Simple Compatibility test between Cisco, Vyatta and LISA

In a previous tutorial, I discussed installation steps for Vyatta and LiSA Qemu images. Now, it is time to have fun  with these network virtual devices and to check simple compatibility between Cisco 3725, Vyatta 6.1 Core and LiSA.

My testing topology contains two Vyatta instance, Cisco 3725 router occupied with NM-16SW module, Cisco 7206VXR router and Linux MLS switch LiSA. PC host are running Microcore Linux. All network devices are emulated with Dynamips and Qemu emulators and running inside GNS3.

Topology is running OSPF routing protocol on Cisco and Vyatta routers. LiSA is acting as an access switch and does L2 switching. In  the fourth part LiSA was tested for intervlan  routing as well.

I have separated configuration to six parts and created videos for each part. As more devices have been added to topology, emulation is slow at the end. Although, I have used Idle PC and cpulimit utility to decrease CPU load, it  is still high during capturing video.

The part one is about  interfaces configuration for support OSPF routing protocol.

The second part contains OSPF protocol configuration on Cisco and Vyatta.  The goal is to configure routers in area 0 in order to exchange routes using OSPF routing protocol. This basic test proves OSPF compatibility between Cisco and Vyatta but more complex and advanced test is needed to  prove full OSPF compatibility between vendors.

The third part tests L2 discovery protocols - Cisco proprietary CDP and 802.3ab LLDP. I ccan only test LLDP between two Vyatta instances because of lack LLDP protocol support in Dynamips emulated router 3725. Vyatta can do both CDP and LLDP so I can test CDP between Vyatta, Cisco and LiSA. Everything works properly, except LiSA does not display CDP neigbours.

Cisco 3725 and Vyatta shows LiSA in the output of show cdp neighbours command. I am not sure why LiSA does not  displays CDP neighbours in the output but I guess it can be an issue  with my LiSA Qemu image.

In the fourth part I setup LiSA and get Ethernet frames forwarding  between two PC hosts in the same VLAN 50.  This part also shows permanent IP configuration of Microcore Linux. Routing between VLANs - PC1 (VLAN50) and PC4 (VLAN40) is also succesfull.

The fifth part finishes LAN configuration - SVI ports, trunks, subinterfaces etc. Routing between VLANS on Vyatta is tested at the end of this part as well.

In the sixth part basic VRRP interoparability is tested between Cisco and Vyattas. Router 3725 is MASTER with priority 254 in VLAN50 and Vyatta-II is the first BACKUP with priority 100 in VLAN50. Vyatta_I is the second backup router for VLAN50 with default priority 1.

Vyatta_II is the Master with priority 254 for VLAN30. The Cisco 3725 is the first Backup with priority 100 in VLAN30.  Vyatta_I is acting as second BACKUP with the default priority 1 in VLAN30.

Configuration files: 7206VXR3725LiSAVyatta_IVyatta_II.

 

25 thoughts on “Simple Compatibility test between Cisco, Vyatta and LISA

    1. LiSA is not Cisco switch when you plug computers to the ports of switch and traffic goes between computers. First you need to say to LiSA which interface it should use for switching. Simply go to global config mode and under interface configuration type "shutdown" and "no shutdown" command. Then exit to enable mode and save configuration with "write memory" command. When you type "show running" you should see that interface is shown in the output. It means that LiSA can use this interface for switching. Do it for all interfaces that LiSA should use for L2 switching or routing.

      Please download the fourth part - there is showed how I configured LiSA for both L2 and L3 routing. I suggest you to simplify you topology for easier troubleshooting - for example use only one LiSa and Cisco router connected together, no 802.1q tagging. On Lisa side assign IP address to vlan 1 interface and ping between LiSA and router. If you still will have a problem try to start Wireshark packet sniffer over LiSA and router link - you should see which side of link doesn't send packets.

      Good luck .

  1. Sir, Could u plz post the video of creating the network of Simple Compatibility test between Cisco, Vyatta and LiSA............ I am facing various problems in making the connection ....
    {Dynamips error, Installing Qemu For Junos }.......... and can i send a packet or data in the software GNS3..

