blindhog.net

One of the major hurdles many people face with GNS3/Dynagen/Dynamips is that the emulators do not come with the Cisco Images to actually build a lab. It seems like once a week, I get an email with a request for an IOS Image, Pix Image, Pix Serial Numbers or Pix Activation codes. Just so I make myself clear, I will not give this information to you. Period. However…

(more…)

In this tutorial, you will learn how to build a small frame-relay lab. I will walk you through adding the routers, the frame switch, configuring the PVCs on the switch, and configuring the routers for basic point-to-point connectivity.

(more…)

In Part 2 of the GRE/IPSec tutorial series, you will learn how to encrypt the GRE tunnels you built in Part 1. Although I only show you how to create a hub and spoke topology, it is also possible to create a fully meshed topology or even a partial mesh. I highly recommend creating GRE tunnels from the branch to every datacenter in your organization.

(more…)

I first discovered GRE with IPSec about 4 years ago when a customer needed to transmit IPX and multicast traffic over his VPN. Since then, I have primarly used GRE/IPSEC tunnels for transmitting internal routing protocols over the internet.  RIP, EIGRP or OSPF can be used over a GRE tunnel just as though it were a point to point circuit. It is also very useful for multicast music on hold.

(more…)

This tutorial will demonstrate how to install GNS3 Router Emulation Software on a Linux platform. I used Ubuntu 7.10 because I use it as my home OS and the most user friendly.

(more…)

This tutorial will help you build a basic Internet lab using GNS3 as a WAN simulator. It  will be referenced by future tutorials such as how to configure GRE/IPSec VPNs, how to configure a DMVPN (Dynamic Multipoint VPN) and QOS.

(more…)

In a previous tutorial, I showed you how to use a windows loopback interface to connect to your dynagen/dynamips lab.

This tutorial is the same (in theory). Only this time we are using gns3 instead of dynagen. Before running the gns3 loopback tutorial, you may want to go through the microsoft loopback tutorial first.

(more…)

When using GNS3, the application used for console access is normally basic telnet. Personally, I do not like the windows telnet application at all. It does not allow logging or the ability to maximize the window.

This tutorial will show you how to use Putty for console access instead of the default

(more…)

Throughout this year, I have posted several tutorials on dynamips and dynagen. I have never really had  a reason to try anything different, basically because dynagen just works. However, because of a request a few weeks ago, I branched out and tried GNS3.

(more…)

We all know dynamips is a great tool for creating virtual networks and testing router configurations.  However, I can never seem to really understand a concept unless I use it in a "real" scenario. I will show you how  I have started using dynamips as my personal internet router.

(more…)