Automatic network configuration in virtualized environment using GNS3

Abstract

Computer networking is a central topic in computer science courses curricula offered by higher education institutions. Network virtualization and simulation tools, like GNS3, allows students and practitioners to test real world networking configuration scenarios and to configure complex network scenarios by configuring virtualized equipments, such as routers and switches, through each one's virtual console. The configuration of advanced network topics in GNS3 requires that students have to apply basic and very repetitive IP configuration tasks in all network equipments. As the network topology grows, so does the amount of network equipments to be configured, which may lead to logical configuration errors. In this paper we propose an extension for GNS3 network virtualizer, to automatically generate a valid configuration of all the network equipments in a GNS3 scenario. Our implementation is able to automatically produce an initial IP and routing configuration of all the Cisco virtual equipments by using the GNS3 specification files. We tested this extension against a set of networked scenarios which proved the robustness, readiness and speedup of the overall configuration tasks. In a learning environment, this feature may save time for all networking practitioners, both beginners or advanced, who aim to configure and test network topologies, since it automatically produces a valid and operational configuration for all the equipments designed in a GNS3 environment.