2018 Comparison for virtualised labbing?

Chris.Mackenzie01Chris.Mackenzie01 Member Posts: 36 ■■■□□□□□□□
I badly need to get my teeth into something, and the Azure stuff is just not going in. So I've turned to my trusty Cisco!

Previously used GNS3 for my CCNA and found it easy enough to use. I think I even did some packet tracer labs.

I want to look at starting to sit my CCNP, Starting with Switch and not sure what way to go.
I dont want equipment if I can help it, Its bulky and I dont have the room at the moment.

I've read into VIRL and seems to support alot but I'm struggling to find any internet posts about VIRL vs GNS3 in 2018. I'm not fussed about the $200 cost as the end gain far outweighs that. There is a added bonus that I'm putting a CSR 1000V into Azure in the coming months and it would give me some hands on.

both my laptop and desktop are capable of handling either or at large scale. so compute resources are not so much the issue, just the experience mainly Has anyone used either or recently?

I've heard of UnetLab aswell. Although not found any comparisons

Comments

  • Tolg4Tolg4 Member Posts: 12 ■□□□□□□□□□
    You can use VIRL images and import them in GNS3.
    You have the following: IOSv and IOSvL2, NX-OSv and NX-OS 9000v, IOS XRv and IOS XRv 9000, IOS XE (CSR1000V), ASAv.

    Check David Bombal on youtube, he has some videos about that.
  • negru_tudornegru_tudor Member Posts: 473 ■■■□□□□□□□
    I badly need to get my teeth into something, and the Azure stuff is just not going in. So I've turned to my trusty Cisco!

    Previously used GNS3 for my CCNA and found it easy enough to use. I think I even did some packet tracer labs.

    I want to look at starting to sit my CCNP, Starting with Switch and not sure what way to go.
    I dont want equipment if I can help it, Its bulky and I dont have the room at the moment.

    I've read into VIRL and seems to support alot but I'm struggling to find any internet posts about VIRL vs GNS3 in 2018. I'm not fussed about the $200 cost as the end gain far outweighs that. There is a added bonus that I'm putting a CSR 1000V into Azure in the coming months and it would give me some hands on.

    both my laptop and desktop are capable of handling either or at large scale. so compute resources are not so much the issue, just the experience mainly Has anyone used either or recently?

    I've heard of UnetLab aswell. Although not found any comparisons


    Look into EVE-NG. It does pretty much what GNS3 does but the GUI is web based. I've been (and still am) a GNS3 fan but the convenience of having a web-based GUI that comes with EVE (no desktop client installation etc) is awesome.
    2017-2018 goals:
    [X] CIPTV2 300-075
    [ ] SIP School SSCA
    [X] CCNP Switch 300-115 [X] CCNP Route 300-101 [X] CCNP Tshoot 300-135
    [ ] LPIC1-101 [ ] LPIC1-102 (wishful thinking)
  • Legacy UserLegacy User Unregistered / Not Logged In Posts: 0 ■□□□□□□□□□
    EVE is awesome, you run it on a high powered machine and access it via url anywhere you want. I like to lab on my deck with my light dell xps laptop and a cold beer enjoying the breeze.
  • Chris.Mackenzie01Chris.Mackenzie01 Member Posts: 36 ■■■□□□□□□□
    That does sound useful,
    Previously I had to setup my GNS3 on both my XPS and my Desktop and then used dropbox to load the configs across. Was such a PITA.

    Does EVE work with VIRL images? I'll do some reading this evening.
  • Legacy UserLegacy User Unregistered / Not Logged In Posts: 0 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Yes it does, I'm pretty sure it supports the same stuff that gns3 does but setting it up is different.
  • negru_tudornegru_tudor Member Posts: 473 ■■■□□□□□□□
    dmarcisco wrote: »
    Yes it does, I'm pretty sure it supports the same stuff that gns3 does but setting it up is different.

    Correct. Once you get the hang of it and how images are added you can come up with very creative ideas & you'll soon learn that you can build a lot more stuff in EVE than just R&S. I got almost all of the new CCIE Collaboration v2 equipment running in EVE alongside routers, switches, Windows AD servers, ASA etc. It's an awesome platform and as you said, load it on a powerful server and use any client machine with a browser to do your labs.
    2017-2018 goals:
    [X] CIPTV2 300-075
    [ ] SIP School SSCA
    [X] CCNP Switch 300-115 [X] CCNP Route 300-101 [X] CCNP Tshoot 300-135
    [ ] LPIC1-101 [ ] LPIC1-102 (wishful thinking)
  • williebwillieb Member Posts: 108 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Consider the GNS3 virtual machine as well. It will run on VirtualBox, VMware Workstation, and VMware ESXi.

    I use the ESXi version installed on my personal server. I can build labs and access them from multiple machines without syncing anything since the IOS images and all labs/files are saved on the server. I access it from work, home, and my laptop, anytime, and anywhere as long as I have Internet.

    Just another option to consider.

    GNS3.jpg 102.5K
    [X] CCENT ICND1 100-105
    [X] CCNA ICND2 200-105
    [X] CCNP ROUTE 300-101
    [X] CCNP SWITCH 300-115
    [X] CCNP TSHOOT 300-135
    [ ] CCDP ARCH 300-320
  • negru_tudornegru_tudor Member Posts: 473 ■■■□□□□□□□
    willieb wrote: »
    Consider the GNS3 virtual machine as well. It will run on VirtualBox, VMware Workstation, and VMware ESXi.

    I use the ESXi version installed on my personal server. I can build labs and access them from multiple machines without syncing anything since the IOS images and all labs/files are saved on the server. I access it from work, home, and my laptop, anytime, and anywhere as long as I have Internet.

    Just another option to consider.

    The advantage EVE has over GNS3 is that there's no need for a desktop client installation. You can just jump on a browser to build labs. Most of the times I see people being turned off by GNS3 due to the desktop client and VM aspect. Don't get me wrong, GNS3 is an awesome tool, so is VIRL for example but IMHO there's an obvious advantage that EVE-NG has over these guys.
    2017-2018 goals:
    [X] CIPTV2 300-075
    [ ] SIP School SSCA
    [X] CCNP Switch 300-115 [X] CCNP Route 300-101 [X] CCNP Tshoot 300-135
    [ ] LPIC1-101 [ ] LPIC1-102 (wishful thinking)
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