02 Nov 12 Cisco ASA 8.4 on GNS 3
Configure Cisco ASA 8.4 on GNS3
As most of the readers know that GNS3 is a pretty cool open source tool for network engineers to be able to emulate Cisco and Juniper software. I have been trying to get it working for a while here and there but just never had the time and patience to go through the whole setup. Today finally while I was watching a Video on You Tube about one of my other projects I came across a pretty cool video on how to get Cisco ASA 8.4 working with GNS3.
Two most important things were getting the right image and then getting the Qemu options configured properly.
Qemu Options: -vnc none -vga none -m 1024 -icount auto -hdachs 980,16,32
Kernel cmd line: Kernel cmd line: -append ide_generic.probe_mask=0x01 ide_core.chs=0.0:980,16,32 auto nousb console=ttyS0,9600 bigphysarea=65536
I was able to use the following site to get the right files for this setup, XeruNetworks. Once you install GNS3 successfully here are some of the first steps:
- Go to “Edit and then Preferences”, then click on “Qemu” (Left)
- Click on “Test Settings” button and make sure that it passes
- Now click on “ASA” and start filling in the information, it will look like this
- Once you are done, add Cisco ASA icon to the GNS3 Lab and click Start, wait few seconds and then start the Console
- Something very important here PATIENCE it will take it few minutes to boot up all the way, it will pause at one point as if it is froze, that is what I thought but the boot process started after like 2 or 3 minutes
- I would really like to give credit to the two web sites and a You Tube video below for the instructions. If you can’t get it working from reading my quick notes I highly suggest visit those sites and that video.
Article Resources:
Tags: ASA 8.4 GNS 3 Lab setup, Cisco ASA on GNS3, Configure Cisco ASA 8.4 on GNS 3, Configure GNS 3 with Cisco ASA
04 Jun 12 Open Source IP Address and Configuration Management
Open Source IP Address And Configuration Management Software – OpenNetAdmin
So I have used Rancid for Cisco Configuration Management, used IPPlan for IP Address Management. Both are good software and they do have their limitations, few things that I was looking for were not available and I am not a programmer plus I did not have time to play around with the scripts to much to get what I need going. Few things that I was looking for and were lacking in both software were following:
- LDAP/Microsoft Active Directory Authentication
- IP Address and Configuration Management both in one software
- Cisco Startup as well as Running Configuration archives along with “show version”
After doing some research I came across a product called OpenNetAdmin. Absolutely loved this product. It has a built in plug in to perform authentication against LDAP/Micrsoft Active Directory. Group permissions, you can manage IP addresses as well as configurations in one place. And I was able to use it to pull down “startup config, running config and show version as well”. Take a look at all the OpenNetAdmin Features. You can also use it to manage DNS, however that wasn’t my need, oh and the installation is so much easier. My next post would be on How to Install and Configure OpenNetAdmin and some tips and tricks that I used to get it working.
Tags: Cisco ASA Configuration Management, Cisco CSS Configuration Mangaement, Cisco Router Configuration Management, Cisco Switch Configuration Management, Open Source IP Address and Configuration Management, OpenNetAdmin Review
