The official guide and reference for GNS3. Hello ?? I’m new to GNS3 so I apologize if this is a basic question: I installed the latest version on my laptop yesterday which has an ip of 10.30.30.0/24. I also downloaded the VMware server image and imported it to one of our VMware servers at work which has an ip of 10.10.10.0/24. The actual gns3 VMware has 10.10.10.54.
Hello and welcome back to the GNS3 section, I take it you have just finished installing the GNS3 VM and that you are ready to start installing network devices, if you have not yet read or completed the GNS3 VM installation and integrated it successfully with GNS3 please do so now as the next part requires the VM to continue. In the next topic we will cover GNS3 and how to install network devices.
Gns3 Download
The import process
Before we begin importing anything I want you to firstly create a new project in GNS3, you can call this whatever you want to. I just need you to have a canvas where we can drag any new network devices into.
Now that you have a new project, please navigate to the router tab inside the network devices nodes and find the router you would like to install. For this example, I will use the Cisco IOSv or the (VIRL) image. This version of the iOS was specifically designed for virtual labs like the one we are using and is less prone to breaking.
Try and drag the Cisco iOSv into your network topology by dragging and holding it.
Notice how GNS3 automatically picks up that you do not have this appliance in your topology yet and gives a pop-up asking you if you want to add a new appliance. It will already have the appliance details ready to be imported. Please click on Next.
As we know that we are already going to run the appliance on the GNS3 VM we can leave the option where it is. if you have something else ticked please select “Run the appliance on the GNS3 VM” and go Next.
If there are no errors when communicating with the VM you will get the message that the GNS3 server requirements are OK. Simply click Next and continue.
Now we reach a critically important step, and that is to provide GNS3 with the software images of the appliance that you are trying to install. GNS3 will look for files in your downloads directory or your GNS3 images directory, when you download a file please make sure that you store it in your downloads folder.
If the status is RED and says Missing files it means you first need to download the image software. If it is GREEN and says Ready to install it means you can install this.
When we want to get the missing files of the software we want to install we can use GNS3’s simple way of clicking on the arrow next to the image that we want to download and select the component we want to download, please note that the Cisco iOSv requires two files, let’s download the first one by selecting it and clicking on the download button.
Now, this is where you will receive a pop-up message from GNS3 stating that you will be re-directed to the website where to download the images. It is important to note that some vendors require you to pay for their software images whereas others provide you with the software on a trial basis, for many of the vendors you will have to register an account on their support portals.
NB: Note that if you are having issues finding the software image that it might be in your best interest to try and google the exact name of the image you are trying to download and find a source to download the file.
Now that you’ve downloaded the required files and they are stored in your downloads folder if you click on the “refresh” button in GNS3 you should notice that the status has changed to “Ready to install”. Simply select the software image and press Next.
In the next box, we just need to confirm that this is the image we want to install. In this example, it is for the IOSv 15.6(1)T image so we can just press Yes.
The rest of the setup is pretty standard and can be continued to the end where we can press Finish.
Well done!!! You have just imported your first custom appliance into GNS3, you will note that the appliance is available now in the router node in the device list. Simply drag and drop this router into GNS3 and start it up.
Double-clicking on the router will open up the console window of the device. This router will operate just like any other Cisco router on a logical level. Your routing and configuration will work the same as on any physical piece of equipment which opens up the possibilities to learn nearly endlessly. As you no longer need to worry about the what ifs, if you break a router you can easily just install a new one by dragging in a new router.
That’s a wrap
Gns36
You have successfully imported your own device into GNS3 using the GNS3 VM. Virtually any other device can be imported the exact same manner, bearing in mind that you have the required software image. I hope that this has been informative and that you have learned something new.
Gns3 Images
Hungry for more?
Gns3 Marketplace
Why not check out the next article on how to add your real computer into GNS3!