How can I emulate Cisco Switch in GNS3?

[WizIT]

How can I emulate switch in GNS3 for learning purposes to practice building real lab for  CCNA/CCNP certifications. I love GNS3- it is a great tool which can run real Router IOS, but still limitation for learning switching functionalities.  Please update if there is any other ways to emulate Switches in GNS3 for CCNP/CCIE labs. 

[balaji.bandi]

You can practice labs using GNS3 or EVE-NG or paid version of Cisco VIRL.

Most of the information available on their own websites.

[Francesco Molino]

Hi

If you buy Virl you will have all images including Layer 2 devices. It costs 199$ USD for 1 year and you can way beyond just L2 and L3 devices (ASA, Nxos, ios xr...)

If you use eve-ng and/or GNS3, you can use router image with L2 card but you'll be limited to L2 features. To be able to use quite all L2 features, you will need to import Cisco IOU images. You can found on google some L2 IOU images to import in any tool like eve-ng or GNS3.

[dyland.desmarais]

It should be noted that Cisco IOU/IOL is licensed to Cisco employees only.  So if you do decide to download and install it for use with GNS3/EVE-NG you will be violating Cisco ELUA and copyrights.

Just FYI.

[Andrew Khalil]

Greetings @WizIT,

I would like to provide you a way so that you can emulate Cisco switches (L2 as well as L3) and the most important, it's a 100% free solution! Just follow the following steps:

Here is the steps to follow for installing a L3 switch:

1- First you need to download this L3 switch image from the following link:

http://bit.ly/c3640-ik9o3s-mz-124-25b 

2- Run the GNS3 program after downloading the L3 Switch IOS image file to your computer.

3- Click Edit / Preferences to add a Layer 3 Switch on GNS3. In the window that opens, click on Dynamips / IOS Routers.

4- Click the New button to add a Cisco Layer 3 Switch in the IOS Router Templates window.

5- Select New Image in the IOS Image window and click the Browse button to add the L3 Switch IOS image to your GNS3.

6- After adding the Cisco Layer 3 Switch IOS image, select "This is an Etherswitch Router" in the "Name and Platform" window and click the Next button.

7- Set the RAM value for the Cisco Layer 3 Switch and click on the Next button.

8- Add the NM-16ESW interface for "slot 0" in the Network Adapters window and click on the Next button.

9- You need to configure the Idle-PC value for the Layer 3 Switch to function correctly on GNS3. Perform this operation by clicking the Idle-PC Finder button in the Idle-PC window.

10- Wait while calculating the Idle-PC value for Layer 3 Switch.

11- After setting the Idle PC value, click the OK button. Now you can run and use Cisco Layer 3 Switch on GNS3!

While here is the steps for L2 switch:

1- First download the L2 Switch IOS image to your the computer from the link below. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Fhw3CGskyIZzBjUGpkaW5VRDA/view

2- Run the GNS3 program after downloading the L2 Switch IOS image (vIOS-L2.vmdk) to your computer. 

3-  Click Edit / Preferences to add Layer 2 Switch on GNS3. In the window that opens, click the New button on the QEMU tab.

4- In the New QEMU VM Template window, type a name for the Cisco Layer 2 Switch and click Next. 

5- In the next step, if your operating system is 32 Bit or 64 Bit, select the relevant option.

6- Set the RAM value for your computer's hardware performance for the Cisco Layer 2 Switch. 

7- In the Disk Image window, click the Browse button to add the L2 IOS image you downloaded to your computer. 8- After adding Layer 2 Switch to GNS3, click Finish button. 

9- To configure the symbol of the Cisco Layer 2 Switch, click on the Switch in the GNS3 / Devices section and click Configure Template.

10- Select "Switches" in the Category section of the Layer2 Switch window. Click the Browse button in the Symbol area and select a symbol for the GNS3 Layer 2 Switch from the window opened and click the OK button to save the settings.

11- Finally, you can increase the number of interfaces in the Network section to configure the port number of the Layer 2 Switch on GNS3.

12- Now you can run and use a Cisco Layer 2 Switch on GNS3!

Please, try it and let me know the feedback! 

Please don't forget to rate any helpful responses and mark solutions! 

Bst Rgds,

Andrew Khalil

[dyland.desmarais]

Which again, violates Cisco EULA and copyrights so use at your own risk.

Dyland

[gwccnetops]

@dyland.desmarais You sir are a Debbie Downer.

