How to Install GNS3 2.2 on Ubuntu 24.04 & 23.10

This article will show you step-by-step instructions on how to set up and use the GNS3 network simulator software in Ubuntu. This handy tool helps you set up Router or Switch network devices easily. It’s beneficial for those getting ready for Cisco exams to enhance their professional preparation.

We’ll concentrate on using GNS3 with the Ubuntu 24.04 OS Version or newer. Follow our easy steps for a smooth experience. This guide will help you understand a lot, giving you the skills and knowledge to do well in the competitive field of networking.

Installing GNS3 on Ubuntu

How to Run GNS3 2.2 Versions on Ubuntu 24.04, 23.10, or Newer

You can install the GNS3 network simulator on Windows or download, install, and use it on Linux systems without any trouble.

With the GNS3 (Graphical Network Simulator 3), you can make unique network setups and run these devices virtually on your computer. You don’t have to buy network products like Cisco Routers and Switches.

GNS3 is more detailed than the Cisco Packet Tracer program. That’s why people who want to create more advanced network designs like using this simulator program.

On Ubuntu, we typically install applications using the terminal. In Linux, once you add the address for a program, you can install it and automatically get the latest version when you update your system.

But sometimes, when you’re installing a program on the latest Linux versions, you might need to install some other necessary stuff first. So, you’ll have to install these extra things for the program to work.

How to Set Up GNS3

Follow the steps below to run the Cisco simulator software on your Linux/Ubuntu distribution without any problems.

Step 1

Open Terminal by pressing the Ctrl + Alt + T keys together on the Ubuntu desktop. To add GNS3 to the Repository, type the following command in the terminal area and press Enter.

To add the repo address of the GNS3 software, enter the root password of your system and then press the Enter key. If you want to cancel this process, press the Ctrl + C keys together, as you can see in the terminal.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gns3/ppa

After executing the relevant command, type the sudo apt-get update command and press Enter to check the current versions of the programs installed on your Ubuntu system.

Once you check the versions of the installed programs, type in ‘apt list –upgradable’ to see which programs will get an upgrade. If you’re ready to update right away, use ‘sudo apt upgrade.’

NOTE 1: Some services running in the background during the update are blocking the process. In the terminal, you can stop processes causing issues on your system by using the command “sudo kill -9 (Process ID)” and providing the ID numbers of those conflicting services.

NOTE 2: If you get the “dpkg was interrupted” error when you execute the sudo apt upgrade command again, run the “sudo dpkg –configure -a” command, and then you can start the update again.

GNS3 Repository

Step 2

Define the repo address, update programs, and run “sudo apt install gns3-server gns3-gui” in the terminal to install the GNS3 simulator.

sudo apt install gns3-gui gns3-server

GNS3 Server and Gui Installation

Step 3

To make sure the simulator program runs right on Ubuntu, we need to add some extra packages. Just press Y and Enter to say “yes” to installing these special packages in the terminal.

Make sure you’re connected to the internet so that GNS3 can download the packages it needs.

Confirming Additional Disk Space Usage

Step 4

In the final part of the installation, you’ll put in the Wireshark program. But before that, a window for setting up ubridge will pop up.

This screen is about permitting regular group members. Just hit Enter on Yes so that those folks can use i

Confirming Non-superusers UBridge Permission

Step 5

If you want users to be able to check data with Wireshark, just hit Enter to say Yes.

Confirming Wireshark Packet Analysis for Non-superusers

Step 6

After completing the installation, run GNS3 from the applications panel.

Running GNS3

Step 7

After running the GNS3 simulator, the Setup Wizard window will appear. You can shut down this window or keep going to check and make sure everything is set up right for localhost.

Choose “Run appliances on my computer” and click Next in the Setup Wizard.

Run appliances on my local computer

Step 8

Continue without changing the default settings in the Local server configuration window. If another application on your system may conflict with GNS3, change the Port number.

Local Server Configuration

Step 9

You can see the status of the Localhost service in the local server status window. Here, it doesn’t conflict with other apps, ensuring smooth operation. Continue by clicking Next in the service verification window.

Local Server Status

Step 10

The Summary window shows you that the GNS3 simulator software is running as Local. Close this window by clicking Finish and proceed to the next step.

Server Summary

How to Add a Cisco Router

After installing GNS3 on your Ubuntu system, you must add IOS. Therefore, download the Router or switch network systems from our website. You can then add these files to the virtual network software and start using it.

Step 1

You need to add Router IOS to the Cisco simulator and test it. For new IOS, go to File/Preferences in the program’s menu.

Adding a Cisco Router

Step 2

Open IOS Router Template: Dynamips/IOS Router > New. After that, click Browse to specify the IOS location for the image section.

Adding Router IOS Image

Step 3

Choose “c7200-adventerprisek9-mz.152-4.M7.bin” from your system’s downloaded location. Next, click Open to add the IOS image.

Selecting the c7200 IOS Image

Step 4

Click Yes in the “Would you like to decompress this IOS image” window and continue.

Decompress IOS Image

Step 5

After selecting the Router 7200 image, click Next.

Verifying IOS Location

Step 6

Modify the device name and configure the platform type in the Name and Platform window after adding it. Leave the settings here as default and click Next.

Name and Platform Selection

Step 7

Change the amount of memory for the Router in the Memory window. If you’re using a powerful computer, add a bit more memory to make it work better.

Determining Router Memory Size

Step 8

In the Network Adapters section, put FastEthernet, GigabitEthernet, or Serial Interface into the Router slots. Or you can also use the default C7200-IO-FE (FastEthernet) card.

Adding Network Adapters

Step 9

In the Idle-PC window, click the Idle-PC Finder button to set a value automatically. So, it prevents the Router or Switch network devices from using 100% of your CPU.

Let’s say you received the following error while determining the Idle-PC value. In this case, turn off GNS3 first and move on to the next step.

Error: Could not send Dynamips command ‘vm get_status “AUTOIDLEPC”‘ to localhost:54121: Connection lost, process running: False

NOTE: The error mentioned above is due to Dynamips’ incompatibility with GNS3 software on Ubuntu 64-bit.

AUTOIDLEPC Error

Step 10

To fix the Ubuntu Dynamips error, first open the terminal. Next, run the command “sudo dpkg –add-architecture i386”. When you use this command, you will enable 32-bit architecture on your system.

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386

You enabled 32-bit architecture to resolve GNS3’s 64-bit architecture incompatibility. Now, download and install the Dynamips i386 package with the commands below.

wget http://ppa.launchpad.net/gns3/ppa/ubuntu/pool/main/d/dynamips/dynamips_0.2.21-1~eoan1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i dynamips_0.2.21-1~eoan1_i386.deb

Enabling 32 Bit Architecture

Step 11

You might see an error when getting the Dynamips i386 package. To fix it, you need to install the libc6, libelf1, and libpcap0.8 packages.

Dynamips Dependency Error

Step 12

Get the packages the deb package needs for a smooth install. To do this, type “sudo apt install -f” in the terminal to make it happen.

sudo apt install -f

Downloading Dynamips Dependencies

Step 13

You’ll be getting the additional packages, which are about 30 MB in size. Press Y and Enter to say okay and make it happen.

Installing Broken Packages

Step 14

After successfully installing the Dynamips 32bit package, open the GNS3 program again and go to the Idle-PC window in the IOS add wizard.

When you press the Idle-PC Finder button to select the correct value for iOS, you will notice that you have solved the error this time.

Retry Download of Dependent Packages

Step 15

After adding the c7200 Router IOS, close the wizard.

Confirming Packages to Install

How to Create a New Project

You can now form a new project on your Ubuntu system using the Cisco simulator software and start network design.

Step 1

Click on the New Project icon from the GNS3 tool menu, type a name for the network topology in the opened Project window, and click OK after specifying the location to save.

Creating a New Project

Step 2

Drag and drop the Cisco Router c7200 that you added to the simulator program to the workspace.

Adding a Cisco Router to the Workspace

Step 3

Likewise, drag and drop a Cisco Switch and VPCS to the workspace.

Adding Cisco Switches and VPCS to the Workspace

Step 4

Turn on the cabling option on the left side, then click VPCS and connect one end of the network cable to the Ethernet0 interface.

Cabling Network Devices

Step 5

Connect the other end of the cable you connected to the VPCS to the Ethernet1 interface of the Switch.

Connecting the VPCS to the Switch's Ethernet Adapter

Step 6

Connect one end of the cable to one of the accessible interfaces of the Switch and connect the other end to the FastEthernet0/0 interface after clicking Router.

In this step, you may encounter a UBRIDGE ERROR while connecting the network cable from the Switch to the Router. To resolve this uBridge error, execute the commands below in the order in the terminal.

sudo apt install git
sudo apt install make
sudo apt install gcc
sudo apt install libpcap-dev
cd ~/Downloads
git clone https://github.com/GNS3/ubridge.git
cd ubridge
make
sudo make install

Connecting the Switch to the Router's FastEthernet Adapter

Step 7

To run all the devices in the workspace, click the green arrow on the tool menu and then click Yes to confirm the process of all devices in the window that opens.

Powering All Network Devices

Step 8

After running all devices, double-click on VPCS to open the console. Execute the ip 192.168.1.200/24 in the console to set an IP address to the PC.

ip 192.168.1.200/24

Assigning an IP Address to VPCS

Step 9

Type in the commands below to give an IP address to the FastEthernet0/0 interface of Router R1.

R1# conf t
R1(config)# interface fastethernet0/0
R1(config)# ip address 192.168.1.100 255.255.255.0
R1(config-if)# no shutdown

Assigning an IP Address to the Router's FastEthernet Interface

Step 10

Execute the ping 192.168.1.100 command to ping R1 from PC1.

ping 192.168.1.100

Ping Router from VPCS

Step 11

To ping PC1 from Router R1, execute the ping 192.168.1.200 command.

ping 192.168.1.200

Ping VPCS from Router

How to Uninstall GNS3 from Ubuntu

You can remove or delete the GNS3 network simulator software from your Ubuntu computer by using a single command in the terminal.

Step 1

After backing up your network projects, open the terminal and execute the “sudo apt remove gns3-gui gns3-server” command to remove GNS3 from your system entirely.

sudo apt remove gns3-gui gns3-server

Uninstalling GNS3

Step 2

Confirm the removal of all dependent packages related to GNS3-GUI and GNS3-SERVER from your system.

Confirming Packages to be Removed

Step 3

After deleting GNS3, execute the “sudo apt autoclean && sudo apt autoremove” command to delete all unnecessary packages and program files on your system.

sudo apt autoclean && sudo apt autoremove

Deleting Unnecessary Packages

Step 4

After this process, confirm the deletion of unnecessary packages from your system.

Confirm Deletion of Unnecessary Packages

Video

Installing Old Versions

GNS3 and Ubuntu Versions
GNS3UbuntuYouTube VideoSlide
0.8.717.10Watch
0.8.718.04Watch
1.516.10Watch
2.017.04Watch
2.017.04Watch
2.117.10Watch
2.117.10WatchView
2.118.04WatchView
2.2.1720.10WatchView
2.2.2921.10WatchView
2.2.3222.04 (NEW)Watch

Conclusion

As a result, by installing GNS3 on your Ubuntu PC, you will get many opportunities for networking expertise. Primarily, you can create a virtual lab and improve yourself better. You can also test complex networks without the need for physical hardware.

In summary, GNS3 enhances your knowledge of networking concepts and allows you to practice your skills. This will prepare you for certification exams and real-world scenarios. As you explore the features of the emulator, you will gain valuable experience for your networking career.

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