Need a better simulator for BSCI

Steve10393

I'm pulling my hair out with Boson. It likes to randomly shut down on me after I just configured 10 routers for 30 minutes. I need advice on a good simulator to use for building this:

Multi-area OSPF network, multi or single AS eigrp network, frame-relay cloud, BGP network(in the middle). In addittion, I want to be able to do route redistribution between all those networks and play with multicasting. In summary, everything I need for BSCI 901.

I realize every simulator is going to have some downfall to it, but any recommendations for what's better?

mikej412

Dynamips (with Dynagen)

From a CCIE Home Lab thread:

mikej412 wrote:

Since we're talking cheap here.... probably should add in the Dynamips/Dynagen info that's been posted elsewhere in the various Cisco Forums....

Update:
There is now a Class-on-Demand from InternetworkExpert!

mikej412 wrote:

Brian McGahan has a "Class-on-Demand walk through on Using Dynamips for CCIE Lab Preparation" on the InternetworkExpert website. The COD and Dynamips writeup is at this link.
http://www.internetworkexpert.com/resources/dynamips.htm

The 7200emu forums over at hacki.at (linked all the way at the bottom of the IE page) is where I usually go now to check out Dynamips/Dynagen stuff. Brian had posted this in the new HOWTOs section. There are also new lab sections there -- CCNA and CCNP, since Dynamips isn't just for for CCIE Candidates anymore.

mikej412 wrote:

It's easier to start with Dynagen -- which includes the Dynamips version that works with it in the download. Dynagen has a dependency on Winpcap 4.0 -- the download link for that is on the first URL. Dynagen works on Linux and XP.... it had a problem with 2000 before (not sure about now, or 2003).

Dynagen - The Dynamips Configuration Generator

Dynamips / Dynagen Tutorial

You can check out the latest Dynamips here.... and if it has something you absolutely can't live without, you can run it without Dynagen.

Dynamips Home Page

Support and bugs are here:
Cisco 7200 Simulator Blog

From the tutorial quoting the FAQ:

Dynamips runs real Cisco 3620, 3640, or 7200 IOS images. From the Dynamips FAQ:

Can you provide a Cisco IOS image for a 7200 to me?

No, I am not allowed to distribute any IOS image. You will have to find one by yourself, this should not be a problem if you are a Cisco customer.

Once you've gotten it working -- check out the Dynamips - Lab share thread.

TheShadow posted this internetwork expert labs and Dynamips thread -- but I'll just quote it here. The Internetworkexpert page has additional links, including one to a Dynamips forum with most of the lab workbook configs posted.

TheShadow wrote:

If you havent looked at groupstudy lately this was posted today along with a couple of topology setups for R&S and service provider

I've been getting lots of offline requests lately to post the
Internetwork Expert topologies in Dynamips/Dynagen form, so I've created
a white paper about it:

http://www.internetworkexpert.com/resources/iosonpc.htm

For those of you unfamiliar with the software package you can
use it to boot real IOS images for the 7206, 3620, 3640, and 3660 on
your desktop PC to create a CCIE lab environment.

Thanks,

Brian McGahan, CCIE #8593 (R&S/SP)
bmcgahan@internetworkexpert.com

From the Dynamip tip thread in the CCNP Forum:

romain wrote:

Just found on the web and hope it could help you !

http://www.virtualpod.org/video/

If you want to try the tool : Click Here

A bootable Linux CD with Dynagen/Dynamips..... still early beta but "live Linux CDs" aren't new. And editing an ISO image isn't a big deal if you don't want to wait for a fully "labbed" version to come out -- you can add your own net files (modified for Linux) and IOS image files now.

UPDATE: changed the 7200emu link to the new URL