GNS3 2.1 Install and configuration on Windows 10 (Part 7): GNS3 VM, VIRL and switching

This is one of multiple videos showing you how to install and configure GNS3 2.1 on Windows. This video discusses various misunderstandings people have about GNS3 and best practices for using GNS3 today.

Questions answered:
1) Does GNS3 support switching
2) Do I need to use Dynamips with GNS3
3) Can I use VIRL images with GNS3

[davidbombal]

In the previous video I demonstrated how to get a GNS3 working using Dynamips images.

In this video, I'm going to demonstrate how to import Cisco VRL images into GNS3. Cisco VRL or Cisco Virtual Internet Routing Lab allows you to run advanced images in GNS3 including IOSv which is a routing image, IOSvL2 which is a switching image, ASAv which is a firewall image and various other images including Nexus images and IOS XR.
Now there are a number of misconceptions about GNS3.

Some people still believe today that the GNS3 only supports dynamips images. That's not true.
Some people still believe that GNS3 doesn't support advanced switching, false. That's not true today either.

Through the use of Cisco VRL images you can replicate almost any scenario in GNS3. Not every scenario but most scenarios can now be virtualized and emulated in GNS3.
On the GNS3 documentation, there's a page that discusses which emulator should you be using. One of the first decisions is, should you be using the GNS3 VM or not.

Now the GNS3 VM is recommended for most situations when you're using a Windows PC or a Mac. The GNS3 development team have worked hard to create a lightweight robust way of GNS3 topologies using the GNS3 VM that avoids multiple common issues experienced when you use a local install of GNS3. This includes the lack of proper Qemu support when running VRL images natively on Windows.

So basically, you can run GNS3 without the GNS3 VM by simply using the GNS3 GUI or you can use the GNS3 GUI in combination with the GNS3 VM.
If you're using Linux you don't need the GNS3 VM.

However, if you're using Windows or Mac OS, it's recommended that you use the GNS3 VM. The GNS3 VM is required to run VRL images on a Windows PC or a Mac. So if you're using either Windows or Mac OS, you're going to want to use the GNS3 VM to use any kind of advanced images in GNS3 or to create advanced topologies. If you're only creating basic routed networks in GNS3, a local install using Dynamips images is sufficient.
But for most cases, you're going to want to use the GNS3 VM. If you're running cisco images you can either use Dynamips images. In other words, you run real Cisco IOS images in your GNS3 topologies and you emulate that using dynamips. Those images can either be run using a local install of GNS3 which I've already demonstrated or using the GNS3 VM.

Note that Cisco doesn't support the use of IOS images on non-Cisco hardware and you may run into bugs trying to emulate a Cisco hardware with Dynamips.
So it's a basic installation but not recommended. The recommendation is to use Qemu images. This is the best choice for creating GNS3 topologies. It allows you to create more robust, larger topologies and topologies that contain devices from multiple vendors.
So as an example, you can use cisco VRL images such as the ASAv within GNS3. You can also emulate devices from other vendors.

On the GNS3 website, if you go to marketplace appliances, you can see a long list of appliances that can be run on the GNS3 VM. Since version 2.1 of GNS3, these appliances have been integrated directly within the GNS3 application but this page gives you an idea of the devices that can be supported directly within GNS3. This list is constantly being updated and extended.

So what is the recommendation for Cisco?
The recommendation is to use VRL images. Cisco also has IOU but this is a Cisco internal way of running IOS on UNIX. This is not a publicly released product. You can't get support from Cisco. It's also buggy and therefore GNS3 does not recommend the use of IOU. It's not officially released. It's buggy, can cause problems, there's no support so don't use IOU. You use Cisco VRL images with Qemu. What that essentially means is that you're going to use Cisco VRL images with the GNS3 VM. A lot of other vendor devices also require the use of the GNS3 VM.

Please note that to use the GNS3 VM the recommendation is that, you use a VMware product. So either you use Workstation Pro or Workstation Player on a Windows computer or VMware fusion on a Mac. Workstation Player is free software. Workstation Pro is paid software.

In this video, I'm going to show you how to download and integrate the GNS3 VM with a Workstation Pro on a Windows computer. Have a look at my other videos if you want to see how to integrate a Workstation Player with GNS3. Virtual Box is not recommended because it doesn't support nested virtualization.
Have a look at my other videos where I discuss nested virtualization in more detail. But in brief, you have problems trying to run VRL images and a lot of other appliances if you use a Virtual Box.

So the recommendation is, if you're using Windows or Mac, use the GNS3 VM with the GNS3 GUI and use VMware Workstation Pro or VMware Workstation player when using Windows or VMware fusion when using a Mac.

Now you don't have to take this advice. You could decide to use a virtual box or decide not to use the GNS3 VM. But I'm warning you that you're probably going to run into problems when you do that. So again, the recommendation is to use the GNS3 VM with a VMware product.

[graceforexploits]

David Bombal The Greatest Networking Instructor of the 21 Century

[JorgeGarcia-njiu]

What does VIRL give us that we can't do with EVE-NG?

[benson]

Can you run GNS3 on an ESXI server? And if you can, is there any downsides from doing that compared to the VMware workstation?

[yogi_perfect]

How many Cisco VIRL instances can run in GNS3 VM? I created a topology with 10x IOSv, 4x IOSvL2 and my GNS3 VM CPU spike to 100%. I believe we can run n number of instances as it take only less resources. I wonder if my settings are wrong. My hardware is i7, 8 GB RAM. Can you advise David?

[akiumofo]

Hey

Can you link a video contaiing how to integrate VMware Player? i has a browse but you have loads of content! :D

[JurassicTravel]

please can 2 or more people purchase together VIRL images and share them without problem ? thank you