Use .ova for GNS3-IOU instead of pre configured VM.
We all may have heard the saying GNS3 is great for practicing routing labs but switching Nah Nah!! Don’t underestimate the power of GNS3. It has a special IOU feature which will let you emulate real Cisco Switch both L2 & L3 in GNS3 without any trouble.
If you want to know what is an IOU? Refer to this excellent article here else follow along…
Cisco iou, l2 l3, switching in gns3, download cisco iou, iou rack.
To configure IOU in GNS3 you will need the following files:
- GNS3 (I used v1.2.3)
- Virtual Box
- GNS3 IOU VM (or .ova file available on GNS3 Official Site)
- L2 IOU image
- L3 IOU image
- License file
For you to access them easily I am making all the “rare files” available for you here : http://bit.ly/IOUGNS3
Let us now go through the step by step process to configure IOU in GNS3:
- Install the GNS3-IOU .ova file in Virtual Box. Make Sure you don’t have any older version of IOU installed in it.
- Start the VM. It may take a few moments to run at the first time.
- After it has started, you will note an IP address shown above the console screen. In my case it was: 192.168.56.101:8000/upload where 192.168.56.101 was the IP of the VM which was the Host-Only adapter of the Virtual Box instance.
- Next open your web browser and go to http://192.168.56.101:8000/upload.
- Select the L2 and L3 IOU image one by one and click on the upload button. The full path will be shown after uploading is completed.
- Now open GNS3. Goto edit->preferences.
- Click IOS on Unix. Under path to IOURC put D:GNS3 IOUIOURC.txt (the location of IOURC.txt file).
- Next, goto GNS3 server->Remote server. Under host type – 192.168.56.101 and port 8000. Click Add. Then click Apply->Ok.
- Change host binding. (Very important)
- Now under IOU devices, Click New->Next->Ok->Give a name(like Switch IOU). Under IOU image paste the location which you have copied from the image upload screen.. Select L2 or L3 depending on the type.
- Repeat step 9* for the Router IOU image.
- Now simply drag your IOUs to your working area and create your switching lab.
Now let us test inter-vlan routing in this simple topology.
Sample R1 Config:
Sample SW1 Config:
Final Testing:
Cheers ! Happy Switching ?
Running Cisco Catalyst Switch(CLI) on GNS3 using IOU (IOS on Unix) and VirtualBox
Contents
- 0.1 Downlaods
- 0.5 IOU Licencing
- 1 Import the IOU VM Instances into GNS3
- 1.1 IOU Licensing Part 2
- 2 Launch the IOU Devices (L2 & L3) in GNS3
Downlaods
IOU Virtual Vmware Image ➡
Cisco L2 and L3 Images for IOU ➡
Import IOU in VirtualBox
The IOU Vmware zip file contains a full load of stuffs. You need only one.
VirtualBox IOU VM Host Settings
After that open the vmdk file in VirtualBox and do some little changes in settings. Set the memory requirement as 256MB and it is enough to open the IOU VM.
Before you start the VM, do not forget to set the Virtual Network Adapter settings as Host Only.
Now time to fire up the VM and after successful booting the VirtualBox console will come up with a login prompt with a notification to browse the VM through browser to upload the L2 and L3 IOS file(here the IP address is set to 192.168.56.101 and the port is 8000 to access the http portal).
Username: root
Password: cisco
Uploading IOS to IOU VM
Now open the browser and upload the necessary files.
Url to open the VM http portal: http://192.168.56.101:8000/upload
Dont worry. These files are available on “L2 & L3 IOU IOS” zipFile.
IOU Licencing
Before starting the GNS3, need to license the VM. Go through the Video.
Upload Keygen to IOU VM
Either have to download the KeyGen.py or take it from the zip file itself and upload it to the VM.
Run the Keygen in IOU VM
Now write some simple command into the VM console.
Now you are half done to the licensing. I am taking the rest aside and will discuss after GNS3 setup.
Import the IOU VM Instances into GNS3
In GNS go to Preference>IOU Devices and then select a new . After the new IOU prompt come set the server type as remote(by default) .
Step 1 : Selecting Server Type
Step 2 : Mount the IOU image
Now mount the IOU image by simply copy and paste the path from the browser(it is a file located in 192.168.56.101:8000).
IOU Licensing Part 2
Now come to the rest of the licensing procedure.
IOURC Setup
Go to preferences> IOU on UNIX and you need to provide the absolute path of the iourc.txt file located in your local drive.
Download Cisco Iou
In the same way you can bring the L3 IOS also.
Launch the IOU Devices (L2 & L3) in GNS3
Now check how these IOU L2 and L3 devices being reflected in the GNS3 window.
You are ready to play with the Cisco switches. Here you can simulate almost all kind of toplogy, features, protocols & configurations.
Thank You --
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