New HP Comware Lab Networking Simulator (HCL)
Dear Habrovchane, I bring you the next good news from the fields of HP Networking 'a!
We present to the public the new HP Comware Lab (HCL) network equipment simulator available for use by all interested and interested in joining HPN.
Not so long ago (last year) we showed the HP Network Simulator with which it was possible to study the console and the functionality of devices running the HP Comware v7 operating system, as well as use it to model networks. Read the article at the link .
The product has gained some popularity among people working with the HP network infrastructure, as well as engineers preparing for HP Networking certification. Progress is relentless, companies do not stop there, and HP Network Simulator has evolved into a new, more convenient to use product HP Comware Lab (HCL) .
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Just in case, I’ll give the system requirements right away:
CPU ≥ 3.0 GHz (with support for VT-x or AMD-V)
RAM ≥ 4 GB
Disk: ≥ 80 GB
OS: Windows 7 or higher
For this simulator to work, you also need the installed Oracle VM VirtualBox version 4.2.18 or higher (I use version 4.2.18 directly). Get the desired software here .
After the procedure described above, we proceed to downloading and installing the HP Comware Lab (HCL) itself . We specify your operating system and find the link for download in the Software section. After downloading, run the installation file “on behalf of the Administrator” and go through the standard installation procedure, after which we launch the HCL directly.
The HP Comware Lab interface itself is quite user friendly and will be immediately understood by people who have seen GNS and similar products.
Unlike the previous simulator, the HCL does not need to describe the network topology and the configuration of the virtual machines used in the project in text format. Now we can simply bring to the field both already pre-installed devices (both routers and switches), and create our own device versions, setting up to 32 any interfaces, including TenGigabitEthernet, ATM, POS, E1, GigabitEthernet, and Serial interfaces:
In the case when there is no need to invent your exotic devices, you can use the pre-installed router and switch.
Pre-installed MSR Router:
and 5800 series switch:
In general, HCL allows you to customize any required and support the operating system Comware v7 L2 and L3 functionality (TRILL, SPB, OSPF, BGP, IS-IS, MPLS, FC / FCoE, LACP, VxLAN, etc.), including such HP technologies as IRF stacking (including on the router), MDC, EVI, ADVPN and many others.
The simulator supports the ability to connect end devices to a project by adding Host devices to the topology and specifying which network adapter will be connected to.
How and how this can be used has already been described in the previous article on simulators , I will leave only as an example the use of a control system with simulated devices, integration with GNS , etc.
Separately, I would like to dwell on the Remote function. It allows you to "stretch" the project between several machines by providing communication for simulated devices placed on different physical devices (in my case laptops) using tunnels.
It is only necessary to create a Remote device on all the joined physical devices running HCL and configure the IP address of the neighboring device and the name of the project with which you need to establish a connection.
I note from myself that in order for the physical interface on which the tunnel is terminated to rise to the UP state, it is necessary for the tunnel name (in my case tunnel1) to match on both Remote devices.
For example, I used the following settings on virtual routers separated into different laptops:
And correspondingly:
Check device connectivity through the HCL tunnel:
Directly on the simulated device there is no need to configure tunneling, for it this channel is a “direct” link through which even LLDP packets go.
By the way about viewing walking packages!
With the Wireshark traffic analyzer installed and the path to it specified in the HP Comware Lab settings, HCL can collect traffic on any channels you choose (even directly between virtual devices) and display it in the Wireshark interface. I’ll skip downloading and installing Wireshark, but just in case I’ll mention that this traffic analyzer is available for download by the link .
The result looks something like this:
The new HPN simulator of solutions is a convenient tool for modeling network solutions and allows you to solve problems of learning and demonstrating HP network solutions, testing network protocols, testing new technologies, adapting to the HPN syntax and other tasks.
As for the requirements for resources, although the minimum requirements have not changed, I subjectively believe that the HP Comware Lab is more productive than the network simulators I have seen before. In any case, during the creation of topologies containing about 15 devices, no significant problems were observed when deployed on a regular working laptop running standard office applications running in parallel, a browser, etc.
We present to the public the new HP Comware Lab (HCL) network equipment simulator available for use by all interested and interested in joining HPN.
Not so long ago (last year) we showed the HP Network Simulator with which it was possible to study the console and the functionality of devices running the HP Comware v7 operating system, as well as use it to model networks. Read the article at the link .
The product has gained some popularity among people working with the HP network infrastructure, as well as engineers preparing for HP Networking certification. Progress is relentless, companies do not stop there, and HP Network Simulator has evolved into a new, more convenient to use product HP Comware Lab (HCL) .
