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Using MikroTik with

GNS3
PR E SENTED B Y:

R I C K F R E Y , MIK R OTIK T R A I NE R
www.rickfreyconsulting.com 903-245-1557

Background
Rick Frey
20+ years in IT & Communication Industries
10 years in the US Navy
Designed and implemented a wide array of networks all of the world
Introduced to the MikroTik product line in 2008
Areas of Focus:
Wireless services integration
ISP Solutions

Certifications
Certified MTCNA, MTCRE, MTCTCE, MTCWE, MTCT

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IP ArchiTechs Managed Services

The first Carrier-Grade 24/7/365 MikroTik TAC (Technical Assistance Center)
Three tiers of engineering support
Monthly and on-demand pricing available
1-855-MIKRO-TIK or www.iparchitechs.com
Air MPLS - Private Nationwide 4G LTE MPLS backbone
Partnership with Verizon Wireless - available anywhere in the Verizon service area
Not Internet facing privately routed over our MPLS infrastructure
Point-to-Point or Point-to-MultiPoint
Proactive Monitoring / Ticketing / Change Control / IPAM
Carrier-Grade Network Engineering / Design in large (10,000+ nodes) environments

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Objectives
Introduce GNS3
Introduce Virtual Box
Explain how use MikroTik with GNS3

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GNS3
Graphical Network Simulator
Combines other open source platforms to visually and cohesively
simulate network environments
Dynamips Cisco IOS emulator
VirtualBox Runs RouterOS and other x86 software
Qemu Machine Emulator to run Cisco ASA, PIX, and IPS

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Why Use GNS3

Training Almost as realistic as building a mock network with real
equipment
Most cost effective tool for teaching networking available

Network Validation Allows you test network designs and changes

before they are applied to a production network
Reduces downtime
Increases ROI

Network Design Collaboration

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GNS3
First released in Sept of 2007 as V0.3
Current stable version is GNS3 V0.8.7
Beta Version is GNS3 V1.0 Beta 2

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First Look at GNS3

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Virtual Box

GNS3 uses Virtual Box to run MikroTiks RouterOS and other x86
compatible software

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Intro to Using Virtual Box

Currently owned by Oracle
Virtualization Software
Can run any x86, Intel64,
AMD64 Software

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Intro to Using Virtual Box

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Installing RouterOS to Virtual Box

Start by Selecting Machine ->
New
Follow the Wizard
Default Settings will be
adequate for most people

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Installing RouterOS to Virtual Box

Give your VM the same name
you will want it to have in GNS3
You can also change the name
latter

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Installing RouterOS to Virtual Box

Default Memory size is 512MB
The recommended Green &
Red portions are based upon
the amount of memory
installed on the physical
machine

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Installing RouterOS to Virtual Box

Select virtual hard drive now

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Installing RouterOS to Virtual Box

VDI VBs Native format
The correct choice 99% of the time
VMDK Used by products like
VM Ware
VHD Used by Microsoft
Products
HDD Used by Parallels
QED Used by Qemu
QCOW Used by Qemu

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Installing RouterOS to Virtual Box

Dynamically Allocated Saves
space on your physical machine
and is the best choice for most
cases
Fixed Size X size HD on the
VM will = X Size space used on
the physical machine

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Installing RouterOS to Virtual Box

Set HD limit to something
reasonable

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Installing RouterOS to Virtual Box

New VM

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Installing RouterOS to Virtual Box

Select the ISO for RotuerOS
Installation will identical to
using a CD on an x86 machine

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Installing RouterOS to Virtual Box

Selected Desired Packages
Press I to install

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Installing RouterOS to Virtual Box

Remove the installation media
by selecting Devices -> CD/DVD
Devices & Un-checking the ISO
Reboot the VM

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Accessing the Virtual Router for the 1 st Time

Stop the VM
Right Click and chose Settings
Select Network
Change Attached to to
Bridged Adapter
This will Bridge the VMs
adapter to your physical
adapter Allows Internet
access, Winbox, and Webfig

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Notes about Licensing

The best time to apply the apply the license would immediately after
installation
For training and evaluation purposes, MikroTik offer a 24 Hr License
This allows for full functionality for 24 hours of use (not from 8am Mon to 8am
Tue)
You can build up complicated virtual networks using the Demo License

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Stop! Take a Snapshot!

Snapshot save everything in
there current state
Save Earlier. Save Often

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Configuring GNS3
1 Edit -> Prefrences
3 VirtualBox Guest
2 Virtual Box
2nd VM List

Refresh 1st

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Configuring GNS3

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Configuring GNS3

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The Nuts & Bolts of Networking the VMs

VB has limit of 8 network interfaces (GNS3 may reserve one)
In VB, only 4 NICs can be configured in the Network Settings
The other 4 can only be configured from the command line (GNS3
handles this for youmostly)
VB has limited support for Jumbo Frames (>1500 bytes)
Have a plan ahead of time for which NICs will need to access
resources outside of GNS3 such as the Internet, other vendors' VMs,
or real network resources

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VB NIC Networking Modes

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VB NIC Networking Modes

Not attached Not needed when using GNS3
NAT Deceptive Should not be used due to high limitations such as ICMP failure,
no support for GRE, unreliable UDP broadcasts, etc.
NAT Network Similar to a home router, same limitations
Bridged Works well and is probably the best choice for connecting outside the
VM environments
Internal Networking Creates a sudo interface, should be avoided
Host Only Creates a private network between the host any VMs with that
interface Very Useful
Generic Used in the background by GNS3, should not be selected by user

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Reserving the 1 st NIC Inside GNS3

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Reserving the 1 st NIC Inside GNS3

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Reserving the 1 st NIC Inside GNS3

PROS CO N S

Reserving the 1st NIC allows you Without it, the NICs stay in the
to easily manage the settings virtual environment
for NIC 1 in VB
Without it, you can console into
The use of PuTTY or similar tool the VM natively from GNS3
can still be used as long as
Layer 3 connectivity exsists Ether1 in ROS = Ether0 in
GNS3
Ether1 in ROS = Ether1 in GNS3
Not as favorable for all other
Good choice for Gateways nodes

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Reserving the 1 st NIC Inside GNS3

Not Reserved
1st NIC Reserved

Not Reserved

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Using Host Only Adapters

Only necessary if you want to have Layer 3 access to nodes which
are not bridged onto a real network
Not needed if you are comfortable with the CLI
Can be used to access the virtual router with Winbox, PuTTy, or
Webfig
Configured in VB
Can be used to put to two or more NICs on the same broadcast
domain
Can be a little time consuming to setup

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Using Host Only Adapters

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Using Host Only Adapters

Configures a Virtual Ethernet File -> Prefrences
Adapter on the host PC
If its disabled on the PC, it will
not show up in VB again
If everything seems right, but
its still not working, reboot the
PC

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Limitations of GNS3
Can only virtualize wired connections
Limited and weak support of switching
It only performs well on hardware designed for VMs
Limited support
VM environments are not 100% identical to the real environment
Focus on the network methodology, dont expect it to be 100% perfect
Take the time to understand why there is a difference

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Conclusion
GNS3 can compliment most network environments and provide
valuable insight before a network change
GNS3 can be the single best platform for training
Portable
Scalable
Can be shared with others

Lots of resources available for becoming proficient with both GNS3 &
VirtulBox

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Questions?

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