Anyway, the topic for discussion here is about how to slightly speed up getting ready to do a lab - probably a lot of people do something similar already, it's just unfortunate that I have really only woken up to the fact that this can help save about 15-20 minutes and reduce errors.
Firstly - this doesn't help much with when you're using real routers - When I finish up with the lab, I get them erased and reloaded so they're all nice an clear of IOS config and VTP related config
Cat1#wr erase
Erasing the nvram filesystem will remove all configuration files! Continue? [confirm]
[OK]
Erase of nvram: complete
*Mar 1 03:18:23.937: %SYS-7-NV_BLOCK_INIT: Initialized the geometry of nvram
Cat1#del vlan.dat
Delete filename [vlan.dat]?
Delete flash:vlan.dat? [confirm]
Cat1#reload
Proceed with reload? [confirm]
*Mar 1 03:18:31.672: %SYS-5-RELOAD: Reload requested by console. Reload Reason: Reload command.
Erasing the nvram filesystem will remove all configuration files! Continue? [confirm]
[OK]
Erase of nvram: complete
*Mar 1 03:18:23.937: %SYS-7-NV_BLOCK_INIT: Initialized the geometry of nvram
Cat1#del vlan.dat
Delete filename [vlan.dat]?
Delete flash:vlan.dat? [confirm]
Cat1#reload
Proceed with reload? [confirm]
*Mar 1 03:18:31.672: %SYS-5-RELOAD: Reload requested by console. Reload Reason: Reload command.
On my Ubuntu box, I keep all of the configs I use in a directory funnily enough called cisco:
adam@RouterSim:~/cisco$ pwd
/home/adam/cisco
/home/adam/cisco
I then have all the related labs living in sub directories - for example the Volume 3 labs are simply unzipped into a directory called ipexpert_vol3
adam@RouterSim:~/cisco$ ls ipexpert_vol3
LAB-10C LAB-10T LAB-1C LAB-1T LAB-2C LAB-2T LAB-3C LAB-3T LAB-4C LAB-4T LAB-5C LAB-5T LAB-6C LAB-6T LAB-7C LAB-7T LAB-8C LAB-8T LAB-9C LAB-9T R&S_Volume_3_Diagrams_v11.0.pdf
The dynamips.net config file I use is set up to a generic version what I used previously the main thing I want to highlight is the reference to "currentlab" in the working dir and cnfg lines, the trick I will be using is "softlinks" to point to the specific lab of interest and be able to load up the lab configs without needing a separate .net file per lab when I start dynamips...
start of ipexpert.net
autostart = false
ghostios = true
sparsemem = true
[localhost]
workingdir = /home/adam/cisco/currentlab/work_ipexpert
[[7200]]
image = /opt/ios/unzipped/c7200-adventerprisek9-mz.124-24.T.bin
npe = npe-400
ram = 384
idlepc = 0x6307ad74
disk0 = 128
[[2611]]
image = /opt/ios/unzipped/c2600-js-mz.123-17a.bin
ram = 64
idlepc = 0x803266c4
[[3725]]
image = /opt/ios/unzipped/c3725-advsecurityk9-mz.124-15.T12.bin
#/opt/ios/unzipped/c3725-adventerprisek9-mz.124-15.T10.bin
ram = 128
#idlepc = 0x6307ad74
disk0 = 64
idlepc = 0x60bb28d0
[[ROUTER R1]]
model = 7200
console = 2001
slot0 = PA-C7200-IO-2FE
f0/0 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.101
f0/1 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.102
cnfg = /home/adam/cisco/currentlab/INITIAL/R1.txt
[[ROUTER R2]]
model = 7200
console = 2002
slot0 = PA-C7200-IO-2FE
slot2 = PA-4T
f0/0 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.201
f0/1 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.203
s2/1 = FR s0/0
s2/2 = R5 s2/2
cnfg = /home/adam/cisco/currentlab/INITIAL/R2.txt
[[ROUTER R4]]
model = 7200
console = 2004
slot0 = PA-C7200-IO-2FE
slot2 = PA-4T
f0/0 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.401
f0/1 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.402