')
Install HP Comware Lab
Just in case, I’ll give the system requirements right away:
CPU ≥ 3.0 GHz (with support for VT-x or AMD-V)
RAM ≥ 4 GB
Disk: ≥ 80 GB
OS: Windows 7 or higher
For this simulator to work, you also need the installed Oracle VM VirtualBox version 4.2.18 or higher (I use version 4.2.18 directly). Get the desired software here .
After the procedure described above, we proceed to downloading and installing the HP Comware Lab (HCL) itself . We specify your operating system and find the link for download in the Software section. After downloading, run the installation file “on behalf of the Administrator” and go through the standard installation procedure, after which we launch the HCL directly.
Using
The HP Comware Lab interface itself is quite user friendly and will be immediately understood by people who have seen GNS and similar products.
Unlike the previous simulator, the HCL does not need to describe the network topology and the configuration of the virtual machines used in the project in text format. Now we can simply bring to the field both already pre-installed devices (both routers and switches), and create our own device versions, setting up to 32 any interfaces, including TenGigabitEthernet, ATM, POS, E1, GigabitEthernet, and Serial interfaces:
In the case when there is no need to invent your exotic devices, you can use the pre-installed router and switch.
Pre-installed MSR Router:
and 5800 series switch:
In general, HCL allows you to customize any required and support the operating system Comware v7 L2 and L3 functionality (TRILL, SPB, OSPF, BGP, IS-IS, MPLS, FC / FCoE, LACP, VxLAN, etc.), including such HP technologies as IRF stacking (including on the router), MDC, EVI, ADVPN and many others.
The simulator supports the ability to connect end devices to a project by adding Host devices to the topology and specifying which network adapter will be connected to.
How and how this can be used has already been described in the previous article on simulators , I will leave only as an example the use of a control system with simulated devices, integration with GNS , etc.
Separately, I would like to dwell on the Remote function. It allows you to "stretch" the project between several machines by providing communication for simulated devices placed on different physical devices (in my case laptops) using tunnels.
It is only necessary to create a Remote device on all the joined physical devices running HCL and configure the IP address of the neighboring device and the name of the project with which you need to establish a connection.
I note from myself that in order for the physical interface on which the tunnel is terminated to rise to the UP state, it is necessary for the tunnel name (in my case tunnel1) to match on both Remote devices.
For example, I used the following settings on virtual routers separated into different laptops:
interface GigabitEthernet0/0 port link-mode route combo enable copper ip address 1.1.1.1 255.255.255.0 And correspondingly:
interface GigabitEthernet0/0 port link-mode route combo enable copper ip address 1.1.1.2 255.255.255.0 Check device connectivity through the HCL tunnel:
Ping 1.1.1.1 (1.1.1.1): 56 data bytes, press CTRL_C to break 56 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=4.000 ms 56 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=1.000 ms 56 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=2.000 ms 56 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=255 time=2.000 ms 56 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=1.000 ms Directly on the simulated device there is no need to configure tunneling, for it this channel is a “direct” link through which even LLDP packets go.
[Router HP] display lldp neighbor-information verbose LLDP neighbor-information of port 1[GigabitEthernet0/0]: LLDP agent nearest-bridge: LLDP neighbor index : 1 Update time : 0 days, 0 hours, 13 minutes, 1 seconds Chassis type : MAC address Chassis ID : aa9a-01b3-0100 Port ID type : Interface name Port ID : GigabitEthernet0/0 Time to live : 121 Port description : GigabitEthernet0/0 Interface System name : HP System description : H3C Comware Platform Software, Software Version 7.1.059 By the way about viewing walking packages!
With the Wireshark traffic analyzer installed and the path to it specified in the HP Comware Lab settings, HCL can collect traffic on any channels you choose (even directly between virtual devices) and display it in the Wireshark interface. I’ll skip downloading and installing Wireshark, but just in case I’ll mention that this traffic analyzer is available for download by the link .
The result looks something like this:
Conclusion
The new HPN simulator of solutions is a convenient tool for modeling network solutions and allows you to solve problems of learning and demonstrating HP network solutions, testing network protocols, testing new technologies, adapting to the HPN syntax and other tasks.
As for the requirements for resources, although the minimum requirements have not changed, I subjectively believe that the HP Comware Lab is more productive than the network simulators I have seen before. In any case, during the creation of topologies containing about 15 devices, no significant problems were observed when deployed on a regular working laptop running standard office applications running in parallel, a browser, etc.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/261505/
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