Dynamips - did i forget something

shednik

Alright well I've started to try and run dynamips now to compliment my lab I have currently...I installed GNS3 and everything is running fine.

When i go into emulation mode and run the IOS it will spike my CPU at 100% and stay there...I first did it on my one system with an Athlon XP 2600, so I said ok it's nothing great I have my 3GHz Pentium D to run in on, and it did the same thing. The Pentium D also seems to run hotter i normally idle at 45 C and the temp spikes up above 65 if I run the IOS here as well.

Has anyone else had any issues similar to this?? I have a decent heat sink and fan for the processor it could be better but I'm just wondering if there's something I did wrong.

mikej412

Did you set an idle pc value (idlepc in the net file or save in DB option) for the IOS image(s) you're using?

I loaded GNS3 and didn't think it was worth the effort. I'm sticking with just Dynamips and Dynagen.

shednik

hmm forgot to set that....whats the best value to set it at?

mikej412

The value that works the best

I just followed the instructions on the Dynagen website and tried the "suggested values" when there was more than one and used the one that gave me the smallest CPU usage. I think there are "standard values" for specific IOS image files -- but the value will be different for an uncompressed image than the original compressed image.

Netstudent

mikej412 wrote:

Did you set an idle pc value (idlepc in the net file or save in DB option) for the IOS image(s) you're using?

I loaded GNS3 and didn't think it was worth the effort. I'm sticking with just Dynamips and Dynagen.

What? I think it's really cool.....It's better than having to reference your .net file or drawing out your own topology to keep everything in order with large topologies. PLus building the .net file takes like less than half the time. It's better than Boson's netmap designer. I guess when you have been doing it long enough you can keep all that in your head. WHen I'm creating a frame network with 6 or 7 DTE's I need something to reference and GNS3 is perfect. GNS3 is a lot easier to setup when you download the complete GNS3/Dynamips/Dynagen package as one.


Shednik,
once you console in to the router go into enable mode. Then go back to Dynagen, or in GNS3, type in "idlepc get R1" if R1 is the name of the router you just consoled into. Then do "idlepc save R1 DB". ALso make sure all other instances are suspended. GEt the values one at a time. Some say that it's better to get the idlepc value before going into enable mode but I have found otherwise.

networker050184

GNS3 adds way too much over head. I can run a lot more routers using Dynamips/Dynagen. No need for all the gui stuff, just a waste of your computers recources.

shednik

Netstudent wrote:

Shednik,
once you console in to the router go into enable mode. Then go back to Dynagen, or in GNS3, type in "idlepc get R1" if R1 is the name of the router you just consoled into. Then do "idlepc save R1 DB". ALso make sure all other instances are suspended. GEt the values one at a time. Some say that it's better to get the idlepc value before going into enable mode but I have found otherwise.

Thanks netstudent I'll give that a try if not is there a good tutorial out there for using just dynamips/dynagen that any of you guys recommend?

networker050184

Dynamips/Dynagen tutorial comes with the installation. You can also get it here on the Dynagen website . Its pretty simple once you get the hang of it.

happy420golucky

networker050184 wrote:

Dynamips/Dynagen tutorial comes with the installation. You can also get it here on the Dynagen website . Its pretty simple once you get the hang of it.

I just wanted to throw in a line or two on this thread. I just now got GNS3 working on my computer yesterday. I am already a huge fan. I have my own lab at home, but this to me beats out the lab *moving cables, nic cards, cords, etc is a pain in the azz*. I just love having a network right on my laptop right at my fingertips that can practically go to any cofee shop, or sit around at work and lab it up.

I agree with "Netstudent", the gui is nice and being able to map out a topology visually is nice too. I am one of those guys that like to use the whiteboards when I network. So it helps. Anyways, good luck shednik!!

Now I need to read through some threads to figure out what tweaks let's me run the most routers. Take care

dtlokee

Listening to these "Cisco" guys rave about a GUI is going to make me sick!

cisco_trooper

dtlokee wrote:

Listening to these "Cisco" guys rave about a GUI is going to make me sick!

I was thinking the same thing...

Guys,
GNS3 is crap for a couple reasons. For one it DOES waste resources, BAD. Two, the first time you create a big lab, run it, configure a bunch of crap, save it, then open it, only to find out it can't open a lab it saved because it for is in the wrong damn format or corrupt or whatever, you WILL change your mind about it usefulness. ..And three, come on, does it really save you that much time? Really, how hard is it to type F1/0 = RTR2 F1/0 in a dynamips config?