s2/0 = FR s0/1
cnfg = /home/adam/cisco/currentlab/INITIAL/R4.txt
[[ROUTER R5]]
model = 7200
console = 2005
slot0 = PA-C7200-IO-2FE
slot2 = PA-4T
f0/0 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.501
f0/1 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.502
s2/1 = FR s0/2
cnfg = /home/adam/cisco/currentlab/INITIAL/R5.txt
[[ROUTER R6]]
model = 7200
console = 2006
slot0 = PA-C7200-IO-2FE
slot2 = PA-4T
f0/0 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.601
f0/1 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.602
s2/1 = FR s0/3
s2/2 = R9 s2/2
s2/3 = R9 s2/3
cnfg = /home/adam/cisco/currentlab/INITIAL/R6.txt
[[ROUTER R7]]
model = 7200
console = 2007
slot0 = PA-C7200-IO-2FE
slot2 = PA-4T
f0/0 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.701
f0/1 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.702
s2/0 = R8 s2/0
cnfg = /home/adam/cisco/currentlab/INITIAL/R7.txt
[[ROUTER R8]]
model = 7200
console = 2008
slot0 = PA-C7200-IO-2FE
slot2 = PA-4T
f0/0 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.801
f0/1 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.802
cnfg = /home/adam/cisco/currentlab/INITIAL/R8.txt
[[ROUTER R9]]
model = 7200
console = 2009
slot0 = PA-C7200-IO-2FE
slot2 = PA-4T
f0/0 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.901
f0/1 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.902
cnfg = /home/adam/cisco/currentlab/INITIAL/R9.txt
[[ROUTER BB1]]
model = 2611
console = 2101
e0 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.11
e1 = NIO_gen_eth:eth1
cnfg = /home/adam/cisco/currentlab/INITIAL/BB1.txt
[[ROUTER BB2]]
model = 2611
console = 2102
e0 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.22
cnfg = /home/adam/cisco/currentlab/INITIAL/BB2.txt
[[ROUTER BB3]]
model = 2611
console = 2103
e0 = NIO_gen_eth:eth0.33
cnfg = /home/adam/cisco/currentlab/INITIAL/BB3.txt
[[ROUTER FR]]
model = 3725
console = 2104
WIC0/0 = WIC-2T
WIC0/1 = WIC-2T
cnfg = /home/adam/cisco/IPExpertFrame.txt
end of ipexpert.net
IPexpertFrame.txt refers to a configuration for the FR Switch rather than use the built in frame relay switch capacity of dynamips:
start of IPExpertFrame.txt
hostname FR
!
interface Serial0/0
description R2
no ip address
encapsulation frame-relay
clock rate 2000000
frame-relay lmi-type cisco
frame-relay intf-type dce
frame-relay route 104 interface Serial0/1 401
frame-relay route 105 interface Serial0/2 501
frame-relay route 106 interface Serial0/3 601
frame-relay route 204 interface Serial0/1 402
frame-relay route 205 interface Serial0/2 502
frame-relay route 206 interface Serial0/3 602
frame-relay route 214 interface Serial0/1 412
frame-relay route 215 interface Serial0/2 512
frame-relay route 216 interface Serial0/3 612
frame-relay route 224 interface Serial0/1 422
frame-relay route 225 interface Serial0/2 522
frame-relay route 226 interface Serial0/3 622
no shutdown
!
interface Serial0/1
description R4
no ip address
encapsulation frame-relay
clock rate 2000000
frame-relay lmi-type cisco
frame-relay intf-type dce
frame-relay route 401 interface Serial0/0 104
frame-relay route 402 interface Serial0/0 204
frame-relay route 405 interface Serial0/2 504
frame-relay route 406 interface Serial0/3 604
frame-relay route 412 interface Serial0/0 214
frame-relay route 415 interface Serial0/2 514
frame-relay route 416 interface Serial0/3 614
frame-relay route 422 interface Serial0/0 224
frame-relay route 425 interface Serial0/2 524
frame-relay route 426 interface Serial0/3 624
no shutdown
!
