Possible to integrate this into GNS3 Network Simulator ?

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Technologov

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Jul 7, 2011, 10:04:25 PM7/7/11
to AutoNetkit
Hello,

I'm Alexey Eromenko "Technologov" from GNS3 Graphical Network
Simulator, an OSS sister-project to NetKit and VisualNetKit.

GNS3 is very powerful and feature-complete.

Screenshot:
http://www.gns3.net/phpBB/download/file.php?id=827&sid=33b19fa823cbf47cffb5c4e5243b9c41&mode=view

One component we still lack is automatic topology generator, something
that AutoNetkit provides.
We would like to explore the possibility to port AutoNetkit to GNS3 or
implement something similar.

1. Is AutoNetkit and VisualNetKit maintained ?
I haven't seen updates of VisualNetKit since 2009. (but AutoNetkit got
updated in 2011)

2. What is the license?

3. Could you please help us port it to GNS3 ?

Thanks in advance,
-Technologov, 8.7.2011.

Simon Knight

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Jul 13, 2011, 9:49:37 AM7/13/11
to auton...@googlegroups.com
Hello Alexey,

I have looked at GNS3 in the past, and it looks like it would tie in
well with our work on AutoNetkit. We are actively developing
AutoNetkit, and are interested in generating configurations for other
platforms.

What sort of topology generation were you interested in? At this stage
AutoNetkit is more about configuration generation.
We have done some work on network topologies (primarily at the PoP
rather than router level) at www.topology-zoo.org
Our future work will look at developing these into a router level topology.

I am not sure of the exact licence, as it is still early stages. As we
are researchers it will most likely be an Open Source licence, we just
haven't looked at this in detail yet.

What language is GNS3 written in?

I look forward to discussing this further with you

Cheers
Simon

Alexey Eromenko

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Jul 13, 2011, 10:04:27 AM7/13/11
to auton...@googlegroups.com, simon....@gmail.com
> What sort of topology generation were you interested in? At this stage
> AutoNetkit is more about configuration generation.
> We have done some work on network topologies (primarily at the PoP
> rather than router level) at www.topology-zoo.org
> Our future work will look at developing these into a router level topology.

Topology + Cisco startup-configs.

> I am not sure of the exact licence, as it is still early stages. As we
> are researchers it will most likely be an Open Source licence, we just
> haven't looked at this in detail yet.

OSS license is very important.

> What language is GNS3 written in?

python. (both GUI and dynamic topology layer)

Our dynamic topology-layer is named "Dynagen". It is a core part of GNS3.
So generating both topologies + Cisco router startup-configs looks
like a good first step.

GNS3 projects consist of the Dynagen Topology (*.ini) files, + router
start-up configs.
Theoretically something like AutoNetKit could generate entire network
topologies with ready start-up configs.

In addition to Cisco routers, GNS3 allows to mix-in VirtualBox virtual
machines, which is a real killer feature of ours. (as seen in
screenshot link from previous email)
Another killer feature, is that we are the only OSS project of this
type, that is truly cross-platform.

--
-Alexey Eromenko "Technologov"

Alexey Eromenko

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Jul 13, 2011, 10:18:40 AM7/13/11
to auton...@googlegroups.com, simon....@gmail.com
If you don't want Cisco, but prefer 100% Free Software, we could try
to create a Quagga-based solution and run it on VirtualBox.

This implies, that startup-configs will be loaded via VBox "Shared Folders".

--
-Alexey Eromenko "Technologov"

Simon Knight

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Jul 13, 2011, 10:56:31 AM7/13/11
to Alexey Eromenko, auton...@googlegroups.com
Hello,

No, we are very much interested in Cisco configs!

We can discuss the licensing if a collaboration project looks
feasible, but I don't think this will be a big issue.

I need to look into GNS in a little more detail, but does GNS3
generate configuration files? You do the hard work to setup the
virtual machines, but do the users then configure these devices
themselves?

What would your preferred output from AutoNetkit look like: a set of
configuration files (eg IOS) for each device, or just a high-level
topology of a large number of devices (which GNS then generates the
configurations for).

Perhaps the easiest way would be for AutoNetkit to be a self-contained
module, which GNS can call on to get the relevant output.

Cheers
Simon

Alexey Eromenko

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Jul 13, 2011, 11:06:43 AM7/13/11
to Simon Knight, auton...@googlegroups.com
> No, we are very much interested in Cisco configs!
>
OK.

> We can discuss the licensing if a collaboration project looks
> feasible, but I don't think this will be a big issue.
>

Agreed.

> I need to look into GNS in a little more detail, but does GNS3
> generate configuration files? You do the hard work to setup the
> virtual machines, but do the users then configure these devices
> themselves?

People need to create topology manually.
Fortunately, the GNS3 GUI is very user-friendly so small and medium
sized labs can be done quickly. (GNS3, the GUI part, probably beats
the Visual part of VisualNetKit)

> What would your preferred output from AutoNetkit look like: a set of
> configuration files (eg IOS) for each device, or just a high-level
> topology of a large number of devices (which GNS then generates the
> configurations for).

We want a complete GNS3 project to be generated.
It means network topology (which described routers and nodes and links
between them) + startup-configs.

> Perhaps the easiest way would be for AutoNetkit to be a self-contained
> module, which GNS can call on to get the relevant output.

Not sure. Both self-contained module and an integrated into GNS3 are possible.
In future deep integration into GNS3 GUI is an option.

I suggest you to download latest GNS3 (v0.8):
http://www.gns3.net/phpBB/topic3262-250.html
...and try it out.
See if you like it in first place.

--
-Alexey Eromenko "Technologov"

Jeremy Grossmann

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Sep 25, 2013, 7:19:09 PM9/25/13
to auton...@googlegroups.com, Simon Knight, al4...@gmail.com
Hi Simon,

I am the project leader of GNS3. I know this conversation is quite old but I have been reviewing AutoNetkit, watched one of your presentation at PyCon conference on YouTube and I am very interested to integrate AutoNetKit to GNS3, probably as a plugin or something.

We are in the process of redesign the software to introduce a better client-server architecture with a REST API etc. as well as cleaner code with tests. Lot of things are going to change and I feel this would be the right time to integrate AutoNetKit. If I understand well, Cisco is gonna use AutoNetKit for their VIRL simulation platform. Could you tell me more about it? (if you have the right of course). Will AutoNetKit stay open source? What is the maturity of the project?

Thanks!

Cheers,
Jeremy.

Simon Knight

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Sep 28, 2013, 12:41:32 PM9/28/13
to Jeremy Grossmann, auton...@googlegroups.com, al4...@gmail.com
Hi Jeremy,

Nice to hear from you. I am currently traveling and have limited email access for the next week or so.

I'll send you a better response when I'm back near a computer :)

Thanks!

- Simon

Sent from a mobile device.
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