RE: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[adamv0025]

> problem I've run into is our IOS isn't supported

Not sure what you mean, like you can’t find the same exact version of IOS XRv 
9000?

Surely going with similar XRv version to your production one would be much 
closer than going with IOSv

 

adam 

 

From: NANOG  On Behalf Of rylandkremeier
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2019 6:12 PM
To: Yan Filyurin ; Jason Kuehl 
Cc:  
Subject: Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing 
features/configurations.

 

We have 9 ASR's so I don't think it would be too hard to host them in the GNS3 
vm insurance we're using. The main problem I've run into is our IOS isn't 
supported, which is where Cisco IOSv comes in, hoping it could be configured in 
a way to act very closely like our deployed hardware. 

 

I'm not so much worried about hardware faults, more so network configurations 
and testing of new methods. In a perfect world I would be able to copy the 
running configs from deployed hardware into GNS3. At least that's how closely I 
would like GNS3 running. 

 

Not a ton of info out there on IOSv, so I'm curious as to how it's configured. 
If it's the "universal" IOS that I would imagine it should be, then it could 
work. 

 

Thanks for the links, those are both things I didn't run across during initial 
research.

 

-- 

Ryland Kremeier

RE: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[adamv0025]

> From: Saku Ytti 
> Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2019 3:41 PM
> 
> On Thu, 17 Oct 2019 at 15:15,  wrote:
> 
> > But as you can see A) and B) can easily be tested with a single DUT (or some
> small topology around it) using actual HW plugged in a loop with IXIA/Spirent
> testers.
> 
> Snake topology does conserve IXIA/Spirent ports but will not allow you to
> test everything. I see no practical way of just having bunch of IXIA/Spirent
> ports to verify behaviour under various types of congestion. Unfortunately
> the 'bunch' is getting rather large, since even the smallest atom of a modern
> networking chip may contain dozens of 100GE ports.
> 
More IXIA/Spirent ports is your answer we use the "dumb" IXIA cards for NPU/PFE 
and fabric fairness testing as those are much cheaper.

adam 

Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[Tom Beecher]

>
> Said that I haven’t played with GNS3, EVE-NG, VIRL,… recently so I don’t
> know if any of these would allow me to create these massive “spreadsheets”
> for programmatic generation of labs.
>

 GNS3 you can, they have a fairly well documented JSON based API that you
can use to script up all the things, connections, and visual layout as
well.

I've only played with it on a rudimentary level, but it seems to work
just fine.

On Thu, Oct 17, 2019 at 8:14 AM  wrote:

> I’ve been using network simulation well before GNS3 was around using
> dynamips - and even when GNS3 came along it was still not good -since it
> just couldn’t handle the scale (~40nodes) (not on my compute resources at
> that time anyways).
>
>
>
> And similarly nowadays in the era of proper HW simulation through VMs
> (though I miss the idle-pc), I really like virsh/libvirt along with OVS as
> it allows me to programmatically generate the VM files (xmls, images,
> etc..) and define the topology in OVS (talking hundreds of links) which
> would be otherwise really tedious to draw by hand.
>
> Also spinning up a big virtual lab from scratch takes several hours (of
> pure compute time) so it’s better to have some meshing in between the nodes
> and just spin up arbitrary L1 topologies on demand rather than spinning up
> the VMs every time one needs to load a different topology.
>
> Said that I haven’t played with GNS3, EVE-NG, VIRL,… recently so I don’t
> know if any of these would allow me to create these massive “spreadsheets”
> for programmatic generation of labs.
>
>
>
> Best approach is to have at least two virtual environments
>
> 1) closely resembling production environment -this is where designers and
> Ops people can test day to day operational changes etc..
>
> 2) environment where architects can test strategic/evolution changes to
> the network infrastructure, new concepts and big migration/integration
> projects, etc…
>
>
>
> What is it good for:
>
> Testing design concepts
>
> -this is one of the biggest advantages of virtual testing
>
> Physical labs as we all know cost a small fortune and you can simulate
> just a small cross-sections of your overall topology at a time  -but in
> virtual lab depending on your computing resources and depending on what you
> need to test you can either simulate very large sections or complete
> network (at lower resolution) or smaller sections with very high resolution
> or combination of both.
>
> This allows you to really see what happens to your traffic patterns and
> assess the impact of your design changes from small to large scales.
>
>
>
> What is it not good for:
>
> A) Scale testing
>
> i.e. how many bgp/bfd/vrrp/etc.. sessions how many routes/VRFs/etc… - you
> need the actual HW resources to carry out these tests
>
> B) Performance testing
>
> How much pps I can drive through NPU with these features
> (QOS,filters,etc…) what are the failover times, (fast reroute, fabric
> fail,RE fail, etc…) -again you need the actual HW that will be used in
> production to measure these
>
>
>
> But as you can see A) and B) can easily be tested with a single DUT (or
> some small topology around it) using actual HW plugged in a loop with
> IXIA/Spirent testers.
>
>
>
> adam
>
>
>
> *From:* NANOG  *On Behalf Of *Ryland Kremeier
> *Sent:* Wednesday, October 16, 2019 4:31 PM
> *To:*  
> *Subject:* Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing
> features/configurations.
>
>
>
> Hello,
>
>
>
> I’m currently in the process of setting up a near identical network to our
> own in GNS3 for testing purposes. Has anyone here tried this before to any
> success? We need to buy the Cisco IOSv image to continue with the sim so I
> figured I would inquire here first before diving in.
>
>
>
> All info is appreciated,
>
> --
>
> Ryland Kremeier
>

Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[rylandkremeier]

We have 9 ASR's so I don't think it would be too hard to host them in the GNS3 
vm insurance we're using. The main problem I've run into is our IOS isn't 
supported, which is where Cisco IOSv comes in, hoping it could be configured in 
a way to act very closely like our deployed hardware. I'm not so much worried 
about hardware faults, more so network configurations and testing of new 
methods. In a perfect world I would be able to copy the running configs from 
deployed hardware into GNS3. At least that's how closely I would like GNS3 
running. Not a ton of info out there on IOSv, so I'm curious as to how it's 
configured. If it's the "universal" IOS that I would imagine it should be, then 
it could work. Thanks for the links, those are both things I didn't run across 
during initial research.-- Ryland Kremeier
null

Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[Saku Ytti]

On Thu, 17 Oct 2019 at 15:15,  wrote:

> But as you can see A) and B) can easily be tested with a single DUT (or some 
> small topology around it) using actual HW plugged in a loop with IXIA/Spirent 
> testers.

Snake topology does conserve IXIA/Spirent ports but will not allow you
to test everything. I see no practical way of just having bunch of
IXIA/Spirent ports to verify behaviour under various types of
congestion. Unfortunately the 'bunch' is getting rather large, since
even the smallest atom of a modern networking chip may contain dozens
of 100GE ports.


-- 
  ++ytti

RE: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[adamv0025]

I've been using network simulation well before GNS3 was around using
dynamips - and even when GNS3 came along it was still not good -since it
just couldn't handle the scale (~40nodes) (not on my compute resources at
that time anyways).

 

And similarly nowadays in the era of proper HW simulation through VMs
(though I miss the idle-pc), I really like virsh/libvirt along with OVS as
it allows me to programmatically generate the VM files (xmls, images, etc..)
and define the topology in OVS (talking hundreds of links) which would be
otherwise really tedious to draw by hand. 

Also spinning up a big virtual lab from scratch takes several hours (of pure
compute time) so it's better to have some meshing in between the nodes and
just spin up arbitrary L1 topologies on demand rather than spinning up the
VMs every time one needs to load a different topology.

Said that I haven't played with GNS3, EVE-NG, VIRL,. recently so I don't
know if any of these would allow me to create these massive "spreadsheets"
for programmatic generation of labs. 

 

Best approach is to have at least two virtual environments

1) closely resembling production environment -this is where designers and
Ops people can test day to day operational changes etc..

2) environment where architects can test strategic/evolution changes to the
network infrastructure, new concepts and big migration/integration projects,
etc.   

 

What is it good for:

Testing design concepts

-this is one of the biggest advantages of virtual testing

Physical labs as we all know cost a small fortune and you can simulate just
a small cross-sections of your overall topology at a time  -but in virtual
lab depending on your computing resources and depending on what you need to
test you can either simulate very large sections or complete network (at
lower resolution) or smaller sections with very high resolution or
combination of both.

This allows you to really see what happens to your traffic patterns and
assess the impact of your design changes from small to large scales.  

 

What is it not good for:

A) Scale testing 

i.e. how many bgp/bfd/vrrp/etc.. sessions how many routes/VRFs/etc. - you
need the actual HW resources to carry out these tests

B) Performance testing

How much pps I can drive through NPU with these features (QOS,filters,etc.)
what are the failover times, (fast reroute, fabric fail,RE fail, etc.)
-again you need the actual HW that will be used in production to measure
these

 

But as you can see A) and B) can easily be tested with a single DUT (or some
small topology around it) using actual HW plugged in a loop with
IXIA/Spirent testers. 

 

adam

 

From: NANOG  On Behalf Of Ryland Kremeier
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2019 4:31 PM
To:  
Subject: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing
features/configurations.

 

Hello,

 

I'm currently in the process of setting up a near identical network to our
own in GNS3 for testing purposes. Has anyone here tried this before to any
success? We need to buy the Cisco IOSv image to continue with the sim so I
figured I would inquire here first before diving in.

 

All info is appreciated,

-- 

Ryland Kremeier

RE: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[Aaron Gould]

Thanks Mike for the info on GNS3…. My info is old, I’ll have to take a look at 
the recent GNS3 sometime soon…

 

 

 

-Aaron

 

From: Mike Bolitho [mailto:mikeboli...@gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2019 1:22 PM
To: Aaron Gould
Cc: Tom Beecher; Ryland Kremeier; nanog@nanog.org
Subject: Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing 
features/configurations.

 

EVE-NG is also really good. Just an FYI, GNS3 went through a major refresh 
about 18 months ago or so and it's so much better now. Either way, you can't go 
wrong with GNS3 or EVE-NG.


- Mike Bolitho

 

 

On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:18 AM Aaron Gould  wrote:

Oh, forgot the links…

 

http://www.eve-ng.net/

 

http://www.eve-ng.net/documentation/howto-s

 

 

 

 

From: NANOG [mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org] On Behalf Of Aaron Gould
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2019 1:14 PM
To: 'Mike Bolitho'; 'Tom Beecher'; 'Ryland Kremeier'
Cc: nanog@nanog.org
Subject: RE: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing 
features/configurations.

 

I’ve used GNS3 some years ago for a lot of simulation and testing.  But, I’m 
blown away at how much more I like EVE-NG (emulated virtual environment 
next-gen)

 

I use the community free version… lots of vendor OS support… of which, I’ve 
actually work with the following….

-XRv

-IOS virtual

-vMX

-vSRX

-vQFX

 

…check your in-box for a screen shot of my current environment.

 

-Aaron

 

From: NANOG [mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org] On Behalf Of Mike Bolitho
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2019 12:02 PM
To: Tom Beecher
Cc: 
Subject: Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing 
features/configurations.

 

Totally agree with Tom here. It's going to work really well for most things. 
But if you're testing code for bugs you NEED to do it on the same hardware you 
have in your environment in an actual lab.


- Mike Bolitho

 

 

On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 9:56 AM Tom Beecher  wrote:

GNS3 can do a heck of a lot, and the price is definitely right. 

 

I have used it extensively for initial fleshing out of designs or ideas, 
protocol nerding, automation interaction testing, etc. There certainly other 
tools out there, but being able to visually draw a topology out, connect the 
dots, and have an environment to test in about 10 minutes is very nice. There 
is an API you can hook into to do some of that for you if you are so inclined, 
but that would depend on your use case and resources. For how I've used it, 
never been required. 

 

Some of the VMs from vendors can be pretty CPU and/or RAM intensive, so I've 
had the best experience running them all on a dedicated server, not locally. 
Again, use case dependent. For code testing I would always run the test set on 
hardware as well for likely obvious reasons. 

 

If you really get into the weeds with it you can do quite a lot.

 

On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:52 AM Ryland Kremeier  
wrote:

Hello,

 

I’m currently in the process of setting up a near identical network to our own 
in GNS3 for testing purposes. Has anyone here tried this before to any success? 
We need to buy the Cisco IOSv image to continue with the sim so I figured I 
would inquire here first before diving in.

 

All info is appreciated,

-- 

Ryland Kremeier

Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[Jean | ddostest.me via NANOG]

I heard good stuff about Cisco Virl. It's like an ESX for network devices.


On 2019-10-16 15:23, Jason Kuehl wrote:
I use the server version of GNS and I love it.  I just need to VPN 
into my DC and use my client to connect to GNS.


On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 2:22 PM Mike Bolitho <mailto:mikeboli...@gmail.com>> wrote:


EVE-NG is also really good. Just an FYI, GNS3 went through a major
refresh about 18 months ago or so and it's so much better now.
Either way, you can't go wrong with GNS3 or EVE-NG.

- Mike Bolitho


On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:18 AM Aaron Gould mailto:aar...@gvtc.com>> wrote:

Oh, forgot the links…

http://www.eve-ng.net/

http://www.eve-ng.net/documentation/howto-s

*From:*NANOG [mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org
<mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org>] *On Behalf Of *Aaron Gould
*Sent:* Wednesday, October 16, 2019 1:14 PM
*To:* 'Mike Bolitho'; 'Tom Beecher'; 'Ryland Kremeier'
*Cc:* nanog@nanog.org <mailto:nanog@nanog.org>
    *Subject:* RE: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for
testing features/configurations.

I’ve used GNS3 some years ago for a lot of simulation and
testing.  But, I’m blown away at how much more I like EVE-NG
(emulated virtual environment next-gen)

I use the community free version… lots of vendor OS support…
of which, I’ve actually work with the following….

-XRv

-IOS virtual

-vMX

-vSRX

-vQFX

…check your in-box for a screen shot of my current environment.

-Aaron

*From:*NANOG [mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org
<mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org>] *On Behalf Of *Mike Bolitho
*Sent:* Wednesday, October 16, 2019 12:02 PM
*To:* Tom Beecher
*Cc:* mailto:nanog@nanog.org>>
    *Subject:* Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for
testing features/configurations.

Totally agree with Tom here. It's going to work really well
for most things. But if you're testing code for bugs you NEED
to do it on the same hardware you have in your environment in
an actual lab.


- Mike Bolitho

On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 9:56 AM Tom Beecher
 wrote:

GNS3 can do a heck of a lot, and the price is definitely
right.

I have used it extensively for initial fleshing out of
designs or ideas, protocol nerding, automation interaction
testing, etc. There certainly other tools out there, but
being able to visually draw a topology out, connect the
dots, and have an environment to test in about 10 minutes
is very nice. There is an API you can hook into to do some
of that for you if you are so inclined, but that would
depend on your use case and resources. For how I've used
it, never been required.

Some of the VMs from vendors can be pretty CPU and/or RAM
intensive, so I've had the best experience running them
all on a dedicated server, not locally. Again, use case
dependent. For code testing I would always run the test
set on hardware as well for likely obvious reasons.

If you really get into the weeds with it you can do quite
a lot.

On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:52 AM Ryland Kremeier
mailto:rkreme...@barryelectric.com>> wrote:

Hello,

I’m currently in the process of setting up a near
identical network to our own in GNS3 for testing
purposes. Has anyone here tried this before to any
success? We need to buy the Cisco IOSv image to
continue with the sim so I figured I would inquire
here first before diving in.

All info is appreciated,

-- 


Ryland Kremeier



--
Sincerely,

Jason W Kuehl
Cell 920-419-8983
jason.w.ku...@gmail.com <mailto:jason.w.ku...@gmail.com>

Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[Jason Kuehl]

I use the server version of GNS and I love it.  I just need to VPN into my
DC and use my client to connect to GNS.

On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 2:22 PM Mike Bolitho  wrote:

> EVE-NG is also really good. Just an FYI, GNS3 went through a major refresh
> about 18 months ago or so and it's so much better now. Either way, you
> can't go wrong with GNS3 or EVE-NG.
>
> - Mike Bolitho
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:18 AM Aaron Gould  wrote:
>
>> Oh, forgot the links…
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.eve-ng.net/
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.eve-ng.net/documentation/howto-s
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* NANOG [mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org] *On Behalf Of *Aaron Gould
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, October 16, 2019 1:14 PM
>> *To:* 'Mike Bolitho'; 'Tom Beecher'; 'Ryland Kremeier'
>> *Cc:* nanog@nanog.org
>> *Subject:* RE: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing
>> features/configurations.
>>
>>
>>
>> I’ve used GNS3 some years ago for a lot of simulation and testing.  But,
>> I’m blown away at how much more I like EVE-NG (emulated virtual environment
>> next-gen)
>>
>>
>>
>> I use the community free version… lots of vendor OS support… of which,
>> I’ve actually work with the following….
>>
>> -XRv
>>
>> -IOS virtual
>>
>> -vMX
>>
>> -vSRX
>>
>> -    vQFX
>>
>>
>>
>> …check your in-box for a screen shot of my current environment.
>>
>>
>>
>> -Aaron
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* NANOG [mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org] *On Behalf Of *Mike
>> Bolitho
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, October 16, 2019 12:02 PM
>> *To:* Tom Beecher
>> *Cc:* 
>> *Subject:* Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing
>> features/configurations.
>>
>>
>>
>> Totally agree with Tom here. It's going to work really well for most
>> things. But if you're testing code for bugs you NEED to do it on the same
>> hardware you have in your environment in an actual lab.
>>
>>
>> - Mike Bolitho
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 9:56 AM Tom Beecher  wrote:
>>
>> GNS3 can do a heck of a lot, and the price is definitely right.
>>
>>
>>
>> I have used it extensively for initial fleshing out of designs or ideas,
>> protocol nerding, automation interaction testing, etc. There certainly
>> other tools out there, but being able to visually draw a topology out,
>> connect the dots, and have an environment to test in about 10 minutes is
>> very nice. There is an API you can hook into to do some of that for you if
>> you are so inclined, but that would depend on your use case and resources.
>> For how I've used it, never been required.
>>
>>
>>
>> Some of the VMs from vendors can be pretty CPU and/or RAM intensive, so
>> I've had the best experience running them all on a dedicated server, not
>> locally. Again, use case dependent. For code testing I would always run the
>> test set on hardware as well for likely obvious reasons.
>>
>>
>>
>> If you really get into the weeds with it you can do quite a lot.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:52 AM Ryland Kremeier <
>> rkreme...@barryelectric.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>>
>>
>> I’m currently in the process of setting up a near identical network to
>> our own in GNS3 for testing purposes. Has anyone here tried this before to
>> any success? We need to buy the Cisco IOSv image to continue with the sim
>> so I figured I would inquire here first before diving in.
>>
>>
>>
>> All info is appreciated,
>>
>> --
>>
>> Ryland Kremeier
>>
>>

-- 
Sincerely,

Jason W Kuehl
Cell 920-419-8983
jason.w.ku...@gmail.com

Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[Mike Bolitho]

EVE-NG is also really good. Just an FYI, GNS3 went through a major refresh
about 18 months ago or so and it's so much better now. Either way, you
can't go wrong with GNS3 or EVE-NG.

- Mike Bolitho


On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:18 AM Aaron Gould  wrote:

> Oh, forgot the links…
>
>
>
> http://www.eve-ng.net/
>
>
>
> http://www.eve-ng.net/documentation/howto-s
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* NANOG [mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org] *On Behalf Of *Aaron Gould
> *Sent:* Wednesday, October 16, 2019 1:14 PM
> *To:* 'Mike Bolitho'; 'Tom Beecher'; 'Ryland Kremeier'
> *Cc:* nanog@nanog.org
> *Subject:* RE: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing
> features/configurations.
>
>
>
> I’ve used GNS3 some years ago for a lot of simulation and testing.  But,
> I’m blown away at how much more I like EVE-NG (emulated virtual environment
> next-gen)
>
>
>
> I use the community free version… lots of vendor OS support… of which,
> I’ve actually work with the following….
>
> -XRv
>
> -IOS virtual
>
> -vMX
>
> -vSRX
>
> -vQFX
>
>
>
> …check your in-box for a screen shot of my current environment.
>
>
>
> -Aaron
>
>
>
> *From:* NANOG [mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org] *On Behalf Of *Mike Bolitho
> *Sent:* Wednesday, October 16, 2019 12:02 PM
> *To:* Tom Beecher
> *Cc:* 
> *Subject:* Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing
> features/configurations.
>
>
>
> Totally agree with Tom here. It's going to work really well for most
> things. But if you're testing code for bugs you NEED to do it on the same
> hardware you have in your environment in an actual lab.
>
>
> - Mike Bolitho
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 9:56 AM Tom Beecher  wrote:
>
> GNS3 can do a heck of a lot, and the price is definitely right.
>
>
>
> I have used it extensively for initial fleshing out of designs or ideas,
> protocol nerding, automation interaction testing, etc. There certainly
> other tools out there, but being able to visually draw a topology out,
> connect the dots, and have an environment to test in about 10 minutes is
> very nice. There is an API you can hook into to do some of that for you if
> you are so inclined, but that would depend on your use case and resources.
> For how I've used it, never been required.
>
>
>
> Some of the VMs from vendors can be pretty CPU and/or RAM intensive, so
> I've had the best experience running them all on a dedicated server, not
> locally. Again, use case dependent. For code testing I would always run the
> test set on hardware as well for likely obvious reasons.
>
>
>
> If you really get into the weeds with it you can do quite a lot.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:52 AM Ryland Kremeier <
> rkreme...@barryelectric.com> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
>
>
> I’m currently in the process of setting up a near identical network to our
> own in GNS3 for testing purposes. Has anyone here tried this before to any
> success? We need to buy the Cisco IOSv image to continue with the sim so I
> figured I would inquire here first before diving in.
>
>
>
> All info is appreciated,
>
> --
>
> Ryland Kremeier
>
>

RE: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[Aaron Gould]

Oh, forgot the links…

 

http://www.eve-ng.net/

 

http://www.eve-ng.net/documentation/howto-s

 

 

 

 

From: NANOG [mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org] On Behalf Of Aaron Gould
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2019 1:14 PM
To: 'Mike Bolitho'; 'Tom Beecher'; 'Ryland Kremeier'
Cc: nanog@nanog.org
Subject: RE: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing 
features/configurations.

 

I’ve used GNS3 some years ago for a lot of simulation and testing.  But, I’m 
blown away at how much more I like EVE-NG (emulated virtual environment 
next-gen)

 

I use the community free version… lots of vendor OS support… of which, I’ve 
actually work with the following….

-XRv

-IOS virtual

-vMX

-vSRX

-vQFX

 

…check your in-box for a screen shot of my current environment.

 

-Aaron

 

From: NANOG [mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org] On Behalf Of Mike Bolitho
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2019 12:02 PM
To: Tom Beecher
Cc: 
Subject: Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing 
features/configurations.

 

Totally agree with Tom here. It's going to work really well for most things. 
But if you're testing code for bugs you NEED to do it on the same hardware you 
have in your environment in an actual lab.


- Mike Bolitho

 

 

On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 9:56 AM Tom Beecher  wrote:

GNS3 can do a heck of a lot, and the price is definitely right. 

 

I have used it extensively for initial fleshing out of designs or ideas, 
protocol nerding, automation interaction testing, etc. There certainly other 
tools out there, but being able to visually draw a topology out, connect the 
dots, and have an environment to test in about 10 minutes is very nice. There 
is an API you can hook into to do some of that for you if you are so inclined, 
but that would depend on your use case and resources. For how I've used it, 
never been required. 

 

Some of the VMs from vendors can be pretty CPU and/or RAM intensive, so I've 
had the best experience running them all on a dedicated server, not locally. 
Again, use case dependent. For code testing I would always run the test set on 
hardware as well for likely obvious reasons. 

 

If you really get into the weeds with it you can do quite a lot.

 

On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:52 AM Ryland Kremeier  
wrote:

Hello,

 

I’m currently in the process of setting up a near identical network to our own 
in GNS3 for testing purposes. Has anyone here tried this before to any success? 
We need to buy the Cisco IOSv image to continue with the sim so I figured I 
would inquire here first before diving in.

 

All info is appreciated,

-- 

Ryland Kremeier

RE: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[Aaron Gould]

I’ve used GNS3 some years ago for a lot of simulation and testing.  But, I’m 
blown away at how much more I like EVE-NG (emulated virtual environment 
next-gen)

 

I use the community free version… lots of vendor OS support… of which, I’ve 
actually work with the following….



-XRv

-IOS virtual

-vMX

-vSRX

-vQFX

 

…check your in-box for a screen shot of my current environment.

 

-Aaron

 

From: NANOG [mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org] On Behalf Of Mike Bolitho
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2019 12:02 PM
To: Tom Beecher
Cc: 
Subject: Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing 
features/configurations.

 

Totally agree with Tom here. It's going to work really well for most things. 
But if you're testing code for bugs you NEED to do it on the same hardware you 
have in your environment in an actual lab.


- Mike Bolitho

 

 

On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 9:56 AM Tom Beecher  wrote:

GNS3 can do a heck of a lot, and the price is definitely right. 

 

I have used it extensively for initial fleshing out of designs or ideas, 
protocol nerding, automation interaction testing, etc. There certainly other 
tools out there, but being able to visually draw a topology out, connect the 
dots, and have an environment to test in about 10 minutes is very nice. There 
is an API you can hook into to do some of that for you if you are so inclined, 
but that would depend on your use case and resources. For how I've used it, 
never been required. 

 

Some of the VMs from vendors can be pretty CPU and/or RAM intensive, so I've 
had the best experience running them all on a dedicated server, not locally. 
Again, use case dependent. For code testing I would always run the test set on 
hardware as well for likely obvious reasons. 

 

If you really get into the weeds with it you can do quite a lot.

 

On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:52 AM Ryland Kremeier  
wrote:

Hello,

 

I’m currently in the process of setting up a near identical network to our own 
in GNS3 for testing purposes. Has anyone here tried this before to any success? 
We need to buy the Cisco IOSv image to continue with the sim so I figured I 
would inquire here first before diving in.

 

All info is appreciated,

-- 

Ryland Kremeier

Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[Mike Bolitho]

Totally agree with Tom here. It's going to work really well for most
things. But if you're testing code for bugs you NEED to do it on the same
hardware you have in your environment in an actual lab.

- Mike Bolitho


On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 9:56 AM Tom Beecher  wrote:

> GNS3 can do a heck of a lot, and the price is definitely right.
>
> I have used it extensively for initial fleshing out of designs or ideas,
> protocol nerding, automation interaction testing, etc. There certainly
> other tools out there, but being able to visually draw a topology out,
> connect the dots, and have an environment to test in about 10 minutes is
> very nice. There is an API you can hook into to do some of that for you if
> you are so inclined, but that would depend on your use case and resources.
> For how I've used it, never been required.
>
> Some of the VMs from vendors can be pretty CPU and/or RAM intensive, so
> I've had the best experience running them all on a dedicated server, not
> locally. Again, use case dependent. For code testing I would always run the
> test set on hardware as well for likely obvious reasons.
>
> If you really get into the weeds with it you can do quite a lot.
>
> On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:52 AM Ryland Kremeier <
> rkreme...@barryelectric.com> wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>>
>>
>> I’m currently in the process of setting up a near identical network to
>> our own in GNS3 for testing purposes. Has anyone here tried this before to
>> any success? We need to buy the Cisco IOSv image to continue with the sim
>> so I figured I would inquire here first before diving in.
>>
>>
>>
>> All info is appreciated,
>>
>> --
>>
>> Ryland Kremeier
>>
>

Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[Tom Beecher]

GNS3 can do a heck of a lot, and the price is definitely right.

I have used it extensively for initial fleshing out of designs or ideas,
protocol nerding, automation interaction testing, etc. There certainly
other tools out there, but being able to visually draw a topology out,
connect the dots, and have an environment to test in about 10 minutes is
very nice. There is an API you can hook into to do some of that for you if
you are so inclined, but that would depend on your use case and resources.
For how I've used it, never been required.

Some of the VMs from vendors can be pretty CPU and/or RAM intensive, so
I've had the best experience running them all on a dedicated server, not
locally. Again, use case dependent. For code testing I would always run the
test set on hardware as well for likely obvious reasons.

If you really get into the weeds with it you can do quite a lot.

On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:52 AM Ryland Kremeier <
rkreme...@barryelectric.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
>
>
> I’m currently in the process of setting up a near identical network to our
> own in GNS3 for testing purposes. Has anyone here tried this before to any
> success? We need to buy the Cisco IOSv image to continue with the sim so I
> figured I would inquire here first before diving in.
>
>
>
> All info is appreciated,
>
> --
>
> Ryland Kremeier
>

Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[Hugo Slabbert]

The alternative or complementary approach is something like batfish[1], for 
validation vs. emulation.


--
Hugo Slabbert   | email, xmpp/jabber: h...@slabnet.com
pgp key: B178313E   | also on Signal

[1] https://www.batfish.org/

On Wed 2019-Oct-16 12:19:31 -0400, Yan Filyurin  wrote:


This also depends on your scale.  If you have lots of routers, you would end up with 
lots of compute to run the VM instances.  If you get the compute (which is cheap 
comparing to actual network hardware), you would need a "cloud orchestration” 
tool and a a system to connections from host to host like some form of overlay 
networking.