interface Serial0/2
description R5
no ip address
encapsulation frame-relay
clock rate 2000000
frame-relay lmi-type cisco
frame-relay intf-type dce
frame-relay route 501 interface Serial0/0 105
frame-relay route 502 interface Serial0/0 205
frame-relay route 504 interface Serial0/1 405
frame-relay route 506 interface Serial0/3 605
frame-relay route 512 interface Serial0/0 215
frame-relay route 514 interface Serial0/1 415
frame-relay route 516 interface Serial0/3 615
frame-relay route 522 interface Serial0/0 225
frame-relay route 524 interface Serial0/1 425
frame-relay route 526 interface Serial0/3 625
no shutdown
!
interface Serial0/3
description R6
no ip address
encapsulation frame-relay
clock rate 2000000
frame-relay lmi-type cisco
frame-relay intf-type dce
frame-relay route 601 interface Serial0/0 106
frame-relay route 602 interface Serial0/0 206
frame-relay route 604 interface Serial0/1 406
frame-relay route 605 interface Serial0/2 506
frame-relay route 612 interface Serial0/0 216
frame-relay route 614 interface Serial0/1 416
frame-relay route 615 interface Serial0/2 516
frame-relay route 622 interface Serial0/0 226
frame-relay route 624 interface Serial0/1 426
frame-relay route 625 interface Serial0/2 526
no shutdown
!
end
end of IPExpertFrame.txt
So the deal with the softlinks is to point "currentlab" to the lab you want to work on for example:
adam@RouterSim:~/cisco$ ln -s ipexpert_vol3/LAB-4T/ currentlab
adam@RouterSim:~/cisco$ ls -l currentlablrwxrwxrwx 1 adam adam 21 2011-02-20 18:45 currentlab -> ipexpert_vol3/LAB-4T/
Here are a few house keeping tasks that could be easily scripted away - create a working directory for dynamips files to go into and to rework the standard IPExpert config to match the interfaces in my topology
adam@RouterSim:~/cisco$ mkdir currentlab/work_ipexpert
adam@RouterSim:~/cisco$ cd currentlab/INITIAL/
adam@RouterSim:~/cisco/currentlab/INITIAL$ reworkcfg
adam@RouterSim:~/cisco/currentlab/INITIAL$ cd ../..
To load the config onto the external switches, we just paste the output from
adam@RouterSim:~/cisco$ cat currentlab/INITIAL/Cat1.txt
adam@RouterSim:~/cisco$ cat currentlab/INITIAL/Cat2.txt
adam@RouterSim:~/cisco$ cat currentlab/INITIAL/Cat3.txt
adam@RouterSim:~/cisco$ cat currentlab/INITIAL/Cat4.txt So we just start things up normally and go on our merry lab way
adam@RouterSim:~/cisco$ sudo dynagen ipexpert.net
Reading configuration file...
Network successfully loaded
Dynagen management console for Dynamips and Pemuwrapper 0.11.0
Copyright (c) 2005-2007 Greg Anuzelli, contributions Pavel Skovajsa
=> start /all
100-VM 'R4' started
100-VM 'R5' started
100-VM 'R6' started
100-VM 'R7' started
100-VM 'R1' started
100-VM 'R2' started
100-VM 'FR' started
100-VM 'R8' started
100-VM 'R9' started
100-VM 'BB3' started
100-VM 'BB2' started
100-VM 'BB1' started
Once we have finished the with lab and exited dynagen, we tidy up:
That is write erase/del vlan.dat/reload on the switches and
adam@RouterSim:~/cisco$ rm currentlab
Now we're ready for the next lab session:
