Cisco recently made the IOS on Linux (IOL) images publicly available via their Cisco Modeling Labs (CML) subscription. This post provides the steps of how to add them to GNS3 on macOS.
Prerequisites
- Cisco Modeling Labs subscription
- GNS3 on Apple Silicon
- GNS3 client
Steps
Point your web browser to the CML Software Download page.
Click the Download icon for Cisco Modeling Labs reference platform ISO file (February 2024).
Log in with your Cisco.com credentials when prompted.
Save the
refplat-20240225-fcs-iso.zip
file to your Downloads folder.Open your favorite terminal emulator.
Change to the
Downloads
directory.
cd ~/Downloads
- Create the
cml27-refplat
directory.
mkdir -p cml27-refplat
- Uncompress the
refplat-20240225-fcs-iso.zip
file into thecml27-refplat
directory.
unzip refplat-20240225-fcs-iso.zip -d cml27-refplat
- Attach the
refplat-20240225-fcs.iso
file.
open cml27-refplat/refplat-20240225-fcs.iso
- Create the
IOU
directory.
mkdir -p ~/GNS3/images/IOU
- Copy the IOL L2 image to the
IOU
directory.
cp /Volumes/REFPLAT/virl-base-images/ioll2-xe-17-12-01/x86_64_crb_linux_l2-adventerprisek9-ms ~/GNS3/images/IOU
- Copy the IOL image to the
IOU
directory.
cp /Volumes/REFPLAT/virl-base-images/iol-xe-17-12-01/x86_64_crb_linux-adventerprisek9-ms ~/GNS3/images/IOU
- Detach the REFPLAT image file from Finder.
![Detach REFPLAT iso Detach REFPLAT iso](/archives/add-cisco-iol-devices-gns3-macos/finder-eject-refplat_hu2ab8697524943e1ad1736921359bbf8b_57705_190x0_resize_box_3.png)
Open the GNS3 client application.
Click the Settings button.
Select IOU Devices on the left side menu.
![IOU Devices IOU Devices](/archives/add-cisco-iol-devices-gns3-macos/gns3-settings-iou-devices_hud7f2b614114624e45e0248aa444706b0_115203_220x0_resize_box_3.png)
Click the New button.
Enter
IOL XE L2
for the Name value.Select L2 image for Type.
Click the Browse… button.
Navigate to and select the
x86_64_crb_linux_l2-adventerprisek9-ms
file.- Click the Show Options button.
- Use
All file (*)
in the file extension drop-down menu.
![Browse to IOL L2 Browse to IOL L2](/archives/add-cisco-iol-devices-gns3-macos/gns3-client-browse-ioll2_hu48552667a1ee1141573b98241f2d85c3_333642_912x0_resize_box_3.png)
Click the Open button.
Click the Finish button after the upload completes.
Click the Edit button.
Enter
SW{0}
for the Default name format value.Enter
:/symbols/affinity/square/blue/switch_multilayer.svg
for the Symbol value.Click the OK button.
Click the Apply button to save the template configuration.
Click the New button.
Enter
IOL XE
for the Name value.Select L3 image for Type.
Click the Browse… button.
Navigate to and select the
x86_64_crb_linux-adventerprisek9-ms
file.- Click the Show Options button.
- Use
All file (*)
in the file extension drop-down menu.
Click the Open button.
Click the Finish button after the upload completes.
Click the Edit button.
Enter
R{0}
for the Default name format value.Enter
:/symbols/affinity/circle/blue/router2.svg
for the Symbol value.Click the OK button.
![IOU device templates IOU device templates](/archives/add-cisco-iol-devices-gns3-macos/gns3-client-iou-device-tmpl_hu8ebc90b25d483e34445e8b7bf20f98fd_394741_895x0_resize_box_3.png)
- Click the OK button to save and close the Preferences window.