[HECnet] Virtual Cisco

Thu Jan 10 14:42:16 PST 2013

On 9 Jan 2013, at 19:57, Ian McLaughlin <ian at platinum.net> wrote:
I've got a few people asking, so here's an attempt at describing the steps needed.   You will probably have to google large parts of this if you've never used GNS3, virtualization, or Ciscos before, but hopefully this will point you in the right direction.

First, get GNS Workbench VM from  http://rednectar.net/gns3-workbench/

Follow the directions there on how to set it up.   For my purposes, I used a Cisco 7206VXR ROM image that is the same as the physical router I have, and I know it has DECnet support.   If you need a copy, send me a private email and I can link you.

Once the ROM image is registered in GNS3, start building your network.

Drop a Cisco 7200 router and a cloud on the building area in GNS3.

Right-click the router, and configure.   Select Slots, and put a C7200-IO-FE in slot 0.   If you want a second network interface, put a PA-FE-TX in slot 1.

Right-click on the cloud, and configure.

Under Linux Enternet NIO, pick eth0, then add.   This connects the cloud to your VM's network card.

Click on the "Add a link" icon at the top (looks like a RJ45 plug), then click the router, then pick e0/0, then click the cloud, then pick your network card.

Click on the stop sign that's now where the "Add a link" icon was.

You've now plugged your router in to the internet.

Click on the router, then click the green Play button.   This will start the router.

Click the ">_" icon.   This will open up a console to the router.

Once the router boots, hit enter a few times to get a command prompt in the router.

Once you've got a command prompt, you *need* to run Idle PC otherwise your VM will consume 100% resources.

Right-click the router, and select Idle PC.   After it runs, it will give you a list of potential addresses.   Pick one with a * by it.   This is a bit of a black art - you may want to google if you have problems with this.

Now you need to put a config in the Cisco.   Maybe someone else can help with how to run a cosco, but basically, the config you want will have these bits:

decnet routing a.b      (your router's decnet address)
decnet node-type area
!
interface FastEthernet0/0
  ip address x.x.x.x 255.255.x.x
  no shutdown
!
interface Tunnel0
  Description Tunnel to Hecnet
  no ip address
  decnet cost 10
  tunnel source Fastethernet0/0
  tunnel destination a.b.c.d      (IP address of someone else's Cisco)
  tunnel path-mtu-discovery
!

I've got to run out for the evening, so any assistance will be limited until I get back.

Have fun and experiment!   I'm sure any of us with Cisco routers will be happy to be a tunnel destination.

Ian

On 2013-01-09, at 4:04 PM, Cory Smelosky <b4 at gewt.net> wrote:

On 9 Jan 2013, at 19:00, Ian McLaughlin <ian at platinum.net> wrote:

On 2013-01-09, at 10:06 AM, Ian McLaughlin <ian at platinum.net> wrote:

On 2013-01-09, at 10:03 AM, Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote:

Get a Cisco.   It's not like they're tough to find, or very expensive.
And you'll use it essentially forever. (because it will last that long!)

But emulation is free and here today, instead of waiting two weeks for an Ebay order to arrive :)   Maybe I should try playing with it to see if it's even possible.   If we could create a nice simple turnkey VM image, maybe more Hecnet members would implement it...

(I agree the hardware is the best way to go - it's bullet-proof and lives forever)

Okay, after a bit of wrangling, I have the following setup:

Mac OSX Snow Leopard (host machine), running Ubuntu 10.10 guest machine under Virtualbox.   Inside the Ubuntu machine, I am running GNS3.   Inside GNS3, I am emulating a Cisco 7206VXR router.   Inside the router, I created a bridge back to my real 7206VXR at home.   I created an area router with a dummy address of 42.1022.

Can I have a transcript of the commands run to configure DECnet on it to behave that way?   I learn best by imitating other setups when it comes to stuff like this. ;)

It works!   I'm getting full Hecnet routing tables.   So, I've proven that we can have a poor-man's Cisco routing solution for Hecnet with nothing more than a VM image.

If anyone is interested, I used the VM image called GNS3 Workbench from http://rednectar.net/gns3-workbench/ as my source.   I added an appropriate Cisco 7200 binary.

Ian.

--
Cory Smelosky
http://gewt.net/ Personal stuff!
http://gimme-sympathy.org/ My permanently-a-work-in-progress pet project.

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I've had an idea   Raspberry Pi images with dynamips and dynagen pre-installed for use by HECnet members.
This could be a great idea if dynamips builds on ARM. :)