GNS3 Frame relay issue

mikka1984

Has anyone had issues with a frame relay setup on GNS3? Im talking about setting up an actual frame relay using a virtual router running an IOS, no using the one provided by GNS3. Basically have a simple 4 router setup with EIGRP. Until turning EIGRP on on all it runs fine, you ping etc, once EIGRP (or OSPF for that matter) is on the frame relay starts bringing the pvc down and up again. This is not the config fault btw, have the exact same config on live routers and it runs without any hiccups. Will be installing Ubuntu this weekend, hoping that would solve the issue, but curious if anyone has this problem?

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vinbuck

I've used a router as a frame relay switch in a complex lab with EIGRP in GNS3 and haven't had problems. What kind of router were you using and what IOS? What OS are you running GNS3 on?

networker050184

Whats your CPU look like when you turn on the routing protocols?

Chris_

I've been running the labs from Cbt nuggets using a router as FR switch with no problems. The fact that bring up a routing protocol is the trigger fir your fault is weird as the frame side of life is totally unaware of layer 3. Can you post up your . Net file and configs, I'll maybe give it a try later.

mikka1984

System - XP SP3 (just because is swallows less RAM)
i3 quad core, first jumps up on all cores then settles down and stays down.
IOS - 2621XM adv sec k9-m 12.4(15)t8.
3 gigs of RAM.

Hope this helps. At work right now, so wont be able to post the config until i'm home (was working on it on lunch...)

mikka1984

out of curiosity, how stable is your GNS3? Mine stalls out at least every hour or so, does not like going over 7 routers either...

networker050184

Mine is always stable and can run more than 7 routers with lower specs on an XP machine. Do you have a different IOS you could give a shot?

vinbuck

mikka1984 wrote: »

System - XP SP3 (just because is swallows less RAM)
i3 quad core, first jumps up on all cores then settles down and stays down.
IOS - 2621XM adv sec k9-m 12.4(15)t8.
3 gigs of RAM.

Hope this helps. At work right now, so wont be able to post the config until i'm home (was working on it on lunch...)

You should be able to build a pretty big network with those little guys and a quad core with 3GB of RAM.

How much RAM are you giving each router and do you have a good idle PC value?

mikka1984

128 MB default per each router, dynamips swallows about 20-25 % of CPU after settling down. Just checking it now (laptop sitting right next to me) and sys idle process can jump up to 87, so i would imagine its configured ok...

mikej412

mikka1984 wrote: »

IOS - 2621XM adv sec k9-m 12.4(15)t8.

Did you uncompress/unzip the image?

Are you using multiple instances? I usually limit each of my instances to a max of 6 routers.

While I prefer Dynamips, I've had GNS3 (

) run on an i3 laptop for weeks at a time with no issues. I just suspend the routers when I'm not doing anything -- and will even let that laptop sleep at night.

vinbuck

mikka1984 wrote: »

System - XP SP3 (just because is swallows less RAM)
i3 quad core, first jumps up on all cores then settles down and stays down.
IOS - 2621XM adv sec k9-m 12.4(15)t8.
3 gigs of RAM.

Hope this helps. At work right now, so wont be able to post the config until i'm home (was working on it on lunch...)

You can save a bunch on RAM of you use a GD 12.3 IOS instead of an ED 12.4. I don't know what features you need but the latest 12.3.26 Advanced Security IOS only needs 64MB of RAM. If all you are doing is setting up a frame relay switch, I would find an IOS that supports what you need with the lowest RAM requirement. I've found that GNS3 on Windows in a large topology likes IOS images that are low on RAM usage. Linux is a different story...you can do just about anything you want if you have the horsepower.

Heero

MississippiGuardsman wrote: »

You can save a bunch on RAM of you use a GD 12.3 IOS instead of an ED 12.4. I don't know what features you need but the latest 12.3.26 Advanced Security IOS only needs 64MB of RAM. If all you are doing is setting up a frame relay switch, I would find an IOS that supports what you need with the lowest RAM requirement. I've found that GNS3 on Windows in a large topology likes IOS images that are low on RAM usage. Linux is a different story...you can do just about anything you want if you have the horsepower.

In windows, a single dynamips process is limited to 2 gigs of memory because an underlying driver they use only supports 2 gigs of memory, regardless of whether or not the system is 32 or 64 bit. Linux 64 bit has no such restrictions. I had no issues running an 18 router BGP lab in an ubuntu 64 bit vm with 4 processors and 5.5 gigs of ram. It was approaching full cpu utilization though, but memory was not an issue because of the sparsemem and ghostios options in dynamips.

ehnde

Heero wrote: »

In windows, a single dynamips process is limited to 2 gigs of memory because an underlying driver they use only supports 2 gigs of memory, regardless of whether or not the system is 32 or 64 bit. Linux 64 bit has no such restrictions. I had no issues running an 18 router BGP lab in an ubuntu 64 bit vm with 4 processors and 5.5 gigs of ram. It was approaching full cpu utilization though, but memory was not an issue because of the sparsemem and ghostios options in dynamips.

What he said. I've had a much easier time running GNS3 (I use dynamips now, not running GNS3) in linux.

I don't have the technical expertise to explain why, like Heero did, but my desktop in 64 bit ubuntu isn't slow and my virtual routers stay fairly snappy. Slow as hell in Windows.

mikka1984

Hmm, reduced default RAM to 64 and it runs like a charm... knew it wasnt the config issue. Got Ubuntu 64 downloaded, will be installing it tonight once done labbing, cant wait to see how well Ubuntu performs. I am assuming that Dynamips will support 2600 images (had a skim through their website and only saw 7200 series mentioned). As far is 2 gig limit, its on their website:
Dynamips / Dynagen Tutorial
Thanks a lot for your help guys

burbankmarc

I hope you're familiar with linux. I usually just grab the GNS3 source since it's more up to date than what you'll get through the synaptic/apt repos.

ehnde

2600 images work as long as they're decompressed.

mikka1984

Just a quick update guys, got GNS3 working and tweaked on my laptop, works like a dream, setup an OSPF NBMA topology from CBT nuggets (9 routers) and works like a dream, no crashes and performance is blinding

. And I absolutely love Ubuntu

. And as always, thanks for all your help gals/guys