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GNS3-Topology: CCNA & CCNP Full Mesh Topology Template

Written by LBSources from http://www.gns3-labs.com on December 1st, 2008 | 13 Comments

Chris sent me a lab which he says has helped him to work on about 95% of his CCNA and CCNP lab requirements. I think this is a clear sign that using Dynamips or GNS3 can be effective in a big way with exam preperation. That 5% left over can be achieved in a few ways – rack space, friends with labs or purchasing switches on ebay and link them into the virtual topology using real interfaces. Nevertheless Its great to see how much we can do without cash, space or budget (electricity bill) to prepare ourselves for these exams.

This lab is just a template lab and has no configs, routing protocols or scenarios to it. I’ll let Chris explain

I created one simple topology that seems to handle 95% of my CCNA & CCNP lab requirements.  It isn’t fancy, but it should save people an hour+ of labor (that is how long it took me to create this topology).

I was getting tired of making one lab per exercise in the Cisco Lab Portfolios and the Certification Zone lab exercises.  So I whipped up a 6 router setup that could handle the majority of the router scenarios I am using for practice.

It consists of 6 7206 routers in a full mesh topology.  Each router has 2 ethernet connections to a dynamips ‘switch’, one each in VLAN1 and VLAN2.

Each router has at least 4 frame connections to the other routers in the topology.

Each router also has 1 frame connection to a frame relay switch, with full mesh DLCI between all routers.

I use dynagen, not GNS3.  I created a diagram of the topology using the freeware tool called Network Notepad (http://www.networknotepad.com/) so I can keep track of all the different connections.

Some of the CCNA & CCNP stuff calls for using the Cisco SDM.  I created one generic_startup.txt config file.  It sets the password to cisco for the router, and enables the http server.  It also sets the exec-timeout on con0 to infinite, and disables domain lookup (your pings will work quickly now).  All you have to do is bridge GNS3 or Dynagen to your physical network card, and you can use the Cisco SDM to interface with the routers.  Or SecureACS, the VPN client, VMWare images, etc….

Warning:  this topo uses a lot of RAM.  When I have all 6 routers running, my memory utilization jumps from 900mb to 3.5GB.  When all 6 routers are idle, I am seeing 10-15% CPU utilization – I have an Intel Core2 Quad processor.

Routers Used: 7206

IOS: c7200-advipservicesk9-mz.124-2.T

Image:

Feature of Topology: Full Mesh Ethernet, Frame Relay

Download: GNS3-Labs:: CCNA-CCNP-Full.Mesh.Topology-Chris

Thanks Chris!

Enjoy..

LBS

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13 Responses to “GNS3-Topology: CCNA & CCNP Full Mesh Topology Template”

  1. avatar GNS3-Topology: CCNA & CCNP Full Mesh Topology Template | GNS3 Labs … | availabl.com
    December 1st, 2008 at 11:07 am

    [...] GNS3-Topology: CCNA & CCNP Full Mesh Topology Template | GNS3 Labs … [...]

  2. avatar LBSources
    December 1st, 2008 at 3:32 pm

    Added Chris’s original image with address and DLCI map info ..

  3. avatar Chris
    December 3rd, 2008 at 1:40 am

    I use a rack rental website for the labs that I cannot do (stuff with switches) with dynamips / GNS3. This topo works great for non-switching stuff.

  4. avatar LBSources
    December 5th, 2008 at 7:11 pm

    Hey Chris who do you rent space from?

  5. avatar Ugo
    July 20th, 2009 at 7:57 pm

    Hi, sorry to bother..
    this is the only link on the site for the CCNA category.
    I want to practice with GSN3 for my CCNA exam and I was looking for some exercises or labs scenarios.. something which can like, “propose configurations” or questions that one has to answer configurating the routers.. Is that even posible with CSN3?

    I’m very sorry, i’m new to this software and I’m in a bit of a hurry =)

    Yeap, I have packet tracert 5.1 too, but I’m stuck with the same deal (plus the big limitations this emulator has), I have no challange or wizards for practicing.
    Please, any help will be appreciated.

  6. avatar links for 2010-03-15 « Where Is All This Leading To?
    March 15th, 2010 at 8:33 pm

    [...] GNS3-Topology: CCNA & CCNP Full Mesh Topology Template | GNS3 Labs :: Cisco Router Simulator Net… (tags: gns3 ccna topology networking certification simulation dynamips) [...]

  7. avatar Sun Hefti
    November 5th, 2010 at 5:08 pm

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  8. avatar INDIA
    May 14th, 2011 at 2:32 pm

    try this site
    Help you with GNS3 LABs
    http://gns3cisco.blogspot.com/2011/05/gns3cisco-help-you-pass-your-ccna-ccnp.html

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    June 2nd, 2011 at 1:52 am

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  12. avatar s4cnc
    December 28th, 2011 at 7:02 am

    like more for this lab pack
    CISCO CBT 60 Videos & GNS3 Labs – CCNA & CCNP
    http://filetrack.blogspot.com/2011/07/cisco-cbt-60-videos-gns3-labs-ccna-ccnp.html
    Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)
    Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
    Frame Relay
    IPv6
    Routing Information Protocol (RIPv2)
    Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)
    Switching Labs
    IP Multicast
    Access Control Lists
    Quality of Service (QoS)
    Point to Point Protocol (PPP)
    Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS)
    MPLS VPN’s
    On-Demand Routing (ODR)
    Floating Static Route
    IP Services
    Policy Based Routing (PBR)
    Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE)
    Hot Standy Router Protocol (HSRP)
    Connecting Real Switches to GNS3/Dynamips
    Redistribution
    GNS3
    Security Device Manager (SDM)

  13. avatar Izolatii
    January 29th, 2012 at 6:43 pm

    Izolatii…

    [...]GNS3-Topology: CCNA & CCNP Full Mesh Topology Template | GNS3 Labs :: Cisco Router Simulator Network Labs & Topologies[...]…

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