2015-01-20 Updated GNS3 to version 1.2.3
2014-12-06 Updated GNS3 to version 1.2.1, minor fixes
2014-11-20 Updated GNS3 to version 1.2
2014-11-15 Added support to be executed in Windows using boot2docker and an X-Windows server like Xming, Cigwin/X or similar software
2014-11-09 Added Gnome Connection Manager, routing to GNS3 emulated network, minor fixes
2014-10-27 Added QEMU emulator
2014-10-29 Added the tap0 network interface, owned by the current user, to allow connection to the physical world without need to be root
This image is based on Ubuntu 14.04 and includes GNS3, VPCS, IOU Support, QEMU and Wireshark. For IOU emulation no additional Virtual Machine is required.
VirtualBox is not included, there are some issues that I was not able to solve to run VirtualBox inside a Docker container.
On image startup a new user is created with same username and user id of current user with the purpose of sharing the same home directory that the user has on the Linux machine.
A detailed tutorial is available at digiampietro.com
To start the image use the myrun.sh script, you will get a standard linux prompt, launch gns3 issuing the gns3 command, you will have access to your home directory. For unknown reason, to me sometimes happen that the gns3 windows has black color covering readible areas, in that case exit and relauch gns3.
The myrun.sh is avilable on my GitHub repository for gns3-large:
#!/bin/sh
export GDISPLAY=unix/$DISPLAY # forward X11 display to the host machine
export GUSERNAME=`id -u -n` # current user's username
export GUID=`id -u` # current user's user id
export GGROUP=`id -g -n` # current user's primary group name
export GGID=`id -g` # current user's primary group id
export GHOME=$HOME # current user's home directory
export GSHELL=$SHELL # current user's shell
#
# to connect the emulated network to the external world
# we use a tap0 interface inside the docker container
# connected to the GNS3 emulated network through
# a GNS3 Cloud device attached to the tap0 interface
#
export GTAPIP=10.123.1.1 # the tap0 IP address
export GTAPMASK=255.255.255.0 # the tap0 IP netmask
export GTAPNATENABLE=0 # enable NAT on tap0 outgoing traffic (if 1 GROUTE2GNS3 must be 0)
export GNS3NETWORK=10.123.0.0 # IP network used inside the GNS3 emulated network
export GNS3NETMASK=255.255.0.0 # IP netmask used inside the GNS3 emulated network
export GROUTE2GNS3=1 # enable routing from the container eth0 to the emulated network
sudo docker run -h gns3-large \
-v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
-v $HOME:$HOME \
-e DISPLAY=$GDISPLAY \
-e GUSERNAME=$GUSERNAME \
-e GUID=$GUID \
-e GGROUP=$GGROUP \
-e GGID=$GGID \
-e GHOME=$HOME \
-e GSHELL=$SHELL \
-e GTAPIP=$GTAPIP \
-e GTAPMASK=$GTAPMASK \
-e GTAPNATENABLE=$GTAPNATENABLE \
-e GNS3NETWORK=$GNS3NETWORK \
-e GNS3NETMASK=$GNS3NETMASK \
-e GROUTE2GNS3=$GROUTE2GNS3 \
--privileged \
-it digiampietro/gns3-large
-h gns3-largegives the hostname to the docker image-v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unixis needed to display the application in the host environment-v $HOME:$HOMEmount your home directory inside the docker image (the$HOMEevniroment variable must be correctly set)-e DISPLAY=unix/$DISPLAYis needed to display the application int the host environment-e ...these options set environment variables used by the startup script to add the current user to the docker image. The $HOME and $SHELL environment variables must be correctly set and must contain users's home directory and user's shell--privilegedrun in privileged mode, needed to use the tap0 network device to connect to the physical network-it digiampietro/gns3-largestarts the image with a controlling terminal
The docker image, each time that starts, has the virtual interface MAC address changed, for this reason the iourc.txt file, containing the IOU License, must be regenerated. The startup script take care of this but you have to put the script keygen.py in the gns3-misc/ folder inside your home directory. The generated iourc.txt file is put in /src/misc/iourc.txt (in the docker image file system).
After image startup you have a standard linux prompt, type gns3 to start the application or type exit to remain in the docker image with root access; to exit from the image type exit once more.
In the docker image two nice tools are included to allow easier access to each device console
-
Gnome Connection Manager a multi-tabbed terminal emulator with a list of hosts to connect to on the left panel (see image below), you can launch it with the gcm command
-
gcmconf a simple perl script that reads the GNS3 projects from your home directory and create or update the Gnome Connection Manager configuration file to include all devices in your emulated network as showin in the image below
To complete the setup of GNS3, launch the application gns3 at the linux prompt, go to Edit -> Preferences ...:
- in General -> Console applications replace the string gnome-terminal with lxterminal and then click on Apply and OK. This is needed because gnome-terminal can have some issues, related to dbus, inside the docker image;
- in IOS on UNIX -> General settings put the string
/src/misc/iourc.txtin Path to IOURC (pushed to the server) and then click on Apply and OK - in Dynamips - IOS Routers click New and add your router images. For legal reasons these images cannot be bundled with the docker image, they have names like
c3725-adventerprisek9-mz.124-15.T14.imageorc3640-jk9s-mz.124-16.imageorc7200-adventerprisek9-mz.124-15.T14.image. Google is your best friend - in IOS on UNIX - IOU Devices click New and add your IOU images. For legal reasons these images cannot be bundled with docker image, they have names like
i86bi-linux-l2-adventerprisek9-15.1a.binori86bi-linux-l3-adventerprisek9-15.4.1T.bin.
To connect to the physical world and to the internet, a tap0 device, owned by the current user, is automatically created by the startup script. Because the gns3 is not running as root, the only way to connect to external world is using the cloud symbol and the tap0 device.
When using the cloud symbol click on Configure, select the NIO TAP tab, write tap0 in the field TAP interface, click on Add and then on Apply and OK.
The tap0, virtual ethernet interface, by default (can be change editing the myrun.sh file):
- has ip address 10.123.1.1 and netmask 255.255.255.0, can be change editing the
myrun.shfile; - the router interface connected to the cloud symbol must have an ip address on the same subnet (for example 10.123.1.2/24)
- assuming that the emulated network will use the network 10.123.0.0/16, routing, by default, has been configured on the docker container (can be changed and enable NAT instead);
- a route to this network must be added on the host (unless NAT is used), can be done using the hostroute2gns3 script included in this git repository;
I am happy to be contacted about this project, my contact details are:
| Item | Content |
|---|---|
| Author's name | Valerio Di Giampietro |
| [email protected] (yes it's a valid email address!) | |
| Personal web site | http://va.ler.io (aka http://digiampietro.com) |
| http://it.linkedin.com/in/digiampietro | |
| http://twitter.com/valerio | |
| http://facebook.com/digiampietro |
(The MIT License)
Copyright (c) 2014 Valerio Di Giampietro digiampietro.com
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The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
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