I stumbled across this tool, while am always a fan of VRNET-LAB https://github.com/vrnetlab/vrnetlab and it operates on docker containers, i could not get it properly bridge it with Local network meaning reachability to internet is something that I never worked on.
A container lab is a virtualized environment that utilises containers to create and manage network testing labs. It offers a flexible and efficient way to simulate complex network topologies, test new features, and perform various network experiments.
One striking feature that i really liked about containerlab is that representation is in a straight yaml which most of the network engineers now a days are Familiar with and its easy to edit the representation.
Other advantages
Host mappings after spinning up the lab
Slide explaining the capture process – Courtesy Petr Ankudinov (https://arista-netdevops-community.github.io/building-containerlab-with-ceos/#1)
https://containerlab.dev/quickstart/ – Will give you how to do a quick start and install containerlab.
https://github.com/topics/clab-topo – Topologies contributed by community
https://github.com/arista-netdevops-community/building-containerlab-with-ceos/tree/main?tab=readme-ov-file – Amazing Repo
https://arista-netdevops-community.github.io/building-containerlab-with-ceos/ -> This presentation has some a eVPN topology and also explain how to spin up a quick eVPN with ceos Continue reading
Hi all, welcome back to our Network CI/CD blog series. In this part, we’ll discuss what exactly GitLab is and the role it plays in the whole CI/CD process. We’ll explore how to use GitLab as a Git repository, how to install GitLab runners, and how to write a GitLab CI/CD pipeline, among other topics. So let’s get to it.
Before we proceed, let’s go over some prerequisites. This part of the series assumes you have some familiarity with Git, Ansible, and basic Docker concepts. I’m not an expert in any of these, but I have a basic understanding of what each tool does and how to configure and use them. Even if you’re not very familiar, you can still follow along as we go step by step.
Git is a version control system that allows you to track changes to your code, collaborate with others, and manage different versions of your projects. It's a fundamental tool for network automation that works with code or configuration files.
Urs Baumann loves hands-on teaching and created tons of lab exercises to support his Infrastructure-as-Code automation course.
During the summer, he published some of them in a collection of GitHub repositories and made them work in GitHub Codespaces. An amazing idea well worth exploring!
When Starlink first went into service we heard a lot of stories about how its Internet service was slow and unreliable. We’re a few years into Starlink launching satellites–how is Starlink holding up? Is service improving? Geoff Huston joins Tom, Eyvonne, and Russ to look into Starlink’s performance today.
After discovering that some EVPN implementations support multiple transit VNI values in a single VRF, I had to check whether I could implement a common services L3VPN with EVPN.
TL&DR: It works (on Arista cEOS)1.
Here are the relevant parts of a netlab lab topology I used in my test (you can find the complete lab topology in netlab-examples GitHub repository):
Everyone knows that OSPF is a link state protocol. Those that study also discover that OSPF behaves like distance vector between areas as Type-1- and Type-2 LSAs are not flooded between areas, but rather summarized in Type-3 LSAs. This means that OSPF is a logical star, or hub with spokes, where Area 0 is the backbone and all other areas must connect to Area 0. This is shown below:
With this topology, since all the areas only connect to the backbone area, traffic between areas must traverse the backbone:
We learn about this behavior in literature where there is a very straight forward topology where each ABR is only attached to one area beyond the backbone. Such a topology is shown below:
In such a topology, traffic between RT04 and RT05 has to traverse the backbone. This is shown below:
However, what if you have a topology which is not as clear cut? Where an ABR attaches to multiple areas? This is what we will explore in this post. We’ll be using the topology below:
In this topology, RT02 and RT03 are ABRs. RT02 is attached to both Area 1 and Area 2 in addition to the backbone, while RT03 Continue reading
Shipping netlab release 1.9.0 included running 36 hours of integration tests, including fifteen VXLAN/EVPN tests covering:
All tests included one or two devices under test and one or more FRR containers1 running EVPN/VXLAN with the devices under test. The results were phenomenal; apart from a few exceptions, everything Just Worked™️.
I’ve been working on new material over at Rule 11 Academy. This month’s posts are:
This brings us up to a total of 39 lessons. Each lesson should be about 15 minutes, so about 10 hours of material so far. The trial membership will take you through the end of the year. After the first of the year, the trial membership will last 2 months.
I love bashing SRv6, so it’s only fair to post a (technical) counterview, this time coming as a comment from Henk Smit.
There are several benefits of SRv6 that I’ve heard of.
Hi all, welcome to the 'Network CI/CD' blog series. To kick things off, let's ask the question, "Why do we even need a CI/CD pipeline for networks?" Instead of diving straight into technical definitions or showing you how to build a CI/CD pipeline, which might make you lose interest, we’ll focus on the reasons behind it. Why should network teams even consider implementing CI/CD?
In this post, we’ll talk about the benefits and the problems it solves, so you can see why it's worth learning. Let's get to it.
Even though I call it the “traditional way,” most of us (myself included) still make changes via the CLI. So, let’s imagine you and two colleagues are managing a campus network with 10 access switches. One of your tasks is to configure VLANs on all of Continue reading
Many network operators think the idea of building rather than buying is something that’s out of reach–but is it? Join Steve Dodd, Eyvonne, Tom, and Russ as we discuss the positive and negative aspects of build versus buy, what operators get wrong, and what operators don’t often expect.