Dynamips/Dynagen Official Thread. CCNA/CCNP/CCIE equipment questions... come here!

So, they Absolutely support it Officially, but they do not Unofficially support it? o_O shouldn't that be the other way around?
No, they unofficially support it for training purposes(of their own employees) but you're only going to hear that through internal channels. They officially do NOT support running any IOS image on any hardware platform other than what it was meant to run on. Also, when I say support im not talking about a support structure.. im referring to the fact that they dont ban/disparage/etc it in house.

I think you mean decrease the time, why would you recommend something that would "increase the time needed"..

Otherwise.. good read :D
Yep, decrease time. Thanks :D
 
I've done some googling but I'm still a little confused on how to set this up. What do I need on my client machine? Just GNS3? I went into my IOS images tab and set my IOS image to "10.20.30.103:/home/ffff/c3640/c3640.bin" and I put in my external hypervisor as the 10.20.30.103 with a working dir of /tmp. Do I need to install dynamips on my client? Right now the executable path is set to "C:\Program Files\GNS3\Dynamips\dynamips-wxp.exe" and that doesn't exist because I didn't install it. This may be obvious but do I need to install it or can I map that executable to my remote server?

edit: nevermind, I got it. Very cool!

how'd you do it. I'd like to have gns3 on my macbook but have dynamips on my server. on the gns3 mac client it seems it won't let me type in a server (gives a pre-populated selection)
 
On the official Cisco Training group on Facebook, they encourage people to use GNS3/Dynamips. They do say that it isn't fully 100% compatible or as fast as normal hardware, but it works for training using the older IOS images. They don't say how to get images, other than the normal, legal, ways.

If you are in for your Cisco certs, I recommend the Cisco Certification page on Facebook. Some great discussions, tips, and study questions for CCENT up to CCIE. Some great stuff, seriously.
 
Xphile, how are you consoling/telnetting to your switches? I figure I have a 2521 so I have a way but perhaps I'm over-thinking how you're doing it with real switches. I'm having a gigantic brain fart here.
 
Xphile, how are you consoling/telnetting to your switches? I figure I have a 2521 so I have a way but perhaps I'm over-thinking how you're doing it with real switches. I'm having a gigantic brain fart here.
You can virtualize the terminal server, add a loopback on the host and then map it to the virtual TS and do it that way for reverse telnet.

Personally, Im using a physical terminal server since I still have a good amount of real gear. I have reverse telnet setup for the real stuff, and just use regular telnet for my virtual routers. All I do is setup host names within the IOS config.

ip host R1 5001 x.x.x.x
ip host R2 5002 x.x.x.x
etc
 
Cisco 2511 is what I meant, good game fat finger. Ok that makes sense. Thanks for input. I'm having a hard time letting go of this thing simply for what I paid for it. Of all the pieces of cisco gear, these seem to hold their value really really well. I'm going to try the virtual TS just to see what it's like though.
 
Would a Cisco 3745 be of any use? The thing is pretty damn big and heavy but the specs say I can run IOS 12.4 if it's fully built out. My only concern is the whooping 230w of juice this thing would suck at full load.
 
Would a Cisco 3745 be of any use? The thing is pretty damn big and heavy but the specs say I can run IOS 12.4 if it's fully built out. My only concern is the whooping 230w of juice this thing would suck at full load.
for a terminal server? that would probably be overkill in my book but it can easily be done. Get an async NM.
 
3745 would be a great Frame switch. Could also be a wan aggregator, a VPN concentrator, could work as a Voice router with the right PVDMs
 
Is anyone remoting in, say from work, to their lab ?

If so, in a general sense, how did you set it up ?

I expect to have a pix (501), a 2620xm, a 2509 for a terminal serv, and will be coming in on a cable connection.
 
You asking about real gear or Dynamips? From work I log into my Dynamips server all the time. I use SSH, then start or create a topology (.net file) and then telnet to the router's "console" ports, ie telnet localhost 2001 for R1.

When I was using all physical gear I connected my 2512 to the home network and hit my linux box then the term server to access my stuff.
 
Is there any way to make this thing use less RAM? It is sucking up 800mb running two routers and it is really slowing my laptop down.
 
Is there any way to make this thing use less RAM? It is sucking up 800mb running two routers and it is really slowing my laptop down.
for 2 routers? Highly unlikely unless you're running 7200's and allocating 400Mb between them statically in your .net file.

by default, virtual routers use hard disk space for their dram. 800Mb for the dynamips process only virtualizing 2 routers... thats not normal if you have it at its default settings and ive never ever seen that before. To answer your question, there is no way to trim the ram useage UNLESS your allow your virtual routers direct access to your ram.
 
for 2 routers? Highly unlikely unless you're running 7200's and allocating 400Mb between them statically in your .net file.

by default, virtual routers use hard disk space for their dram. 800Mb for the dynamips process only virtualizing 2 routers... thats not normal if you have it at its default settings and ive never ever seen that before. To answer your question, there is no way to trim the ram useage UNLESS your allow your virtual routers direct access to your ram.

