Using GNS3 for Switching Labs

FEBRUARY 13TH, 2013

For so long, Ive heard - as have many of you Im sure - that GNS3, though a GREAT emulator for
Cisco IOS software, is not practical for studying anything related to switching. Routing is handled just
fine, but because of the proprietary ASICs in Cisco switches, it is not something that can be easily
reverse-engineered, thus GNS3 cannot do it. After all, all routing is essentially done in software in
GNS3.

I actually wrote this article in part over a year and a half ago, but these concepts still hold up, and I
decided to get it out of drafts and publish because I still believe its useful to those looking to get into
this industry but dont have real equipment to play with, as is most often the case.

Id like to point out a very reasonable solution to this problem. Keep in mind that this will not be the
same as having actual switches, because some of the syntax can be quite different, but if youre
vigilant, youll be able to interpolate between the syntax shown, and what you can expect on a real
switch. These explorations will help a CCNA - and even CCNP - candidate get ready for the
concepts theyll be faced with on the exam.

Youll notice that you have an EtherSwitch Router over to the left on your toolbar. This needs a
c3700 image to run, and I selected the following:
Now that theres an image selected, dont forget to set an IDLE PC value, as you should with every
platform in GNS3 so that your environment can run smoothly. There are walkthroughs all over the
web on how to do this.

My main point in writing this article is to get some switches powered on and show you how to do
some basic switching tasks on this platform. For that, we need to see a topology. I have thrown this
lab together in GNS3:

You may need to enable Always use manual mode when adding links under Preferences
General GUI Settings to pick these specific interfaces.

The first thing you need to do to get familiar with whats going on here, is show the interfaces
available:

R1#show ip int br Interface IP-Address OK? Method Status Protocol FastEthernet0/0 unassigned YES
unset administratively down down FastEthernet0/1 unassigned YES unset administratively down down
FastEthernet1/0 unassigned YES unset administratively down down FastEthernet1/1 unassigned YES
unset administratively down down FastEthernet1/2 unassigned YES unset administratively down down
FastEthernet1/3 unassigned YES unset administratively down down FastEthernet1/4 unassigned YES
unset administratively down down FastEthernet1/5 unassigned YES unset administratively down down
FastEthernet1/6 unassigned YES unset administratively down down FastEthernet1/7 unassigned YES
unset administratively down down FastEthernet1/8 unassigned YES unset administratively down down
FastEthernet1/9 unassigned YES unset administratively down down FastEthernet1/10 unassigned YES
unset administratively down down FastEthernet1/11 unassigned YES unset administratively down down
FastEthernet1/12 unassigned YES unset administratively down down FastEthernet1/13 unassigned YES
unset administratively down down FastEthernet1/14 unassigned YES unset administratively down down
FastEthernet1/15 unassigned YES unset administratively down down Vlan1 unassigned YES unset
administratively down down
You notice that theres 16 interfaces in card 1. These 16 interfaces represent our NM-
16ESW module, and is what allows us to perform our switching labs. We will be working with these
interfaces (Fa1/0 - 15) to perform switching. The two ports in card 0 (Fa0/*) are not capable of L2, so
you cannot make them into switchports.

However, this is still a router and should be treated as such until we sort of.make it a switch. To do
that, we enable each interface and make them switchports:

R1#conf t R1(config)#interface range Fa1/0 - 15 R1(config-if-range)#no shutdown R1(config-if-

range)#switchport

These ports are now active, and are switchports, that is, they now operate at layer 2 rather than layer
3. These devices are now basically Layer 3 switches.

Now that we have functional switches, lets dig into some common switching concepts and see how
much were able to play with in GNS3:

Spanning Tree
Spanning Tree is pretty easy. Once switching has been enabled as shown above on all devices,
spanning tree operates exactly like one who is familiar with it would expect. The devices run
traditional PVST by default, as is made evident by the output of the following:

R1#show spanning-tree brief VLAN1 Spanning tree enabled protocol ieee Root ID Priority 32768
Address c400.034c.0000 This bridge is the root Hello Time 2 sec Max Age 20 sec Forward Delay 15 sec
Bridge ID Priority 32768 Address c400.034c.0000 Hello Time 2 sec Max Age 20 sec Forward Delay 15
sec Aging Time 0 Interface Designated Name Port ID Prio Cost Sts Cost Bridge ID Port ID --------------------
------- ---- ----- --- ----- -------------------- ------- FastEthernet1/0 128.41 128 19 FWD 0 32768 c400.034c.0000
128.41 FastEthernet1/1 128.42 128 19 FWD 0 32768 c400.034c.0000 128.42

This shows the spanning-tree information for VLAN 1. There are also vlan-specific spanning-tree
configuration commands. What I dont see, however, is any indication of rapid PVST, or even a way
to configure it.

