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Cisco recently made the IOS on Linux (IOL) images available through the Cisco Modeling Labs (CML) Free Tier . IOL is an implementation of Cisco IOS-XE that operates as an executable binary on Linux. This post will guide you through the process of adding Cisco IOL devices using GNS3 on macOS.

Prerequisite

macOS

  1. Point your web browser to the CML Software Download page.

  2. Click the Download icon for Cisco Modeling Labs reference platform ISO file (October 2024).

Download REFPLAT iso

  1. Log in with your Cisco.com (CCO ID) credentials when prompted.

  2. Save the refplat-20241016-freetier-iso.zip file to your Downloads folder.

  3. Open your favorite terminal emulator, and change to the Downloads directory.

cd ~/Downloads
  1. Create the cml28-refplat directory.
mkdir -p cml28-refplat
  1. Uncompress the refplat-20241016-freetier-iso.zip file into the cml28-refplatdirectory.
unzip refplat-20241016-freetier-iso.zip -d cml28-refplat
  1. Attach the refplat-20241016-freetier.iso file.
open cml28-refplat/refplat-20241016-freetier.iso
  1. Create the IOU directory.
mkdir -p ~/GNS3/images/IOU
  1. Copy the IOL L2 image to the IOU directory.
cp /Volumes/REFPLAT/virl-base-images/ioll2-xe-17-15-01/x86_64_crb_linux_l2-adventerprisek9-ms.iol ~/GNS3/images/IOU
  1. Copy the IOL image to the IOU directory.
cp /Volumes/REFPLAT/virl-base-images/iol-xe-17-15-01/x86_64_crb_linux-adventerprisek9-ms.iol ~/GNS3/images/IOU
  1. Detach the refplat-20241016-freetier.iso file from Finder.
Detach REFPLAT iso

GNS3

  1. Open the GNS3 client application.

  2. Click the Settings button.

  3. Select IOU Devices on the left side menu.

IOU Devices

IOL L2

  1. Click the New button.

  2. Enter IOL L2 for the Name value.

  3. Select L2 image for Type.

  4. Click the Browse… button.

  5. Navigate to and select the x86_64_crb_linux_l2-adventerprisek9-ms.iol file.

    • Click the Show Options button.
    • Use All file (*) in the file extension drop-down menu.
Browse to IOL L2

  1. Click the Open button.

  2. Click the Finish button after the upload completes.

  3. Click the Edit button for the IOL L2 template.

Edit IOL L2 template

  1. Enter SW{0} for the Default name format value.

  2. Enter :/symbols/affinity/square/blue/switch_multilayer.svg for the Symbol value.

  3. Click the OK button.

  4. Click the Apply button to save the template configuration.

IOL

  1. Click the New button.

  2. Enter IOL for the Name value.

  3. Select the New Image button.

  4. Select L3 image for Type.

  5. Click the Browse… button.

  6. Navigate to and select the x86_64_crb_linux-adventerprisek9-ms.iol file.

    • Click the Show Options button.
    • Use All file (*) in the file extension drop-down menu.

  7. Click the Open button.

  8. Click the Finish button after the upload completes.

  9. Click the Edit button for the IOL template.

  10. Enter R{0} for the Default name format value.

  11. Enter :/symbols/affinity/circle/blue/router2.svg for the Symbol value.

  12. Click the OK button.

IOU device templates
  1. Click the OK button to save and close the Preferences window.

Happy Labbing!

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