netlab

Making virtual networking labs suck less

ipspace
488
73
Python

Overview

netlab is bringing infrastructure-as-code concepts to networking labs. You’ll describe your high-level network topology and routing design in a YAML file, and the tools in this repository will

  • Create Vagrantfile configuration file for libvirt or VirtualBox environment
  • Create containerlab configuration file
  • Create Ansible inventory and configuration file
  • Create IPv4 and IPv6 addressing plan and OSPFv2, OSPFv3, EIGRP, IS-IS, RIPv2, RIPng, and BGP routing design
  • Configure IPv4, IPv6, DHCP, DHCPv6, VLANs, VRFs, VXLAN, LLDP, BFD, OSPFv2, OSPFv3, EIGRP, IS-IS, BGP, RIPv2, RIPng, VRRP, LACP, LAG, MLAG, link bonding, STP, anycast gateways, static routes, route maps, prefix lists, AS-path prefix lists, route redistribution, default route origination, MPLS, BGP-LU, L3VPN (VPNv4 + VPNv6), 6PE, EVPN, SR-MPLS, or SRv6 on your lab devices.

Instead of wasting time creating lab topology in a GUI and configuring boring details, you’ll start with a lab preconfigured according to your specifications.

Interested? Read the documentation and installation guidelines.

Releases

The latest release is release 1.9.4-post2. It should be pretty stable, but if you encounter bugs, please report them as GitHub issues and use release 1.9.2-post1.

An Overview of CLI Commands

netlab up
Uses netlab create to create configuration files, starts the virtual lab, and uses netlab initial to deploy device configurations, including IP addressing, LLDP, OSPF, BGP, IS-IS, EIGRP, VRRP, VLANs, VRFs, MPLS, SR-MPLS, VXLAN, EVPN and SRv6. More details
netlab down
Destroys the virtual lab. More details
netlab restart
Restart and/or reconfigure the virtual lab. More details
netlab config
Applies additional Jinja2 configuration templates to network devices.
netlab collect
Using Ansible fact gathering or other device-specific Ansible modules, collects device configurations and saves them in the specified directory (default: config).
netlab connect
Use SSH or docker exec to connect to a lab device using device names, management network IP addresses (ansible_host), SSH port, and username/passwords specified in lab topology or netlab device defaults.
netlab exec
Use SSH or docker exec to execute a command on one or more network devices using device names, management network IP addresses (ansible_host), SSH port, and username/passwords specified in lab topology or netlab device defaults.
netlab capture
Perform packet capture on VM- and container interfaces
netlab report
Creates a report from the transformed lab topology data. More details
netlab graph
Creates a lab topology graph description in Graphviz or D2 format. More details
netlab show
Display system settings in tabular, text, or YAML format. More details