    1. Hi Ravinder,
      according to your comment, your problem is related to GNS3 configuration. If you use Windows you should use all-in-one GNS3 0.7.3 package in which are all necessary applications included (Dynamips, Qemu patched for UDP tunnels, multicast etc.). Package is available here http://www.gns3.net/download . Everything what you need to do is to configure GNS3 software. Here is a tutorial which was originally written for GNS3 0.5 version but it is perfectly valid for Dynamips part of configuration http://heanet.dl.sourceforge.net/project/gns-3/GNS3/0.5/GNS3-0.5-tutorial.pdf . For Qemu part of configuration you should read GNS3 forum http://www.gns3.net/phpBB/?sid=eaff65e72fb1443bf553c8485ab05952. There are plenty of answered questions about Qemu.

      If you use Linux situation is a little bit harder because there is not such a thing like all-in-one package. You need to download each application separately. Also you need to patch Qemu source and compile it by yourself.

      Good luck!

  2. I'm having a problem with the vyatta_I router, eth3 and eth5 state up but link down.
    I've check and recheck config and topology connection, i even deleted the router ,
    but same result, any idea what could be causin this

    1. Hi,
      a physical layer of NIC address is emulated by Qemu so you can't rely on status of interfaces. For instance interface is in up/up state on Vyatta1 router even the opposite Vyatta2 router is not running. Simply entry command "set interfaces ethernet eth5" and "commit" and eth5 interface will go to up/up state even a link is not connected to a neighbour router.

      1. vyatta_I e3 is connected to 7200VXR_I and e5 to LISA_I e5 from the topology above. both are configured correctly but still remain in a UP/DOWN STATE, very puzzled ;)

  3. Hi denzo!
    I have couple of question for you:

    1/ Is connection between vyatta_I and 3725_i working? Can you ping 10.0.0.21 form Vyatta_I?
    2/ What is the status of interface gi1/0 on 7200VXR? Did you bring interface up?

    I'm testing a single topology with only Vyatta (eth3) and 7206VXR (gi1/0) connected together.

    a) The initial state is admin down/down on both Vyatta and Cisco. It is correct.

    b) First I've "unshutdown" interface g1/0 - interface state is transiting to up/up state and is keeping this status. As I know it is a normal behavior for ethernet interfaces emulated by Dynamips.

    c) Vyatta is still in admin down/down state. It is also correct.

    d) Now I'm bringing Vyatta eth3 to up/up state with command "set interfaces ethernet eth3" and commit changes. Interface eth3 is transiting to up/up state.

    I created a short video from it, in which I assigned IP addresses to eth3 (192.168.1.1/24) and gi1/0 (192.168.1.2/24) and checked connectivity. Ping was working. Please, simplify your topology and post results.

    Please, check this video here:

    http://www.4shared.com/video/MSn0eIIy/test-cisco-vyatta.html

      1. when i login as root on vyatta_1, and run ifconfig, i notice interfaces with link down
        don't have a inet6 address, is this normal

        1. yes, if you are logged as root you can see that interfaces which aren't in UP state don't have assigned local IPv6 address (fe80::). If you bring interface a particular interface to UP state e.g. ifconfig eth1, a local IPv6 address will be assigned to this interface. It could be consider as normal behaviour.
          Why do you need a root account? Could you try to login as user "vyatta" with password "skuska" and bring an interface up? You only enter "configure" command and "set interfaces ethernet eth1" and then "commit" command. After that eth1 should go from "Admin down/down" to "UP/UP" state.

      1. this is the read out of qemuwrapper.py

        denzo@denzo:/opt/GNS3/qemuwrapper$ sudo ./qemuwrapper.py
        [sudo] password for denzo:
        Qemu Emulator Wrapper (version 0.7.4)
        Copyright (c) 2007-2010 Thomas Pani & Jeremy Grossmann

