Cisco VIRL The Swiss-Army Knife of Network Simulators Simon Knight, Software Engineer Brian Daugherty, Technical Leader DevNet-1172
Agenda What is VIRL? VIRL Components and Architecture VIRL Demonstration Key VIRL Use-Cases VIRL APIs Conclusion
What is VIRL?
Virtual Internet Routing Lab A network orchestration and virtualization platform that allows you to: Design graphically Configure automatically Visualize and validate Interact like it s real Connect to live networks Integrate into DevOps 5
Why Should You Care? Because you re a student or teacher, network operator, engineer, or application developer And you need a test or development environment that is: Easy to use Easy to configure Easy to scale Repeatable Easy to access Portable Inexpensive 6
VIRL Architecture and Operations
VIRL System Architecture Virtualized network platforms IOSv / v-l2 ASAv IOS XRv / 9000v Servers NX-OSv / 9000v LXCs CSR1000v Docker Generators 3 rd -Pary Appliances Virtualized platforms are NOT representations of a particular hardware platform no fans, no switch fabric, no ASIC models ` 8
VIRL System Architecture (Virtualized) KVM Optional CPU Ubuntu HyperVisor * * - All VMware offerings, no support for VirtualBox 9
Built on OpenStack Dashboard (Horizon) Compute (Nova) Networking (Neutron) Storage (Cinder) RESTful APIs </> Shared Services Identity (Keystone) Image (Glance) Other platforms are under consideration 10
VM Maestro The graphical frontend for VIRL Design and configure networks Manage simulations Connect with consoles 11
Browser-Based Editor HTML5-based topology editor Runs on the server nothing on client Substantial subset of VM Maestro 12
AutoNetkit Has deep platform and network intelligence Builds baseline configurations Generates detailed visualizations of protocol layers Enables rapid assessment and debugging 13
VIRL Topologies Stored as XML Human readable Editable Automatable Shareable 14
Services Topology Director Simulation orchestration and management Uses OpenStack to simulate what you build Exposes operational data for simulations 15
User Workspace Manager Server configuration Simulation status Browser-based editor Users Images Networks 16
VIRL Workflow 1 2 4 3 5 6 7 17
Once Up and Running
See Status Instantly Active Canvas Get live status of nodes and links Access node and link properties 19
Access and Configure Out-of-band via console, LXC In-band via private or shared networks Access via VM Maestro, host, or remote 20
Start, Stop, and Pace Nodes 21
Simulate Link / Interface Failures 22
Simulate Real-World Conditions Add latency Insert jitter Drop packets 23
Configuration Extraction Make live changes Pull them back Save with your topology Resume where you left off 24
Live Visualizations View live protocol state Reacts in real-time Many protocol layers 25
VIRL Demonstration
Key VIRL Use- Cases
Self-Education / Certification Training 28
Instructor-Led Training Access to exotic systems Low-cost, efficient infrastructure Portable and repeatable 29
Demonstrations 30
New Feature / Solution Evaluation Will these new features work in my network? How are they configured? 31
Troubleshooting Why did that new route-map send all traffic to Houston? Why aren t our multicast groups being learned? 32
DevOps Automation Testing Results APIs + Tests Code Triggers 33
Scale and Integration Testing Test new systems in your network... Without touching your real network 34
Skills Validation Does the candidate have the skills I need, and claim to have? Am I really ready for this test? 35
Familiarization How can you best teach her the nuances of your network? 36
What Next?
Get VIRL ESXi- and PC-based versions Virtual Machine / Node Library Release Notes virl.cisco.com 38
Learn VIRL Installation instructions Video demonstrations VIRL basic and advanced tutorials VIRL APIs get.virl.info 39
User Community Interact with other VIRL users Get help Share ideas, usecases, topologies learningnetwork.cisco.com 40
Contribute and Share Help improve VIRL Share topologies github.com/virl-open 41
Q & A
Complete Your Online Session Evaluation Please complete your Online Session Evaluations after each session Complete 4 Session Evaluations & the Overall Conference Evaluation (available from Thursday) to receive your Cisco Live T-shirt All surveys can be completed via the Cisco Live Mobile App or the Communication Stations Don t forget: Cisco Live sessions will be available for viewing on-demand after the event at CiscoLive.com/Online 43
Continue Your Education Demos in the Cisco campus Walk-in Self-Paced Labs Lunch & Learn Meet the Engineer 1:1 meetings Related sessions 44
Thank You