Dynamips runs better, and at the very least, your configs don't get screwed up after saving them. Just my nickel worth, do with it what you will.

shednik

dtlokee wrote:

Listening to these "Cisco" guys rave about a GUI is going to make me sick!

It does make it easier but it looks like it isn't worth having I just have to get used to setting up the topology.

happy420golucky

Well, I know that others on this thread prefer the dynagen/dynamips load instead of the GNS3 for it's GUI interface.
So I tried to install it here on my machine. I followed the intstructions and put a 3725 ios image where the image is supposed to go. No dice..... this program won't load the simple lab scenarios, nor start the routers in the frame relay scenario..... wtf man!!!

Also, I learned how to adjust the idle pc values while working on GNS3 and that helped my proc. My memory is still maxed out hardcore though. Is there really a difference when it comes to memory when using gns3 or dynagen? I would figure that there really wouldn't be, since both would have to uncompress the IOS image into memory. Input anyone?

networker050184

I run about 10 routers on my lap top (1.7GHz cpu and 1gig ram running Vista) with Dynagen/Dynamips. I couldn't get more than four running with GNS3 even after about an hour of trying to get the damn ghostios option to work. Alos the .net files are so easy to set up there really is no need for the GUI. I just draw my network diagram on a piece of paper (I know not high tech enough for some!) for reference.

happy420golucky

networker050184 wrote:

I run about 10 routers on my lap top (1.7GHz cpu and 1gig ram running Vista) with Dynagen/Dynamips. I couldn't get more than four running with GNS3 even after about an hour of trying to get the damn ghostios option to work. Alos the .net files are so easy to set up there really is no need for the GUI. I just draw my network diagram on a piece of paper (I know not high tech enough for some!) for reference.

ok, now I am able to finally get those two routers set up from the simple lab. Now I am trying to figure out how to edit the lab files to set up a network like your 10 routers. Do you think you could paste on this forum your .net file setup?

networker050184

Its simple just open your .net file in a text editor and add as many routers as you want. If you read through the tutorial that comes with it it explains everything.

dtlokee

I have not used GNS3 much but I would say if that is what works for you then stick with it. No need giving up what works due to peer pressure... if we all did that we'd all have a Mac (Mac owners seem to be the most vocal about how great their Mac is and aweful any PC they've ever use happens to be)

cisco_trooper

happy420golucky wrote:

networker050184 wrote:

I run about 10 routers on my lap top (1.7GHz cpu and 1gig ram running Vista) with Dynagen/Dynamips. I couldn't get more than four running with GNS3 even after about an hour of trying to get the damn ghostios option to work. Alos the .net files are so easy to set up there really is no need for the GUI. I just draw my network diagram on a piece of paper (I know not high tech enough for some!) for reference.

ok, now I am able to finally get those two routers set up from the simple lab. Now I am trying to figure out how to edit the lab files to set up a network like your 10 routers. Do you think you could paste on this forum your .net file setup?

Here is a simple .NET file I use most of the time unless I'm looking to do something very specific:

ghostios = True
sparsemem = True
autostart = False

[localhost:7200]
workingdir = C:\DynamipsLabs\ISIS\Working

7200
image = C:\IOS\C7200-JS-MZ.124-18.image
npe = npe-400
ram = 160
nvram = 512
confreg = 0x2102
midplane = vxr
idlepc = 0x6077b338

ROUTER RTR_A
console = 2001
slot1 = PA-2FE-TX
slot2 = PA-8T
model = 7200
F1/0 = RTR_B F1/0
S2/0 = FrSw S1/1
S2/1 = RTR_C S2/1

ROUTER RTR_B
console = 2002
slot1 = PA-2FE-TX
slot2 = PA-8T
model = 7200
S2/1 = RTR_D S2/1

ROUTER RTR_C
console = 2003
slot1 = PA-2FE-TX
slot2 = PA-8T
model = 7200
F1/0 = RTR_D F1/0
S2/0 = FrSw S1/3

ROUTER RTR_D
console = 2004
slot1 = PA-2FE-TX
slot2 = PA-8T
model = 7200

ROUTER RTR_E
console = 2005
slot1 = PA-2FE-TX
slot2 = PA-8T
model = 7200
F1/0 = RTR_F F1/0
S2/0 = FrSw S1/5
S2/1 = RTR_G S2/1

ROUTER RTR_F
console = 2006
slot1 = PA-2FE-TX
slot2 = PA-8T
model = 7200
S2/1 = RTR_H S2/1

ROUTER RTR_G
console = 2007
slot1 = PA-2FE-TX
slot2 = PA-8T
model = 7200
F1/0 = RTR_H F1/0
S2/0 = FrSw S1/7

ROUTER RTR_H
console = 2008
slot1 = PA-2FE-TX
slot2 = PA-8T
model = 7200

ROUTER FrSw
autostart = True
console = 2009
slot1 = PA-8T
model = 7200

Netstudent

What is wierd for me is, I have a home PC that is single core 1.6Ghz with 512 Megs of RAM. Nothing monstrous but it serves my home purposes. I'm not a gamer. I can run about 6 devices on this machine with dynamips/dynagen no problem.

