# Tutorial: Local Mesh Simulation

In this tutorial, you will use the Bauxite CLI to simulate a complete Bauxite Mesh network on your local machine using containerized sandboxing and view live performance metrics inside a terminal dashboard.

This is the best way to test network topologies, eBPF data planes, and routing before deploying to physical hardware.

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## Prerequisites

- A Linux-based host or workstation.
- Docker or Podman installed.
- Bauxite Agent CLI installed.

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## 1. Start the Simulation (`sandbox start`)

Instead of manual namespace creation or complex Docker Compose management, the `sandbox` command orchestrates an ephemeral containerized multi-node topology with a single command.

To spawn a simulation with a local Control Plane (Hub) and 3 simulated edge robot nodes:

```bash
bauxite sandbox start --nodes 3
```

This command automatically:
1. Provisions an isolated bridge network `bauxite-sandbox-net`.
2. Starts the Bauxite Control Plane dispatch service (`bauxite-sandbox-dispatch`).
3. Boots 3 simulated robot nodes (`bauxite-sandbox-robot-1`, `bauxite-sandbox-robot-2`, and `bauxite-sandbox-robot-3`) configured with eBPF capability and virtual TUN devices.

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## 2. Verify Container Execution

Verify that all Bauxite simulation containers are active:

```bash
docker ps --filter "name=bauxite-sandbox-"
```

You should see all 4 containers (`dispatch` + 3 robots) running and connected to the bridge network.

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## 3. Monitor Telemetry in Real-Time (`dashboard`)

Bauxite provides a live terminal dashboard to monitor the status of the virtual mesh network, including bypass latencies and slot allocations.

Launch the fabric monitor dashboard in your terminal:

```bash
bauxite dashboard
```

The TUI displays:
- **Stack Bypass Latencies**: The standard loopback latency vs. the zero-copy eBPF bypass path.
- **Shared Memory utilization**: Real-time bucket slots consumption.
- **Core Telemetry counters**: Packet and drop rates on `XDP` and `sk_msg` offload targets.

*Press `q` or `Ctrl+C` to close the dashboard.*

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## 4. Test Peer-to-Peer Connectivity

Since the simulated robots are active in the same virtual mesh, you can ping them from the perspective of another simulated node:

```bash
# Ping robot-2 from the perspective of robot-1
docker exec -it bauxite-sandbox-robot-1 ping 10.42.0.2
```

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## 5. Cleanup the Simulation (`sandbox stop`)

When you are finished testing, clean up the environment. The `sandbox stop` command shuts down all containers and deletes virtual networks, ensuring no residual namespaces or network interfaces are left behind:

```bash
bauxite sandbox stop
```

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## Next Steps

Now that you've simulated a local mesh, try [Configuring Network Policies](../how-to/configure-network-policies.md) to restrict traffic between your simulated robots.