[c-nsp] good network simulation/emulator

[Michael Aschwanden]

Do you need simulation/emulation or analysis?

And if simulation for proof of concept or training?

For simulation/emulation of a cisco IOS router environment and PIX/ASA
FW as far as i know there are no other/better/more cost effective
options than dynamips/dynagen/GNS3. Very suitable for routing
functional proof of concepts. Never used it with an ASA image and an
IDS image but did quite some work with the PIX emulator which worked
very well and on a proof of concept basis results can be extrapolated
to the ASA.

What limitations are you running into with PIX/ASA on GNS3?

As for cisco switch emulation there is none on which you could load
real IOS images, the cisco routers which dynamips can emulate are
based on general purpose hardware (cpu, pci bus, interface dirvers
etc.). cisco switches are built around proprietary/closed asics. If
you have access to a Cisco Academy Program there you could use a
simulator called Packet Tracer which simulates switches aswell, but is
only suitable for low end training purposes.

As for config analysis/auditing have a look at nipper, the last time i
used it i think it was still open source, apparenlty now its
commercial: http://www.titania.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=59

On Fri, Feb 4, 2011 at 11:49 PM, John Kesoglou <johnk at breezeit.com> wrote:
> I am looking for a good network simulation/emulator software that can
> analyze configs of ASA's , Routers, and Switches.  I have been trying to use
> GNS3 and find that there are too many limitations using the ASA/PIX features
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
> John
>
>
>
>
>
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