I'm running 3640's and I haven't changed any default settings in my config.
 
how'd you do it. I'd like to have gns3 on my macbook but have dynamips on my server. on the gns3 mac client it seems it won't let me type in a server (gives a pre-populated selection)

I know this post is old, but what the hell, maybe you never got it working and abandoned the project.

Here is my easy way of running GNS3 on a server and working on another pc (or another 2-3-4-5 with friends?).

I am running gns3 on windows 7 x64 (I suppose one could use linux and NX/VNC/XSERVER although I've never tried gns3 on linux). It's a beefcake 8gb ram 2x 5345 xeons. I setup the images and setup the idle points. I then use remote desktop to remote into said computer from my laptop ( or friends laptop, or netbook, that's the beauty of remote desktop) so I can use the gui for my ever changing labs. Once I have the topology layed out, I set console ports on the routers and fire up teraterm with collector on my laptop so I can quickly jump between routers. Just telnet to the address:console port and line up your tabs. You could also setup a terminal server, but when i'm only dealing with 4-8 routers, I like tabs better. There is even a pagent ios image floating around should you want to use it. It was for the qos class, which is going to be gone soon, I don't know if they will be using it in the new curriculum.

Kudo's to all the devs of dynamips, dynagen, and gns3. I wouldn't have progressed as much as I have without it. It helped me get over my fears of flunking the ccna and I ended up getting a 972/1000. I had all the students in my CCNP class using this. It easily saved us at leased a half hour (from taking out and putting away equipment) on the days we decided to use it. Now, to get off my ass, tackle my fear of failing the test, and take the composite routing and switching test over the next few weeks.
 
Alright, so I'm running through this in an attempt to get my CCNA, and I've only got one question: where the hell do I find IOS images? lol.
 
When I was using all physical gear I connected my 2512 to the home network and hit my linux box then the term server to access my stuff.

I was looking at the term servers but was put off by the price. Instead, I took a spare PC and go one of those serial cards with like 8 serial cables on it. I then did a wire run to my lab rack, wired in all of the consoles, and hooked it all up to the PC. Now I just RDP into the PC and access whichever router/switch I want to use, using a remote network power switch to turn which ever device on and off.

I only wish I could use that to turn the AC on in that room remotely, having some of those guys on at the same time cooks.
 
i'm having some issues with GNS3 lately, i have a new laptop (lenovo x201) and i can install gns3 fine and get everything setup, but when i go to drag a router(any type and IOS version doesn't matter as well) the program stops responding. Dynamips test works and all is ok there.

Laptop specs are - i5 540, 4gb, 500gb - tested using win7 x64 and x86 with the same results. I'm in the midst of installing xp mode to see if that changes anything.

any suggestions would be great.

thanks!
 
Dont use GNS3... its shit, crap, garbage. Just use vanilla(no front end) dynagen. Works best.

Agreed. If you're using a static topology then GNS3 really isn't worth the extra overhead IMHO.
 
Any new recommendations on devices for a CCNP home lab based on the new tests ? I've got the Route book on kindle, haven't skimmed all the way through it.

I've assembled:

2x 2620xm
1x 3640
2x 2610
3x 2950
1x 2501

getting ready to pick up

2509 or 2511 access server+Octal's
1 or 2 3550 for layer 2/3 switching

Hopefully that will be enough.

I walk for my BBA in August, and then it's on full speed for the CCNP, and a couple Alcatel/Lucent certs, and the JNCIA-M. Like to get that all done by january.

We do Cell Tower backhaul(Cisco 15xxx), Commercial Edge Network(Juniper mx480), and soon management of our Regional Transport Network(Mixed Cisco bag)
 
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Any new recommendations on devices for a CCNP home lab based on the new tests ? I've got the Route book on kindle, haven't skimmed all the way through it.

I've assembled:

2x 2620xm
1x 3640
2x 2610
3x 2950
1x 2501

getting ready to pick up

2509 or 2511 access server+Octal's
1 or 2 3550 for layer 2/3 switching

Hopefully that will be enough.

I walk for my BBA in August, and then it's on full speed for the CCNP, and a couple Alcatel/Lucent certs, and the JNCIA-M. Like to get that all done by january.

We do Cell Tower backhaul(Cisco 15xxx), Commercial Edge Network(Juniper mx480), and soon management of our Regional Transport Network(Mixed Cisco bag)
This thread is for virtualized cisco routers, not for physical routers.
 
I. C.

maybe not the best thread title, but I'm sure I'll find an appropriate thread.
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[COLOR="Red"]Dynamips/Dynagen[/COLOR] Official Thread. CCNA/CCNP/CCIE equipment questions... come here!
are you kidding me? :rolleyes: none the less, search and you will find tons of threads already that answer your original question.
 
Awesome! Just what I've been looking for to tinker around with stuff in a virtualized lab environment before doing it live.
 
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