The information provided in this post is for educational and informational purposes only. All rights to the software used belong to their respective owners.

The Cisco IOSv and IOSv L2 devices could be considered the standard for learning Cisco routing and switching in the confines of a virtual network environment. They’re light in resource usage and contain a vast feature set.

Prerequisites

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 (February 2024).

Download REFPLAT iso

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

  2. Save the refplat-20240225-fcs-iso.zip file to your Downloads folder.

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

cd ~/Downloads
  1. Create the cml27-refplat directory.
mkdir -p cml27-refplat
  1. Uncompress the refplat-20240225-fcs-iso.zip file into the cml27-refplatdirectory.
unzip refplat-20240225-fcs-iso.zip -d cml27-refplat
  1. Attach the refplat-20240225-fcs.iso file.
open cml27-refplat/refplat-20240225-fcs.iso
  1. Create the QEMU directory.
mkdir -p ~/GNS3/images/QEMU
  1. Copy the IOSv L2 image to the QEMU directory.
cp /Volumes/REFPLAT/virl-base-images/iosvl2-2020/vios_l2-adventerprisek9-m.ssa.high_iron_20200929.qcow2 ~/GNS3/images/QEMU
  1. Copy the IOSv image to the QEMU directory.
cp /Volumes/REFPLAT/virl-base-images/iosv-159-3-m8/vios-adventerprisek9-m.spa.159-3.m8.qcow2 ~/GNS3/images/QEMU
  1. Detach the REFPLAT image file from Finder.
Detach REFPLAT iso

GNS3

  1. Open the GNS3 client application.

  2. Click the Cancel button to close the Project window.

IOSv L2

  1. Menu: File → New template

  2. Select Install an appliance from the GNS3 server (recommended).

  3. Click the Next button.

  4. Click the Update from online registry button.

  5. Enter iosv in the Filter field.

  6. Select Cisco IOSvL2.

Select Cisco IOSvL2

  1. Click the Install button.

  2. Click the Next button.

  3. Select /usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 for the QEMU binary value.

  4. Click the Next button.

  5. Select the vios_l2-adventerprisek9-m.ssa.high_iron_20200929.qcow2 entry.

The IOSv L2 image file should be detected automatically from the ~/GNS3/images/QEMU directory.

Select Cisco IOSvL2 image

  1. Click the Next button.

  2. Click the Yes button when prompted to install.

  3. Click the Finish button.

  4. Click the OK button.

  5. Press the ⌘ + , key combo to open the GNS3 Preferences.

  6. Select Qemu VMs on the left side menu.

QEMU Devices

  1. Click the Edit button for the Cisco IOSvL2 template.

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

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

Edit IOSv L2

  1. Click the OK button.

  2. Click the Apply button to save the template.

  3. Click the OK button to close the GNS3 Preferences window.

IOSv

  1. Menu: File → New template

  2. Select Install an appliance from the GNS3 server (recommended).

  3. Click the Next button.

  4. Enter iosv in the Filter field.

  5. Select Cisco IOSv.

  6. Click the Install button.

  7. Click the Next button.

  8. Select /usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 for the QEMU binary value.

  9. Click the Next button.

  10. Select the IOSv_startup_config.img entry.

The IOSv image file should be detected automatically from the ~/GNS3/images/QEMU directory, but the IOSv_startup_config.img file will need to be downloaded.

  1. Click the Download button.
Download IOSv image
  1. Save the IOSv_startup_config.img file to the ~/GNS3/images/QEMU folder.
Save IOSv boot configuration image
  1. Click the Refresh button.

The IOSv_startup_config.img file should now be detected.

  1. Select the IOSv version 15.9(3)M8 entry.

  2. Click the Next button.

  3. Click the Yes button when prompted to install.

  4. Click the Finish button.

  5. Click the OK button.

  6. Press the ⌘ + , key combo to open the GNS3 Preferences.

  7. Select QEMU VMs on the left side menu.

  8. Click the Edit button for the Cisco IOSv template.

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

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

  11. Click the OK button.

  12. Click the Apply button to save the template.

Cisco IOSv template
  1. Click the OK button to close the GNS3 Preferences window.