[avaisbaba]

Hi,

Thanks for your help. Layer 3 switch is working fine but, Layer 2 switch is having issues while loading it's not loading the boot files.

---

@Andrew Khalil wrote:

Greetings @WizIT,

I would like to provide you a way so that you can emulate Cisco switches (L2 as well as L3) and the most important, it's a 100% free solution! Just follow the following steps:

Here is the steps to follow for installing a L3 switch:

1- First you need to download this L3 switch image from the following link:

http://bit.ly/c3640-ik9o3s-mz-124-25b 

2- Run the GNS3 program after downloading the L3 Switch IOS image file to your computer.

3- Click Edit / Preferences to add a Layer 3 Switch on GNS3. In the window that opens, click on Dynamips / IOS Routers.

4- Click the New button to add a Cisco Layer 3 Switch in the IOS Router Templates window.

5- Select New Image in the IOS Image window and click the Browse button to add the L3 Switch IOS image to your GNS3.

6- After adding the Cisco Layer 3 Switch IOS image, select "This is an Etherswitch Router" in the "Name and Platform" window and click the Next button.

7- Set the RAM value for the Cisco Layer 3 Switch and click on the Next button.

8- Add the NM-16ESW interface for "slot 0" in the Network Adapters window and click on the Next button.

9- You need to configure the Idle-PC value for the Layer 3 Switch to function correctly on GNS3. Perform this operation by clicking the Idle-PC Finder button in the Idle-PC window.

10- Wait while calculating the Idle-PC value for Layer 3 Switch.

11- After setting the Idle PC value, click the OK button. Now you can run and use Cisco Layer 3 Switch on GNS3!

While here is the steps for L2 switch:

1- First download the L2 Switch IOS image to your the computer from the link below. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Fhw3CGskyIZzBjUGpkaW5VRDA/view

2- Run the GNS3 program after downloading the L2 Switch IOS image (vIOS-L2.vmdk) to your computer. 

3-  Click Edit / Preferences to add Layer 2 Switch on GNS3. In the window that opens, click the New button on the QEMU tab.

4- In the New QEMU VM Template window, type a name for the Cisco Layer 2 Switch and click Next. 

5- In the next step, if your operating system is 32 Bit or 64 Bit, select the relevant option.

6- Set the RAM value for your computer's hardware performance for the Cisco Layer 2 Switch. 

7- In the Disk Image window, click the Browse button to add the L2 IOS image you downloaded to your computer. 8- After adding Layer 2 Switch to GNS3, click Finish button. 

9- To configure the symbol of the Cisco Layer 2 Switch, click on the Switch in the GNS3 / Devices section and click Configure Template.

10- Select "Switches" in the Category section of the Layer2 Switch window. Click the Browse button in the Symbol area and select a symbol for the GNS3 Layer 2 Switch from the window opened and click the OK button to save the settings.

11- Finally, you can increase the number of interfaces in the Network section to configure the port number of the Layer 2 Switch on GNS3.

12- Now you can run and use a Cisco Layer 2 Switch on GNS3!

Please, try it and let me know the feedback! 

Please don't forget to rate any helpful responses and mark solutions! 

Bst Rgds,

Andrew Khalil

---

[rahulnile14]

Thanks for the valuable information

[lgaume58]

Hello Andrew

thank you very much for the help provided I am a beginner with GNS3 and I could not download the Switch L2 image: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Fhw3CGskyIZzBjUGpkaW5VRDA/view . Is it possible to get a valid link ?

Best Regards

Laurent

[danyjacob41]

Hi,

Is there any chance to get IOS l2 and l3 switch image for gns3 lab?

[paul driver]

Hello

the latest GNS3 has a lite version of the L3 switch already .

"eitherswitch router"

or you can create one using the 3725 router image, so when you create another ios route image ,via edit preferences , select the 3725  as a new image,  and should give you an option to select it as eitherswitch router

[dyland.desmarais]

Yes, I'm aware of the etherswitch router.  My issue is its command syntax differs from an actual switch IOS.  Since I'm teaching CCNP level courses that would confuse the students.

[Francesco Molino]

As previously said, IOU are out there and sure they violate copyrights.
I prefer using Cisco virl which has all OS needed like ios, asa, nxos, iosxr...
Honnestly, 199$ / year isn’t too expensive for what you get and it totally worth it.

[p oh]

I would do some googling on the files that you need.  The search will result in links where you can download the files..