R1(config)#spanning-tree ? backbonefast Enable BackboneFast Feature portfast Spanning tree portfast

options uplinkfast Enable UplinkFast Feature vlan VLAN Switch Spanning Tree R1(config)#spanning-tree
vlan 1 ? forward-time Set the forward delay for the spanning tree hello-time Set the hello interval for
the spanning tree max-age Set the max age interval for the spanning tree priority Set the bridge
priority for the spanning tree root Configure switch as root

This is because this image does not support RSTP. We now come to a feature that were actually
unable to lab in GNS3. While this may seem like a downer, I urge you to think about the syntax
required for enabling RSTP on traditional switching platforms. Not too difficult, right? Really the only
thing RSTP brings from a certification exam perspective is the new port states, which can be studied
from a book. If its still not enough, this is something youll need physical equipment to try.

I dont view this as a big deal. This DOES allow us to study basic things like port states, STP security
features like backbonefast, and the effect of tweaking timers. Thats easily CCNA-level and even
CCNP-level concepts.The fact that I can still lab PVST is enough for me, and I dont feel like Im
missing much not being able to run RSTP. In a real enterprise environment, RSTP is a much
preferred option, but since this is just for studying, and since RSTP requires only a single command
to configure, were not missing much here.

EtherChannel
EtherChannel, or port channel, is a way of grouping multiple links together for increased bandwidth
and redundancy. Lets see how GNS3 handles this.

R1(config)#int ra Fa1/0 , Fa1/5 R1(config-if-range)#channel-group 1 mode ? on Enable Etherchannel

only R1(config-if-range)#channel-group 1 mode on Creating a port-channel interface Port-channel1
*Mar 1 01:00:41.707: %EC-5-BUNDLE: Interface Fa1/0 joined port-channel Po1 *Mar 1 01:00:42.395:
%EC-5-BUNDLE: Interface Fa1/5 joined port-channel Po1 *Mar 1 01:00:43.651: %LINK-3-UPDOWN:
Interface Port-channel1, changed state to up *Mar 1 01:00:44.651: %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line
protocol on Interface Port-channel1, changed state to up R1#show etherchannel summary Flags: D -
down P - in port-channel I - stand-alone s - suspended R - Layer3 S - Layer2 U - in use Group Port-
channel Ports -----+------------+----------------------------------------------------------- 1 Po1(SU) Fa1/0(P) Fa1/5(D)

Looks like it can be done, but theres really not much available for us to do beyond simply statically
bundling the ports together. We arent given the option to enable LACP or PAGP. We are, however,
still able to configure the global setting for the hashing mechanism to load-balance traffic on these
port channels:

R1(config)#port-channel load-balance ? dst-ip Dst IP Addr dst-mac Dst Mac Addr src-dst-ip Src XOR Dst
IP Addr src-dst-mac Src XOR Dst Mac Addr src-ip Src IP Addr src-mac Src Mac Addr

While this is cool and fun to play with, it doesnt really have a huge impact on Cisco curriculum, as
port-channels are a light subject as it is. Good to know this is possible, though.

VLAN/VTP
Like anyone who has actually run a functional network, I despise VTP, but Cisco has deemed it
necessary to keep this feature in their curricula for the time being. The configuration for VTP is
different than on a traditional Catalyst switch, but the bells and whistles are the same, and you can
observe the same behavior.

The VTP configuration is found in the same place as the VLAN configuration - in the old VLAN
configuration context, which any modern Cisco switch has since moved away from.

R1#vlan database R1(vlan)#vtp ? client Set the device to client mode. domain Set the name of the
VTP administrative domain. password Set the password for the VTP administrative domain. pruning Set
the administrative domain to permit pruning. server Set the device to server mode. transparent Set
the device to transparent mode. v2-mode Set the administrative domain to V2 mode. R1(vlan)#vtp
domain cisco Changing VTP domain name from NULL to cisco R1(vlan)#vtp password secret Setting
device VLAN database password to secret. R1(vlan)#vtp server ? R1(vlan)#vtp server Device mode
already VTP SERVER. R1(vlan)#vlan 10 VLAN 10 added: Name: VLAN0010 R1(vlan)#apply APPLY
completed. R1(vlan)#exit R1#show vtp ? counters VTP statistics status VTP domain status R1#show
vtp status VTP Version : 2 Configuration Revision : 1 Maximum VLANs supported locally : 256 Number
of existing VLANs : 6 VTP Operating Mode : Server VTP Domain Name : cisco VTP Pruning Mode :
Disabled VTP V2 Mode : Disabled VTP Traps Generation : Disabled MD5 digest : 0x61 0x60 0x65 0xE6
0xC8 0xF3 0x98 0xC6 Configuration last modified by 0.0.0.0 at 3-1-02 01:16:06 Local updater ID is
0.0.0.0 (no valid interface found)

As you can see, the concepts are the same, and if you can interpolate between the subtle
configuration differences, you can still use this to study for the exam - just make sure you spend
some time in front of a real switch for at least a little bit so you can remember the actual context of
the commands the exam will be expecting.

