Cisco CML and VIRL

Hi Guys,

For those that are interested in CML & VIRL (they are actually two separate products) please see the below:
The scoop on CML and VIRL! ~ 802101.com - CCIE Certification blog

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Comments

spiderjericho

I still feel like I didn't get an answer on the product, lol. But thanks for asking the questions. At least we know VIRL is the virtualization platform with other products using it.

Scales

spiderjericho wrote: »

I still feel like I didn't get an answer on the product, lol. But thanks for asking the questions. At least we know VIRL is the virtualization platform with other products using it.

Sorry its not my blog

should have said that.

Well pretty much you will be able to download VIRL from devnet (i think for free). An added bonus is that it will be the platform the CCIE lab exam will be run on .

Roy4USA

Scales wrote: »

Sorry its not my blog should have said that.

Well pretty much you will be able to download VIRL from devnet (i think for free). An added bonus is that it will be the platform the CCIE lab exam will be run on .

https://developer.cisco.com/site/networking/one/onepk/sdk-and-docs/all-in-one-vm/index.gsp
The above URL contains a FREE VM with 3 Viral Routers and instructions.

https://developer.cisco.com/media/onePKGettingStarted-v1-1-0/GUID-B72B9643-3E16-4166-A2FA-CD7CBADB6D0A.html

802101stu

Hi everyone

It's my blog that Scales posted the link to.

@spiderjericho - It's kinda like GNS3 - but from Cisco, imagine PacketTracer thats infinitely expandable, contains all of the commands and can actually run something good

@Roy4USA - thats onePK - its not VIRL, but uses some of the same stuff - its for SDN (Software defined networking) it's very cool, and will link in to CML (and probably by extension, VIRL).

Scales

802101stu wrote: »

Hi everyone

It's my blog that Scales posted the link to.

@spiderjericho - It's kinda like GNS3 - but from Cisco, imagine PacketTracer thats infinitely expandable, contains all of the commands and can actually run something good

@Roy4USA - thats onePK - its not VIRL, but uses some of the same stuff - its for SDN (Software defined networking) it's very cool, and will link in to CML (and probably by extension, VIRL).

Hey Stu thanks for replying!

do you think VIRL will be better than say a CSR1000v lab setup + real equipment ?

802101stu

Scales wrote: »

Hey Stu thanks for replying!

do you think VIRL will be better than say a CSR1000v lab setup + real equipment ?

It's going to be great, as is GNS3, but there is nothing like getting the real equipment! Unless you drop about $1500 on CCIE v4 hardware and then they go and move the v5 to a virtualized setup. So (in general) real equipment is better, unless its for the CCIE exam in which case VIRL is better.

spiderjericho

802101stu wrote: »

Hi everyone

It's my blog that Scales posted the link to.

@spiderjericho - It's kinda like GNS3 - but from Cisco, imagine PacketTracer thats infinitely expandable, contains all of the commands and can actually run something good

@Roy4USA - thats onePK - its not VIRL, but uses some of the same stuff - its for SDN (Software defined networking) it's very cool, and will link in to CML (and probably by extension, VIRL).

Packet Tracer is awesome because it works. Nice pretty GUI and visual representation of a network. Just sucks that it's "fake."

GNS3 is getting long in tooth due to the IOS support. But they've figured so many great ways to increase it's functionality. Definitely the best network emulation tool. If they could make the visual/presentation better and more easily make things work for the user, it would be a solid B.

VIRL seems like the future (though it'll probably be cool to inter opt with GNS3, ESX, etc).

just wish we could get more info.

zerglings

Scales wrote: »

Hey Stu thanks for replying!

do you think VIRL will be better than say a CSR1000v lab setup + real equipment ?

Here's Brian's point of view. Their CCIE v5 rack is CSR1000V + Catalyst 3560s, if I am not mistaken.

fredrikjj

The main selling point for me is that it seems like I can run it as a VM on my workstation instead of having to buy an extra physical box to run a hypervisor + csr1000v. Essentially, it'll be an upgrade over my current IOU topology.

gorebrush

I already owned a Hypervisor anyway - so the CSR route made perfect sense for me. I just needed to add more memory.

Jackace

I'm still waiting to see how good VIRL ends up being. I don't have a server lying around with 32-64G of ram to use the CSR image on, but if it becomes the best option I will probably get one built. I played with IOSv and that seems to run with only 300-400M of ram per device so that is a big difference from the 2G+ that the CSR uses.

networkjutsu

fredrikjj wrote: »

The main selling point for me is that it seems like I can run it as a VM on my workstation instead of having to buy an extra physical box to run a hypervisor + csr1000v. Essentially, it'll be an upgrade over my current IOU topology.

You can run CSR on Workstation if you wanted to. Enable Page Sharing too. The doc is for WS7 but may work with the newer version as well.

Jackace wrote: »

I'm still waiting to see how good VIRL ends up being. I don't have a server lying around with 32-64G of ram to use the CSR image on, but if it becomes the best option I will probably get one built. I played with IOSv and that seems to run with only 300-400M of ram per device so that is a big difference from the 2G+ that the CSR uses.

You don't need to buy a server with 64GB of RAM. Mine is only 32GB of RAM and I was able to spin up 20 CSRs with around 15GB of RAM, including two other VMs. Though, you have to wait for ESXi to start scanning for pages before the RAM will go down. For example, I only spun up 10 CSRs first then when it started going down, I started spinning up more CSRs.

Roy4USA

Instead of starting a new thread, I thought this one would be more appropriate.

/dev/innovate From that page, "It’s a half-rack of awesome, fully-loaded with the latest gear from Cisco, preconfigured and ready to go OOB. Innovate smarter & faster with the latest technologies, products, applications on the most widely used infrastructure platform on the market today. "

joelsfood

I've seen the demo, and it's definitely a huge boon to those of us studying. Just make sure you're subscribed at devnet and keep an eye out for the release. Which yes, has been delayed