This is a continuation of my VIRL, CML blog series. VIRL/CML overview is covered here. It will be good to connect VIRL, CML networks to outside world. Following are some use cases.

• If management interface of VIRL routers are accessible from outside machines, we can run management application in the client machine and connect directly to VIRL routers. NXAPI, OnePK are some examples of management application like this.
• Extending VIRL network to physical routers and switches. For example, we can expose 1 of the interfaces of VIRL network and that can form peering IGP relationship with a physical router.

External connectivity requirements for VIRL install using VMPlayer:

As mentioned in my earlier blog, it is necessary to install VIRL with 4 custom host-only interfaces. It is necessary to match the IP address of the custom host-only interfaces to what is mentioned in /etc/virl.ini file. If we change the IP, virl.ini needs to be modified and networking needs to be restarted. This can be done with “”vinstall rehost”

• eth0 – NAT interface used for internet access.
• eth1(172.16.1.x) and eth2(172.16.2.x) are used for FLAT management and inband.
• eth3(172.16.3.x) is used for SNAT L3 access.

Following is the ipconfig VMnet* output in my host machine after creation of custom networks. VMnet3 and VMnet4 are used for FLAT management and inband. VMnet5 is  used for SNAT L3 access.

Continue reading Connecting VIRL, CML networks to outside world →