Gns3

redgunner

Hello,

I have been using PacketTracer for my studies and I decided to leap to GNS3, see what the fuss was about.

Must admit - Not impressed.

The amount of configuration, installation of VMWARE and discovering bugs was super annoying...

Once I did get things running, only to come across problems with layer2.

I don't see how people can say GNS3 is good - It has so much potential and some positive things as being realtime and some useful tools not in PT - But overall it was a poor first experience.

How did others feel making a change from PT to GNS3?

networker050184

PT is a simulation. GNS3 is actually running real IOS. That alone is enough for anyone wanting somewhat real world results from their testing/labbing to make the jump. GNS3 is fairly limited at L2 when using routing images but you can bring in things like IOU L2 images though.

Personally these days I usually just spin up images in VMs and network them together without GNS3, but it is a bit more complicated for the beginner.

rob42

I tried GNS3 after reading a post on here (the post actually read "GMS3"; an easy typo I suppose).

I found it to be very confusing and I can't really see what all the fuss is about: CPT is way less trouble.

I'd need some convincing to use GNS3 over CPT. Maybe someone will post in this thread and convince me to persevere with it, but right now, it's CPT for me.

sthomas

I think Packet Tracer is great to use when studying for the CCNA, but beyond that it isn't enough to study for the CCNP/CCIE. That is were GNS3 can be more beneficial.

redgunner

Is it possible to run a router image and a switch image as virtual machines using VMWare?
I am aware of VIRL but seems very expensive and seems overkill for what I want to do.
Is there anyway I can just run a basic router image and a switch image and connect things up?