# Getting Started

# Requirements

Labs I publish here use Containerlab, a free network lab solution developed by engineers at Nokia. It doesn't require a costly subscription, and in my experience, it's more resource-efficient, more reliable, and a lot more enjoyable than the emulators of years past.

Containerlab installed on a Linux PC, server, WSL, or MacBook.
These labs are built and tested on Ubuntu Server 24.04.2 LTS.
Lab images — Arista cEOS (for switches), Cisco IOL (for routers), and Ubuntu Linux hosts.
Lab files — available on my GitHub.

"About Cisco IOL Images"

Cisco IOL (IOS on Linux) images are not publicly downloadable and are not distributed with these labs.
They can be acquired via a subscription to Cisco Modeling Labs and their refplat ISO.

"Converting Cisco IOL VMs to Containerlab Images"

If you have IOL as a virtual machine image, you must convert it into a containerized image before Containerlab can use it.
Use the vrnetlab toolkit to wrap the VM image into a Docker container.
This process is one-time per image and ensures smooth integration with your lab environment.

# Installing Containerlab

Run the command:

curl -sL https://containerlab.dev/setup | sudo -E bash -s "all"

This will install all components needed to run Containerlab, including Docker. See detailed or alternate installation instructions here.

# Images

# Network-Host

A custom Ubuntu host with extra packages like sudo, iperf3, tcpdump, traceroute, curl, nginx, and more.
Containerlab will pull this image from Docker when you run your first lab.

# Arista cEOS (Switches)

Arista offers these images for free once you’ve created an account.
Navigate to:
Support → Software Download → cEOS Lab → 4.32 → EOS-4.32.5.1M → cEOS64-lab-4.32.5.1M.tar.xz

# Cisco IOL (Routers)

IOL images provide IOS-like functionality in a Containerlab environment and are used for routing labs (e.g., NAT, BGP).
You must have proper licensing to obtain and use these images. If you start with a VM image, see the vrnetlab callout above to containerize it.

# Lab files

Clone the repo containing all my labs/courses:

git clone https://github.com/network-chadmin/containerlab.git

Cloning the repo downloads all lab files. After obtaining the necessary images, move to the directory with your desired lab’s YAML file:

cd /path/to/your/labfile.clab.yml

Then launch your lab:

containerlab deploy

If successful, you’ll see output listing your nodes and their connection status.
You can now access devices via terminal or your preferred emulator (like SecureCRT, Tabby, or PuTTY).

For a deeper dive into administering Containerlab and Docker, see my Containerlab Reference Guide.