ON the other hand, I have a brand new gateway laptop that is dual core 2.0Ghz, 1 gig of RAM, and I can;t even load 2 frikin devices WITH idlepc values. It goes so damn slow on my laptop that it takes 30 seconds to spit out "no shut" I couldn;t even get the newest build of dynamips to boot an image, I had to DL an older release. I don't get it.

So I gave GNS3 a go on my work PC, which is a Pentium4 Dual core 3.0Ghz, 1.5 gigs of RAM, and I can run 10 devices no probelm with GNS3. The type of topology I labbed up with GNS3 in 10minutes would have taken me 2 hours on my own with all the syntax tweaks and what not.

I still have my physcial lab that I use weekly. When I want to do some quick routing protocol configs or VLANS, I use that. IF I want to lab up a big frame-relay lab, that I just don't have the hardware for, then it's GNS3 or dynamips depending on how complicated I want to make it.

happy420golucky

Netstudent wrote:

What is wierd for me is, I have a home PC that is single core 1.6Ghz with 512 Megs of RAM. Nothing monstrous but it serves my home purposes. I'm not a gamer. I can run about 6 devices on this machine with dynamips/dynagen no problem.

ON the other hand, I have a brand new gateway laptop that is dual core 2.0Ghz, 1 gig of RAM, and I can;t even load 2 frikin devices WITH idlepc values. It goes so damn slow on my laptop that it takes 30 seconds to spit out "no shut" I couldn;t even get the newest build of dynamips to boot an image, I had to DL an older release. I don't get it.

So I gave GNS3 a go on my work PC, which is a Pentium4 Dual core 3.0Ghz, 1.5 gigs of RAM, and I can run 10 devices no probelm with GNS3. The type of topology I labbed up with GNS3 in 10minutes would have taken me 2 hours on my own with all the syntax tweaks and what not.

I still have my physcial lab that I use weekly. When I want to do some quick routing protocol configs or VLANS, I use that. IF I want to lab up a big frame-relay lab, that I just don't have the hardware for, then it's GNS3 or dynamips depending on how complicated I want to make it.

That's crazy that your work computer works better. I myself had asked for a .net file to kinda build off of for dynagen/dynamips. I can't run GNS3 on my work laptop, but I can run GNS3 on my home rig no problem. I think it helps that I am a gamer and have some pretty beefy hardware. So I am like, you I loaded up a 12 router scenario on GNS3 with no problem.
Just setting up the .net file for Dynagen is too me in my opinion a pain in the Azz. I am really just trying to get it working so I can have a running laptop to take to some coffee shops around here and do some of my study's on the go. Anyways, thaks for the replys and .net configs.

happy420golucky

dtlokee wrote:

I have not used GNS3 much but I would say if that is what works for you then stick with it. No need giving up what works due to peer pressure... if we all did that we'd all have a Mac (Mac owners seem to be the most vocal about how great their Mac is and aweful any PC they've ever use happens to be)

haha, that's funnny i missed this! I know of this outspoken Mac-society you speak of, they are spawning up everywhere!!!

geezer

Hi

I am trying to get a handle on creating Net configurations in dynamips - but where/what are the options/syntax to use, e.g. for a 2610 for example - memory/modules etc ?

I have looked at the 'hacki' website and am getting a better understanding but still a lot more questions than answers.

TIA

P.S. The recommended router requirements for the Cisco 'Self-study guide (by Teare) is 2811's but it looks like dynamips doesn't support this but just 2610, 2611, 2620, 2621, 2610XM, 2620XM, 2621XM, 2650XM and 2651XM.

networker050184

A list of supported routers and everything you need to get it up a running here on the Dynagen Tutorial

dtlokee

The ISR (1800, 2800,3800) use advancd hardware switching that cannot be reproduced (currently) in Dynamips. This is same reason why you can't simulate switches.