Sdn lab

n4pst3r

Hello all I recently discoverd this new concept of network programmability in the new CCNA 200-125 exam and it was just theoritical. With all this theory in my head I'm looking for a way to emulate an SDN network with GNS3 from scratch, came accross some tutorials talking about a mininet(kindoff virtual network with openflow switches and controler) and the famous OpenDayLight controller, but that's still abstract. I'm looking for a way to run my old IOS images on GNS3 and manage their control planes with a nice SDN controller. Well basically...I need a 101 and simple way to lab SDN Thanks for your replies

networker050184

There really isn't a way to manage your old IOS devices control planes with a controller in the true sense. They have no programability unfortunately.

ccie14023

Well, there are a couple of things in your post. First, I would distinguish between programmability (i.e., using interfaces like NETCONF to interact with network devices) and SDN, which technically means moving the control plane to an external controller, as in ODL with OpenFlow.

I agree with the previous poster that you are not going to do any of that with plain old IOS. VIRL is one option. You can run NX-OSv in there, which has some capability, and I think IOS-XR. IOS-XE also has some programmability capabilities. (I work on Catalyst programmability at Cisco, and the latest releases of 16.3 have NETCONF.)

However, perhaps the easiest way to get started is to head over to Cisco DevNet and work through some learning labs.

https://developer.cisco.com

n4pst3r

Hey guys.. Thanks for your replies...@ccie14023, I found about APIC-EM which could help on older switch and routers. But technical requirements are too large...for a vm it needs a 6 core processor, 64Gb of RAM and 500 free hard disk drive. Now the main issue trying to overcome is tech requierement...the ODL controller ain't much lighter, so can't really play with it. Thanks for the cisco DevNET, i'll play around for a while

Node Man

Greetings,
I asked the same question with this thread:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/off-topic/124561-labbing-up-sdn.html#post1071167

The trouble is that SDN really is a diverse, enterprise specific idea. The closest way i found to lab it at home was this virtual switch:

openvswitch.org

I have not yet got around to trying it.

~
Node