We also configure R3 to be a VTP client and see that it receives the new VLAN database revision.

R3(vlan)#vtp client Setting device to VTP CLIENT mode. R3(vlan)#vtp domain cisco Domain name
already set to cisco . R3(vlan)#vtp password secret Setting device VLAN database password to secret.
R3#show vtp status VTP Version : 2 Configuration Revision : 1 Maximum VLANs supported locally : 256
Number of existing VLANs : 6 VTP Operating Mode : Client VTP Domain Name : cisco VTP Pruning Mode
: Disabled VTP V2 Mode : Disabled VTP Traps Generation : Disabled MD5 digest : 0x61 0x60 0x65 0xE6
0xC8 0xF3 0x98 0xC6 Configuration last modified by 0.0.0.0 at 3-1-02 01:16:06 R1#show vlan? vlan-
range vlan-switch vlans R3#show vlan-switch VLAN Name Status Ports ---- --------------------------------
--------- ------------------------------- 1 default active Fa1/0, Fa1/3, Fa1/4, Fa1/5 Fa1/6, Fa1/7, Fa1/8, Fa1/9
Fa1/10, Fa1/11, Fa1/12, Fa1/13 Fa1/14, Fa1/15 10 VLAN0010 active

VLAN 10 made it to R3 with the new configuration revision.

Layer 3 Switching
Were running all of this in GNS3, which is good for practicing Layer 3 stuff, so who would write a
blog post on this topic without addressing Layer 3 Switching?

Lets change up the topology a little bit. Ive placed R1 as the center of a now-linear network, where
R2 must go through R1 to get to R3.

I placed each port on R1 in different VLANs (access), and assign IP addresses to each SVI:
R1(config)#int Fa1/0 R1(config-if)#switchport mode access *Mar 1 01:41:58.571: %DTP-5-
NONTRUNKPORTON: Port Fa1/0 has become non-trunk R1(config-if)#switchport access vlan 10
R1(config-if)#int Fa1/1 R1(config-if)#switchport mode access *Mar 1 01:42:46.251: %DTP-5-
NONTRUNKPORTON: Port Fa1/1 has become non-trunk R1(config-if)#switchport access vlan 20
R1(config)#int vlan 10 *Mar 1 01:36:15.775: %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface
Vlan10, changed state to up R1(config-if)#ip addr 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0 R1(config-if)#int vlan 20
*Mar 1 01:36:38.711: %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface Vlan20, changed state to up
R1(config-if)#ip addr 20.1.1.1 255.255.255.0

With IP addresses assigned, its time to do our routing. The device is natively a router, so setting up
a quick (and lazy) EIGRP configuration is as I expected, and our neighbors came up.

R1(config)#router eigrp 10 R1(config-router)#no auto R1(config-router)#network 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0

R1(config-router)#exit R1(config)#exit R1# *Mar 1 01:47:54.543: %DUAL-5-NBRCHANGE: IP-EIGRP(0)
10: Neighbor 10.1.1.2 (Vlan10) is up: new adjacency *Mar 1 01:47:54.963: %DUAL-5-NBRCHANGE: IP-
EIGRP(0) 10: Neighbor 20.1.1.2 (Vlan20) is up: new adjacency

A quick ping from R2 to R3 shows weve got end-to-end connectivity.

R2#ping 20.1.1.2 Type escape sequence to abort. Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 20.1.1.2, timeout
is 2 seconds: !!!!! Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 40/44/60 ms

Summary
In conclusion, weve run into a few caveats in dealing with GNS3 for switching labs, but on the whole
they are manageable. Do NOT focus on the syntax, refer to real equipment or your curriculum books
for that - use these tools for getting familiar with the concepts, and getting a minimal amount of
command line syntax. Same as with routing labs - GNS3s best trait is that it just gets you
comfortable with the IOS CLI - something that will serve you well on the exams no matter what.

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Matt Oswalt
Matt Oswalt is an all-around technology nerd, currently focusing on networking, software
development, and everything in between. He is at his happiest in front of a keyboard, next to a
brewing kettle, or wielding his silo-smashing sledgehammer. He spends his days diving deep into the
intersection of networking and software, and likes to blog about his experiences when he comes up
for air. You can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIN