snipesdam:
Guys whats up here........... this thread is getting bored oooo. Lemme assume we are all studying shaa Just passed 300-101

DanIndia:
WOW Awesome. I'm actually thinking about going that route in the next couple months. How was it ? Study and prep period was for how long ?

snipesdam:


Studied for 3 months and did some lab sims. Cisco tested me on 3 lab simulations and one evaluation with 4 questions. gotta be very composed. Note that write memory and copy run start won't work as it was disabled on the simulation. Almost got frustrated trying to save my config and was wondering why....

DanIndia:
It does work sometimes. I've heard such before but I believe it differs from center to center. Just type the full config and you should be good to do. IF I remember clearly, I even used the tab completion.

snipesdam:


Yes the tab works, but some commands are taken out during the simulation. Like the R1#(config) do wr, or R1# copy running-config startup-config. This will give an error saying %command not implemented% which means that such commands exists but its not implemented so i decided to be calm and contd.

incrediblestev:
More

DanIndia:
R1# copy running-config startup-config.. why didn't this work ? Thus should work on any environment as it is the full command. In fact, Cisco should be happy that Engineers are using the full command hehe

DanIndia:
Thank you for sharing, Stev. I've known VIRL since before it was even released. It's just not gaining attention as the other simulators. I am not sure how it is now though but I might just give it a try as I am planning to either buy live gears sometime soon or invest on a brutal workstation. How much does the Personal edition cost ?

DanIndia:
Thank you for sharing, Stev. I've known VIRL since before it was even released. It's just not gaining attention as the other simulators. I am not sure how it is now though but I might just give it a try as I am planning to either buy live gears sometime soon or invest on a brutal workstation. How much does the Personal edition cost ?

snipesdam:


Omoo eee the just disabled some commands you just have to be smart. It made me make so many mistakes.... The key thing is to to practise very well...

incrediblestev:

incrediblestev:


Introducing The Next Generation Network Simulation System…


We all have our own lab full of high-end routing equipment ready and waiting for when we need it. If only it were that simple! A major part of a network engineer’s time is spent waiting to get ‘hands on’ with the lab network equipment. Then there’s the time spent cabling and configuring and finding that mistyped subnet mask.

But imagine what you could do if those network resources were available at a click of a button. What if network engineers had the same capabilities as software engineers, with the ability to create virtualized environments with high fidelity?

Used by engineers across Cisco, VIRL is a network simulation system based on OpenStack, along with virtual Cisco router running IOS, IOS XE, IOS XR and NXOS network operating systems, as well as IOS Layer-2 switching and ASA firewall functionality. With the VM Maestro GUI, you can quickly create network topologies and have the router and switch configurations built using AutoNetkit. Then, with a single click, start the simulation. The network topology is realized as a running network of VMs, each of which is an instance of a Cisco NOS representing a switch or routing platform, orchestrated by OpenStack.


Cisco VIRL In Detail

Cisco VIRL Personal Edition annual subscription license provides a scalable, extensible network design and simulation environment with several Cisco Network Operating Systems. This includes IOSv, IOSvL2, IOS XRv, NX-OSv, CSR1000v and ASA1000v virtual machines as well as third party images such as Ubuntu Linux.

Educational pricing is available for this product for college students, parents buying for a college student, or teachers, homeschool teachers and staff of all grade levels – limited to one purchase.

VIRL enables users to:

• Build highly-accurate models of real-world or future networks.

• Learn and test with ‘real’ versions of Cisco network operating systems – IOS, IOS XR, IOS XE, NX-OS and ASA.

• Integrate virtual network simulations with real network environments.

• The download includes VIRL Personal Edition 1.0 Pre-Release software with a single-user annual license to manage up to 15 Cisco nodes.

Read about the virtual OS feature support list here:

• For IOSv: http://community.dev-innovate.com/t/iosv-more-info/633

• For IOSvL2: http://community.dev-innovate.com/t/iosvl2-more-info-updated-4-26-15/3279

• For IOS-XRv: http://community.dev-innovate.com/t/ios-xrv-more-info/631

• For NX-OSv: http://community.dev-innovate.com/t/nxosv-more-info/632

• For CSR1000v: http://community.dev-innovate.com/t/csr1000v-more-info/630

Requirements
Verify that your PC or laptop meets the following minimum requirements:

• Host system must be able to access the Internet on a regular basis (TCP ports 4505 & 4506 outbound enabled on any firewall/proxy)

• Four CPU cores and 8GB of DRAM that can be allocated to the VIRL VM (more resources allows for larger simulations)

• Intel VT-x / EPT or AMD-V / RVI virtualization extensions present and enabled in the BIOS

• 50GB of free disk space for installation

• VM Maestro User Interface client requires Java JRE 6+ to be installed

You must purchase and install one of the following supported Hypervisors in order to run Cisco VIRL.:

• VMware Fusion Pro v5.02 or later (including v6.x or v7.x)

• VMware Workstation v8.04 or later (including v9.x and 10.x)

• VMware Player v5.02 or later*** (including v6.x)

• ESXi 5.1 / 5.5 using the vSphere Client: ESXi 5.1U2 (Build 1483097) or ESXi 5.5U1 (Build 1623387)****

These Hypervisors are not included as part of Cisco VIRL and must be purchased separately.

For non-Hypervisor installations (Bare-metal) verify that you PC or Laptop meets the following minimum requirements:

• Host system must be able to access the Internet periodically

• Four CPU cores and 8GB of DRAM – more resources allows for larger simulations

• Intel VT-x / EPT or AMD-V / RVI virtualization extensions present and enabled in the BIOS

• 50GB of free disk space for installation

• Ability to boot .ISO image or attach the ISO via an integrated management interface (such as the Cisco Integrated Management Controller)

• VM Maestro User Interface client requires Java JRE 6+ to be installed


***VMware Player

***VMware Player – Note:

VIRL provides the capability to link both the management- and data-plane interfaces of nodes within a simulation to external networks and devices on those networks. This connectivity requires that an interface be shared between the host PC and the VIRL virtual machine.

Both VMware Fusion and VMware Workstation provide tools to configure the required virtual networks and interfaces. VMware Player does not include such tools, so although VIRL will still operate with VMware Player, the ability to communicate over Ethernet from the PC to nodes within a simulation will be inhibited. If such direct Ethernet connectivity is desired then either VMware Fusion Pro (for Mac), VMware Workstation (Windows or Linux) is required.

Users are able to communicate with nodes within a simulation running on VMware Player using the VM Maestro ‘Telnet to console port’ or ‘ssh to Management port’ access mechanisms.


****VMware ESXi

****VMware ESXi – Note:

ESXi host MUST have Intel CPU with VT-X / EPT support. AMD processors are NOT supported.

snipesdam:



Wow this is good and requires a core i7 processor and 8gb-16gb ram config system, to avoid lagging like GNS.

rhymz:
GNS3 is a powerful learning tool once you can get past the bugs and you are using it for R&S at CCNA/NP level studies and labbing. But for Ike Data tracks like Data Centre, Security or Service provider, GNS3 comes short in comparison to this new offering from Cisco. Cisco operating systems that are ASICS specific to the hardware gears like the catalyst IOS, or the Nexus switches used for Data centre and Cloud service routers for SP are a headache to run on GNS3 where as thus new offering will be doing all these. Trust me, people are going to jump on this one and leave GNS3 in the lurch.

I have a video of INE's Brian McGahan going through configurations on all these other cisco IOS that GNS3 can't properly emulate and it was clean and straight forward, you won't have to spend half of your study time trouble shooting gns3 and all that crap.... I will be getting it soon if my ogas them no wan talk well.

snipesdam:


Studied for 3 months and did some lab sims. Cisco tested me on 3 lab simulations and one evaluation with 4 questions. gotta be very composed. Note that write memory and copy run start won't work as it was disabled on the simulation. Almost got frustrated trying to save my config and was wondering why....

DanIndia:
WAIT. You mean could simulate catalyst switches on it without having to deal with the drag ? I still don't think so yet.. at least until I'm proven wrong. As setting up switcges on GNS3 are a pain

incrediblestev:
Well my friend it now has the ability to do so....Like I said before, I have seen a video where the catalyst switch ios which in the VIRL environment is being referred to as IOSv.... Not only can you do switching on but also NX-IOS, thats Data center switching....So GNS3 dose not stand a chance here....But the good thing here is that, some people are already coming up with ways to run these IOSv and the likes on GNS3 like they did with the IOU L2 and L3 switches which I am currently using for my switching.....So yes, go do your research, it can switch now....the early release couldn't latest August release can damn well do switching with so much ease.

DanIndia:
I have done my research already. VIRL is nowhere close to as efficient as GNS3.
VIRL doesn't support serial connections, vendor depend, 15 switches simulation limitation, very hard to setup and a lot more. You can't even bridge a live gear into it. All that VIRL can do, you can actually do with GNS3. VIRL works in between virtual hosts. You can do that with GNS3 and with WireShark capture whatever traffic between them. VIRL is good but I don't think it can ever be close to GNS3.

Plus, it doesn't even fit in the requirements for a CCIE so another big thumbs down.

snipesdam:
.

Guys the best option save and buy CCIE lab kit on Ebay or Amazon. Am gradually saving for that though. However i haven't done a research on VIRL but with the extent of what GNS3 provides and tweaking the switch which is a living hell, I wish to see VIRL do more. @DanIndia pls could you provide me with links to some IOS images

snipesdam:
Hello Guys, I work in IT department of one the leading Banking industries. Currently there is urgent need of IT support staff Computer Science graduates and other science discipline. This is very urgent and needS quick response.

Here are the requirements.

HND Upper credit ONLY!

CCNA, ITIL added advantage.

Not More than 25years as of last birthday.

Location should be within South East, South South.

Kindly prepare your CV and other documentation and show up tomorrow @Emmanuela Plaza First floor Abuloma Road, Port Harcourt before 9am. The address is a recruiting agency SOL whom is in charge of the recruitment process.

DanIndia:
I have done my research already. VIRL is nowhere close to as efficient as GNS3.
VIRL doesn't support serial connections, vendor depend, 15 switches simulation limitation, very hard to setup and a lot more. You can't even bridge a live gear into it. All that VIRL can do, you can actually do with GNS3. VIRL works in between virtual hosts. You can do that with GNS3 and with WireShark capture whatever traffic between them. VIRL is good but I don't think it can ever be close to GNS3.

Plus, it doesn't even fit in the requirements for a CCIE so another big thumbs down.