Adding GNS3 options for using EXOS-VM

[Deadpool]

Hi again, Drew! I sent the link to this thread to the two GNS3 devs (Jeremy and Julien), but they're pretty busy guys, so I don't know how long it'll be before they jump into the discussion.

I don't know if you've ever checked out GNS3 (here's the link to the site), but as a little backstory, it originally started out as an easy way to use the DynaMIPS emulator to allow users with legally obtained IOS images for old Cisco routers that use MIPS CPUs, to practice for CCNA/CCNP exams. GNS3 has since evolved into the the "glue" that allows users to integrate DynaMIPS, Qemu, Virtualbox, and VMware VMs together, to allow uses the chance to practice non-Cisco devices in their topologies. If the users have a valid VIRL subscription with Cisco, they can even export the images, so they can practice with them offlline. Pretty cool!

I think the new site will soon offer up blogs, so various vendors could make blog posts about their specific offerings, as well as any information they want the GNS3 users to be aware of.

The .qcow2 file I was asking about would just need to be a version of exos that will run as a regular Qemu VM. The devs released their GNS3-VM appliance to allow Windows/OSX users the ability to upload image locally to it, so they can take advantage of Qemu/KVM VMs (it's a non-issue for use Linux users) They created .gns3a templates, to allow users to easily integrate VMs into GNS3, so they can quickly get up and running, without having to manually upload and configure everything.

Hope this explains this better! My initial post was kinda scatter shot, since I threw several options out there, to see if any would stick.

The reason I brought up legality, was because the developers only want to let users use the template files to obtain legally available VM appliances. They rightly refuse to allow users to use any template to get VMs that the software owners don't legally make available. As long as Extreme lets you upload the .qcow2 file for anyone to use to test EXOS images, that would be a non-issue. Certain vendors like Arista and Juniper offer trial versions of their software for download, but they insist that users register free accounts, in order to download the trials, so the GNS3 team can't use the templates to just download those files automatically. The user would have to already have gone thru the registration process and obtained then images on their own, and then have the files stored locally, before the template would allow import.

Also, could y'all upload the lastest EXOS User Manual, and the command list .PDFs to the site? I have a valid Extreme Network accounts, and found those documents to be incredibly valuable to help me learn how to use EXOS.

Thank you again! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me. I'll keep nagging the developers to join in the discuss here. 😉

Andrew. Note: This conversation was created from a reply on: The new ExtremeXOS VM versions found on Github.

[Drew_C]

As of this morning, the qcow2 files and an application template are available on our GitHub site.
https://github.com/extremenetworks/Virtual_EXOS

Thanks, Andrew, for all of your assistance on getting this built and shared with us (and Daniel F.)!

-Drew

[Deadpool]

Sweet! Thank you, sir! 🙂

[Drew_C]

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for reaching out to discuss this!

I can't speak for legal, but the EXOS-VM files are provided as-is, with no implied warranty or support. They're on GitHub to be in an easy to find place for people to test and play and learn EXOS. I don't think anyone will object to uploading and sharing the .qcow2 file in addition to the files already provided. If it helps to keep the newer versions on GH, then that's what we'll do until someone tells me different 🙂

I can add links to the user guides on the GitHub page, that's a good idea, actually. I'd prefer to not upload the actual documents... that's just something else to keep up with 🙂
For reference, they can be found here:

• ExtremeXOS User Guide 16.1
• ExtremeXOS Command Reference Guide 16.1

I've got your email address (since I'm an admin and all...) - I'll contact you there so you can provide any files or other documents to me.

Happy to help however I can.

-Drew