS Monitor. Thus, the user can monitor the real time status of publication/subscription communications between DDS entities. They can also choose which communication parameters are to be measured (latency, throughput, packet loss, etc.), as well as record and compute real time statistical measurements on these parameters (mean, variance, standard deviation, etc.). For more information about DDS Monitor please refer to DDS Monitor documentation page.

  • DDS Router: eProsima DDS Router is an end-user software application that enables the connection of distributed DDS networks. That is, DDS entities such as publishers and subscribers deployed in one geographic location and using a dedicated local network will be able to communicate with other DDS entities deployed in different geographic areas on their own dedicated local networks as if they were all on the same network through the use of eProsima DDS Router. For more information about DDS Router please refer to DDS Router documentation website.

  • DDS Record & Replay: eProsima DDS Record & Replay is an end-user software application that efficiently saves DDS data published into a DDS environment in a MCAP or SQLite format database. Thus, the exact playback of the recorded network events is possible as the data is linked to the timestamp at which the original data was published. For more information about eProsima DDS Record & Replay please refer to DDS Record & Replay documentation website.

  • Fast DDS Spy: eProsima Fast DDS Spy is a CLI interactive tool that allows to introspect a DDS network in human readable format. It is possible to query the network about the DomainParticipants connected, their endpoints (DataWriters and DataReaders) and the topics they communicate in, as well as see the data being sent through the network. For more information about eProsima Fast DDS Spy please refer to Fast DDS Spy documentation website.

  • Shapes Demo: eProsima Shapes Demo is an application in which Publishers and Subscribers create and display shapes of different colors and sizes moving on a board. Each shape refers to its own topic: Square, Triangle or Circle. A single instance of the eProsima Shapes Demo can publish on and/or subscribe to several topics at a time. For more information about Shapes Demo please refer to Shapes Demo documentation page.

To load this image into your Docker repository, from a terminal run

docker load -i "ubuntu-fastdds-suite_<fastdds-version>.tar"

You can run this Docker container as follows

xhost local:root
docker run -it --privileged -e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
ubuntu-fastdds-suite:<FastDDS-Version>

From the resulting Bash Shell you can run each feature.

1.3.1. Fast DDS Examples

Included in this Docker container is a set of binary examples that showcase several functionalities of the Fast DDS library. These examples’ path can be accessed from a terminal by typing

goToExamples

This will change the working directory to a location containing several examples, both for DDS and RTPS. Below are the steps to launch two such examples.

1.3.1.1. Hello World Example

This is a minimal example that will perform a Publisher/Subscriber match and start sending samples.

goToExamples
cd hello_world/bin
tmux new-session \
    "./hello_world publisher 0 1000" \; \
    split-window "./hello_world subscriber" \; \
    select-layout even-vertical

This example is not constrained to the current image instance, meaning that it is possible to run several instances of this container to check the communication between them. From one terminal you could launch an image and, on the presented shell, run:

goToExamples
cd hello_world/bin
./hello_world publisher

And then from another terminal with another instance run the following:

goToExamples
cd hello_world/bin
./hello_world subscriber

1.3.1.2. Benchmark Example

This example creates either a Publisher or a Subscriber and, after a successful match, starts sending samples. After a few seconds the process that launched the Publisher will show a report with the number of samples transmitted.

On the subscriber side, run:

goToExamples
cd benchmark/bin
./benchmark subscriber udp

On the publisher side, run:

goToExamples
cd benchmark/bin
./benchmark publisher udp

1.3.2. DDS Monitor

To launch DDS Monitor, from a terminal run:

fastdds_monitor

eProsima DDS Monitor User Manual can be located on the DDS Monitor documentation.

1.3.3. DDS Router

In this example the DDS Router is configured to communicate a publisher and subscriber running in different DDS Domains.

Run the following command to create the DDS Router yaml configuration file (/config.yml).

echo "version: v2.0
participants:
  - name: simple_dds_participant_0
    kind: local
    domain: 0
  - name: simple_dds_participant_1
    kind: local
    domain: 1" > /config.yml

Then execute the following command to run the Publisher in Domain 0, the Subscriber in Domain 1, and the DDS Router communicating both Domains.

goToExamples
cd configuration/bin
tmux new-session \
    "ddsrouter --config-path /config.yml" \; \
    split-window -h "./configuration publisher --domain 0 --interval 1000 --transport udp" \; \
    split-window -v "./configuration subscriber --domain 1 --transport udp"

1.3.4. DDS Record & Replay

DDS Record & Replay is composed of two different tools: DDS Recorder and DDS Replayer. DDS Recorder allows to record DDS traffic in a specific domain, storing all data in an MCAP file. To launch DDS Recorder, from a terminal run:

$ ddsrecorder

Recorded data can then be inspected through visualization applications such as Foxglove Studio. It is also possible to play data back in the same domain or a different one by leveraging DDS Replayer. To launch DDS Replayer, from a terminal run:

$ ddsreplayer -i my_data.mcap

For more information on how to configure and use DDS Record & Replay, please refer to DDS Record & Replay documentation website.

1.3.5. Fast DDS Spy

To launch Fast DDS Spy, from a terminal run:

$ fastddsspy

Fast DDS Spy usage information can be found on the Fast DDS Spy User Manual.

1.3.6. Shapes Demo

To launch the Shapes Demo, from a terminal run:

ShapesDemo

eProsima Shapes Demo usage information can be found on the Shapes Demo documentation.