        Qemu TCP control server started (port 10525).
        Listenning on all network interfaces
        Connection from ('127.0.0.1', 47506)
        ----------------------------------------
        Exception happened during processing of request from ('127.0.0.1', 47506)
        Traceback (most recent call last):
        File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 582, in process_request_thread
        self.finish_request(request, client_address)
        File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 323, in finish_request
        self.RequestHandlerClass(request, client_address, self)
        File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 641, in __init__
        self.finish()
        File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 694, in finish
        self.wfile.flush()
        File "/usr/lib/python2.7/socket.py", line 303, in flush
        self._sock.sendall(view[write_offset:write_offset+buffer_size])
        error: [Errno 32] Broken pipe
        ----------------------------------------
        Connection from ('127.0.0.1', 47507)
        Shutdown in progress...
        Shutdown completed.
        Qemu path is now qemu
        Qemu-img path is now qemu-img
        !! QEMU1.console = 3000
        !! QEMU1.netcard = e1000
        !! QEMU1.image = /opt/images/vyatta6.2vc.img
        Formatting '/opt/GNS3/Project/QEMU1/FLASH', fmt=qcow2 size=1073741824 backing_file='/opt/images/vyatta6.2vc.img' encryption=off cluster_size=0
        qemu-img returned with 0
        Formatting '/opt/GNS3/Project/QEMU1/SWAP', fmt=qcow2 size=1073741824 encryption=off cluster_size=0
        qemu-img returned with 0
        command: ['qemu', '-name', 'QEMU1', '-m', '256', '/opt/GNS3/Project/QEMU1/FLASH', '-hdb', '/opt/GNS3/Project/QEMU1/SWAP', '-net', 'nic,vlan=0,macaddr=00:00:ab:c7:4b:00,model=e1000', '-net', 'nic,vlan=1,macaddr=00:00:ab:c0:57:01,model=e1000', '-net', 'nic,vlan=2,macaddr=00:00:ab:44:f0:02,model=e1000', '-net', 'nic,vlan=3,macaddr=00:aa:00:16:44:03,model=e1000', '-net', 'udp,vlan=3,sport=20000,dport=10100,daddr=127.0.0.1', '-net', 'nic,vlan=4,macaddr=00:00:ab:d2:2e:04,model=e1000', '-net', 'nic,vlan=5,macaddr=00:00:ab:ea:60:05,model=e1000', '-serial', 'telnet::3000,server,nowait']

        net_dudp_init(20000,127.0.0.1,10100)
        Warning: vlan 0 is not connected to host network
        Warning: vlan 1 is not connected to host network
        Warning: vlan 2 is not connected to host network
        Warning: vlan 4 is not connected to host network
        Warning: vlan 5 is not connected to host network
        pid: 3722
        Renicing to 19
        3722: old priority 0, new priority 19

    1. Do all interfaces work even if you use another Qemu image? Try to use Microcore Linux Qemu image instead of Vyatta and tell me if the result is same.
      I use Qemu 0.12.5 but I will check Vyatta 6.2 with Qemu 0.11.0 later it this day. I am about to think either there is a bug in Qemu 0.11.0 or this Qemu version doesn't work properly with GNS3 0.7.4.

        1. that is really strange behaviour. I've noticed the same problem with eth3 and eth4 with Qemu 0.11.0. I tried both Vyatta 6.1 and Vyatta 6.2 images with the same result. When I changed e1000 to i82557b for eth3 or eth4 I managed to put these interfaces to up/up state but I couldn't ping the neighbour IP address.
          I don't really know what is a problem but I'm sure that Qemu 0.12.5 is working with Vyatta 6.2 image properly. My advice is either upgrade to Qemu 0.12.5 or higher or you can try to increase the number of the interfaces for the Qemu image in GNS3 settings. As I know you can use up to 8 interfaces for Qemu 0.11.0. From what I see only eth3, eth5 and eth7 interface stay in up/down state - remaining five interfaces should work.

  4. How to add more than 5 interfaces in Lisa because in ur topology u have used 6 interfaces in Lisa and what option of NIC i should use in Qemu host and idle pc value is not there in Lisa and vyatta ?how can i manage high CPU issue here.... as i am working on Windows Xp......

  5. Sir,could u tell me ho can my LiSA support more than 6 interfaces as in above topology LiSA have 7 interfaces as i have searched in google a lot, qemu-0.13.0.patched.win32 is not increasing no .of NIC's so plz reply as soon as possible......

    1. Hi,
      so far I've only used Linux for my labs. I'm not sure about Qemu version I used in the lab, but it is either 0.11.0 or 0.12.5. As I know there is maximum 8 NICs allowed for Linux Qemu 0.11.0 and this number is certainly higher for the version of qemu above 0.11.0. Anyway, if it is problem with exceeded number of NICs for your Qemu you should notice warning message "qemu: Too many NICs" in the output of qemuwrapper. Check Troubleshooting section here, please:
      https://brezular.com/2011/04/02/gns3-qemu-troubleshooting/

      Otherwise you can always increase number of NICs for Qemu in GNS3 0.7.4 with left click Qemu device-> Configure-> Qemu hosts-> Number of NIC. You can do it for an individual Qemu device or for all the Qemu images Edit-> Preferences-> Qemu-> Qemu host.

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