Normally, VirtualBox VM filesystems - or virtual disks - are saved in VirtualBox, not in the GNS3 project folder. Linked clones prevent overwriting filesystems This greatly reduces the number of virtual machines managed in the GNS3 Devices dock. GNS3 integration with VirtualBox linked clones allow users to treat VirtualBox VMs in the GNS3 Devices dock as a “device type” that may be used multiple times, instead of as a unique device that may only be used once. If users are working a large project, or on more than one project, the number of VMs they create may grow to the point that they become hard to manage in the GNS3 devices dock. Most GNS3 users will create many virtual machines in VirtualBox to create multiple instances of each type of node that they plan to use in their simulation. Linked clones simplify GNS3 device management Let’s review the benefits of using VirtualBox linked clones in GNS3. I found that using linked clones works well, provided one avoids the terrible Save As bug ( see below). In this post, we show how using VirtualBox linked clones simplifies using VirtualBox virtual machines in GNS3. GNS3 will save the clone’s filesystem in the GNS3 project folder. Once it is properly configured, GNS3 will do the work of creating a new VirtualBox linked clone from a base VM every time a node is dragged onto the GNS3 network topology panel. GNS3 integrates with VirtualBox to management of linked clone VMs. In the next window, select the Linked clone radio button and click Clone. Give the clone a name, then click the Next button. To create a linked clone in the VirtualBox Manager, right-click on a VM and select Clone from the menu that appears. This base VM is a normal virtual machine managed by VirtualBox. To create a linked clone, you must have a base virtual machine that will be cloned. This saves disk space on the host computer.įor more information about the technology used to create linked clones, research Copy on Write (COW) filesystems. In this post, I will show how to set up and use VirtualBox linked clones in your GNS3 simulation scenarios and work through a detailed tutorial.Ī VirtualBox linked clone is a virtual machine whose virtual disk links to another virtual machine’s virtual disk and saves only the differences in files and data compared to the linked virtual machine. This simplifies the process of setting up VirtualBox virtual machines in GNS3, which makes GNS3 easier to use for studying the operation of open-source routers, switches, and hosts in network simulation scenarios. GNS3 1.3 will create and manage VirtualBox virtual machine linked clones from within the GNS3 user interface.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |