Set up Ubuntu 14.04 Server Edition Virtual Machine environment. We tested this with Fusion on Mac OS X and VirtualBox on Windows 8.
Open a terminal and execute the following commands:
% sudo apt-get install -y --force-yes git
% git clone https://github.com/osrg/ryu-handson.git
% cd ryu-handson/dc-handson
% ./dc-handson.sh install
All necessary software will be installed.