May 20, 2008
GNS3 Dream Fulfilled
Lo and behold - my GNS3 Lab Dream has been mostly fulfilled! As I was blogging on Network World, one of the readers posted this link:
It's a massive GNS3 support/lab forum where many people have created lab topologies for existing books/scenarios out on the market! Much less work than creating labs manually (my initial idea). I've redirected GNS3Labs.com to this site - great stuff!
Okay...I have to admit...I'm a little bummed this is already out there. It feels a little like I jumped out of my chair saying, "wouldn't it be great if there was a device that could excite water molecules to cause friction and heat up food?!?!" Ehhh... I'm sure I'll get over it - I'm really excited to see this site in play!
UPDATE: In surfing through the site, they even have a .NET file for the CCIE topology I created for CBTNuggets! Awesome!
Posted by JC at 2:49 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
May 12, 2008
GNS3, The Initial Lab
Alright...this took a little more time than I had hoped, but my initial GNS3 lab is done. I designed this initial lab to test through most of the Cisco CCENT concepts. I'm planning on posting this on the Network World blog I'm running this month tomorrow, but figured I'd post it here first. The GNS3 topology is using a 2600 series router / image (I figured many people could get ahold of one of these images either via a SmartNet contract or Ebay). The exact image I used is c2600-i-mz.123-26.bin.
The lab itself isn't as pretty as I'd like, but I primarily wanted to get something out there with a template to create other labs. I borrowed heavily from the style of labs that Interface Technical Training (aka Mike Storm) uses for this, which I've found to be very effective.
Let me know if you find any glaring errors or have suggestions for the template / look and feel.
The GNS3 Lab Topology is here: http://www.ciscoblog.com/docstore/CCENT.net (Right-click and do a Save As File)
The Lab itself is here: http://www.ciscoblog.com/docstore/GNS3Lab1.pdf
***UPDATE: It seems the lab topology only opens on OS X. Let me see if I can get the Windows version working...
***UPDATE2: The topology works on Windows (doesn't look as pretty as OS X) as long as you're running GNS 0.5 and have loaded an IOS image for a 2620-2621 router.
My next steps are to build out the gns3labs.com site and make a repository for these labs. Ehhhh...where do I get all this time? Honestly, I do most of this while my students in class are working on labs themselves :o).
Posted by JC at 1:29 PM | Comments (16) | TrackBack
April 28, 2008
My First GNS3 Lab...
Thanks for all the feedback on my GNS3Labs.com idea from the previous post. Here's what I've decided to do: GNS3Labs.com will not (immediately) be a "hosted" GNS3 solution since there are a TON of technical details I still need to work out to make this possible. Instead, it will become a repository of labs for all things Cisco. Here's what I plan on doing:
1. Build the site (probably a Joomla solution...once I figure out Joomla. I'm so pathetic at anything dealing with web development)...but I do know the HTML code to make things bold. :)
2. Create a "lab writing template." I would like all the labs on this site to have a uniform look-and-feel to them. The lab template will be distributed to anyone who wants it.
3. Create a sample lab (more on this at the end of this post).
4. Accept submissions from all of YOU (and the general GNS3 community) and post them to the site.
Now...to the title of this slide. I'm on my way in creating the first GNS3 Lab Topology and Guide. I've decided to make it a big CCNA-level lab. Network World magazine has invited me to be their "blogger of the month" for the month of May to promote my new CCNA Practice Questions book. I'll be posting my first CCNA practice lab both here and to the Network World CCNA blog I'll be running in the beginning of May.
I'm really excited to see this thing take off!
Posted by JC at 3:20 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
April 16, 2008
My Latest Brilliant Idea
As you I'm sure have figured out, I've been enthralled with this GNS3 product. But there's a few problems that I've hit:
First Problem: Every time I recommend GNS3 to someone, they get all excited until they find out they need a copy of the IOS to run it. The next question becomes, "So where to I get that?" At which point, I'm forced to mutter something about using someone's SmartNet contract. And I honestly feel bad! There's so many people that want to learn Cisco that can't get a copy of the IOS from somewhere.
Second Problem: Even if you DO get a copy of the IOS and get GNS3 set up, you end up in a, "what now?" scenario. Let me describe...When I teach Cisco classes, I always encourage people to get some lab equipment from Ebay...but I know a lot of people do this, get all this shiny, racked equipment in place and then don't know what to do with it. It was the same feeling for me when I got GNS3 running - beautiful program, but left me with a, "okay...I've got this great network topology...what now?"
So...we come to my brilliant idea: as I'm showering this morning, it suddenly hits me (this is where most my brilliant thoughts originate) - we need LABS for GNS3. And, access to these GNS3 labs needs to be hosted on a website. Let's see if I can describe this in writing: I want to create a web page that has tons of labs - some could be certification-based, others could just be methods to set up cool configurations. If someone clicks on the lab, they get a visual network diagram followed by a lab description (and steps). If they click on one of the devices, it opens a remote telnet session to a GNS3 setup hosted on a server (this eliminates the first problem above).
Tell me you're not getting excited about this idea - my brainstorming continues...
The labs would either be free or VERY low cost (50 cents or a dollar per lab?) to cover the cost of hosting this solution. I HATE when lab companies that charge hundreds of dollars for something like this. Perhaps it's all free with PayPal donations accepted...who knows?
There's still missing links to my idea:
1. Need a scripting system that resets the labs (router configurations) when someone finishes.
2. Coding the webpage...obviously, if you look at this website...web coding is not my specialty. Actually...I hate web coding.
So...obviously, I'm going to need some help making this happen. Honestly, I would just love to write the labs - if only I knew a web developer who could build a site like this...
...ehem...IF ONLY I KNEW A WEB DEVELOPER WHO COULD BUILD A SITE LIKE THIS.
Sorry. Had to clear my throat. I just registered GNS3Labs.com :o). Only time will tell what it becomes.
Posted by JC at 5:17 AM | Comments (25) | TrackBack
April 14, 2008
GNS3 Now Available for Apple
...and the world was a better place.
Posted by JC at 12:22 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
March 28, 2008
GNS3 0.4.1 Release
GNS3 continues to get better every release. For those who haven't heard, GNS3 is Cisco network simulation emulation software that allows you to run the REAL IOS in a lab environment between multiple simulated emulated devices. This release now allows you to emulate 1700 routers and PIX firewalls! Killer.
There's plenty of talk that GNS3 will soon support virtual PCs in the lab environment.
I also stumbled upon another blog who has some great reading / tutorials on setting up and configuring GNS3: http://www.blindhog.net/. Kudos to all the video tutorials on the site!
Posted by JC at 1:37 PM | Comments (14) | TrackBack