GNS3 would do a good job, but for something with a bit more orchestration APIs. 
 There is this:

https://networkop.co.uk/post/2019-01-k8s-vrnetlab/ 


And the nice people who even show up to NANOG every once in a while:

https://www.tesuto.com/ 

There are a few other tools that people built on their own if you scrub GitHub. 
 I even felt into that trap and exploring VRnetlab.

But numerous things were achieved.  Yes, you would miss out on all the hardware 
bugs, hardware adaption layer issues and maybe a scale issue or two, but with 
enough instances, route generators and maybe even some application (some of 
these things can even forward traffic), you could discover 90% of things that 
can go wrong.

And you get the flexibility of downloading evaluation images of all kinds of 
things, so maybe you can avoid spending any money.

Yan





On Oct 16, 2019, at 12:03 PM, Jason Kuehl  wrote:

I did this at my current company with also using VM Palo Alto.

Greeting of testing out a plan to make sure its insane.

The key it keeping its all up todate down to the firmware version (I know its 
not possible for some because virtual)

The things this wont find are hardware related faults or issues.

On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:52 AM Ryland Kremeier mailto:rkreme...@barryelectric.com>> wrote:
Hello,



I’m currently in the process of setting up a near identical network to our own 
in GNS3 for testing purposes. Has anyone here tried this before to any success? 
We need to buy the Cisco IOSv image to continue with the sim so I figured I 
would inquire here first before diving in.



All info is appreciated,

--

Ryland Kremeier



--
Sincerely,

Jason W Kuehl
Cell 920-419-8983
jason.w.ku...@gmail.com 


signature.asc
Description: Digital signature

Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[Yan Filyurin]

This also depends on your scale.  If you have lots of routers, you would end up 
with lots of compute to run the VM instances.  If you get the compute (which is 
cheap comparing to actual network hardware), you would need a "cloud 
orchestration” tool and a a system to connections from host to host like some 
form of overlay networking. 

GNS3 would do a good job, but for something with a bit more orchestration APIs. 
 There is this:

https://networkop.co.uk/post/2019-01-k8s-vrnetlab/ 


And the nice people who even show up to NANOG every once in a while:

https://www.tesuto.com/ 

There are a few other tools that people built on their own if you scrub GitHub. 
 I even felt into that trap and exploring VRnetlab. 

But numerous things were achieved.  Yes, you would miss out on all the hardware 
bugs, hardware adaption layer issues and maybe a scale issue or two, but with 
enough instances, route generators and maybe even some application (some of 
these things can even forward traffic), you could discover 90% of things that 
can go wrong. 

And you get the flexibility of downloading evaluation images of all kinds of 
things, so maybe you can avoid spending any money. 

Yan




> On Oct 16, 2019, at 12:03 PM, Jason Kuehl  wrote:
> 
> I did this at my current company with also using VM Palo Alto.
> 
> Greeting of testing out a plan to make sure its insane. 
> 
> The key it keeping its all up todate down to the firmware version (I know its 
> not possible for some because virtual) 
> 
> The things this wont find are hardware related faults or issues.
> 
> On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:52 AM Ryland Kremeier  > wrote:
> Hello,
> 
>  
> 
> I’m currently in the process of setting up a near identical network to our 
> own in GNS3 for testing purposes. Has anyone here tried this before to any 
> success? We need to buy the Cisco IOSv image to continue with the sim so I 
> figured I would inquire here first before diving in.
> 
>  
> 
> All info is appreciated,
> 
> --
> 
> Ryland Kremeier
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Sincerely,
>  
> Jason W Kuehl
> Cell 920-419-8983
> jason.w.ku...@gmail.com 

Re: Viability of GNS3 network simulation for testing features/configurations.

[Jason Kuehl]

I did this at my current company with also using VM Palo Alto.

Greeting of testing out a plan to make sure its insane.

The key it keeping its all up todate down to the firmware version (I know
its not possible for some because virtual)

The things this wont find are hardware related faults or issues.

On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:52 AM Ryland Kremeier <
rkreme...@barryelectric.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
>
>
> I’m currently in the process of setting up a near identical network to our
> own in GNS3 for testing purposes. Has anyone here tried this before to any
> success? We need to buy the Cisco IOSv image to continue with the sim so I
> figured I would inquire here first before diving in.
>
>
>
> All info is appreciated,
>
> --
>
> Ryland Kremeier
>


-- 
Sincerely,

Jason W Kuehl
Cell 920-419-8983
jason.w.ku...@gmail.com