How to connect GNS3 virtual routers to local PC NICs - windows

My GNS3 topology:

To verify connectivity between CUCM and the virtual routers running under GNS3, I must first verify that the vitual routers can access the PC NICs. To do this , I followed these steps:

1. create new network connection, use "add hardware" menu on the Control Panel to do this
2.  let the add hardware wizard runs its course
3. click on Yes , i have connected the hardware
4. scroll to the bottom of the list and choose "add a new hardware device"
5. install the hardware manually
6. select Network Adaptor
7. select Microsoft and choose MS Loopback Adaptor and finish installation
   
8. under "Network Connections" , a new icon is created besides the usual Wireless NC, Local Area Connection, VMware NA and so forth
9. rename this Loopback - GNS3
10. configure the PC loopback interface with an IP address : 10.1.2.254 / 24
11. on the GNS3 installation directory, run "Network device list.cmd"
12. the output will look like this:

Network adapters on this machine:

NIO_gen_eth:\Device\NPF_{E2A157C9-021A-4FB1-86BF-34ED8C2310E1}
 Name      : VMware Network Adapter VMnet1
 Desciption: VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter

NIO_gen_eth:\Device\NPF_{C7EF6659-191D-451B-801F-0AC64C7E1FDF}
 Name      : VMware Network Adapter VMnet8
 Desciption: VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter

NIO_gen_eth:\Device\NPF_{0688B198-50D9-41C8-958B-4CB935DF609C}
 Name      : Local Area Connection
 Desciption: Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet Driver

NIO_gen_eth:\Device\NPF_{FD2911D5-CAC7-4382-813B-4E4997876429}
 Name      : Loopbaack - GNS3
 Desciption: MS LoopBack Driver

NIO_gen_eth:\Device\NPF_{2818775B-F831-4CF4-B07E-9B6276B2A397}
 Name      : Wireless Network Connection 2
 Desciption: Belkin Wireless G USB

Use as follows:
  F0/0 = NIO_gen_eth:\Device\NPF_{...}
Press any key to continue . . .

1. edit the xxxx.net file , in my case, I saved the topology file into test1.net
2. as illustrated in the topolgy, the HQ router is connecting to the CO cloud via a switch
3. edit the switch config as follow:   
4.     [[ETHSW SW0]]
           1 = access 1
           2 = access 1 NIO_gen_eth:\Device\NPF_{FD2911D5-CAC7-4382-813B-4E4997876429}
5. switch port 1 is connected to HQ router
6. switch port 2 is connected to PC loopback interface NIO which device # you 'd get from "Network device list.cmd"
7. start GNS3 and load all the routers configs
8. the PC should be able to ping the routers in the topology now

E:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ipconfig
Windows IP Configuration
Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection 2:
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.112
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Ethernet adapter VMware Network Adapter VMnet8:
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.238.1
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
Ethernet adapter VMware Network Adapter VMnet1:
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.193.1
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
Ethernet adapter Loopbaack - GNS3:
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.1.2.254
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.1.2.1
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
E:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ping 10.1.2.1
Pinging 10.1.2.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 10.1.2.1: bytes=32 time=98ms TTL=255
Reply from 10.1.2.1: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=255
Reply from 10.1.2.1: bytes=32 time=31ms TTL=255
Reply from 10.1.2.1: bytes=32 time=41ms TTL=255
Ping statistics for 10.1.2.1:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 28ms, Maximum = 98ms, Average = 49ms
E:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

GNS3 on WXP is such a memory hog, took 2.5Gig memory on winXP with 4 routers running OSPF

I had 4 routers running 3745 images with 4T and 16ESW modules; they have OSPF running so all the routers were able to ping each other fine. On my WXP laptop , virtual memory was running at 2.5 Gig making things really crawling. I also had wintabber running to place all the router consoles into tabs which kinda tidied up the workspace.
I was pretty sure I had all the idlepc , ghostios and sparsemem enabled, so not sure why winXP is such a memory hog.

Finished setting up my vmware server 1.0.9 and GNS3

During my 4 weeks of studying for the written test, I was able to set up the following EQ for my lab work later.

1. I know I would need a powerful PC so I built up a PC with Core 2 duo Xeon CPU , 6 GB RAM and about 200 GB of disk space. I should be able to add another 1Tetra bytes of external disk space via usb interfaces.
2. The 4gig RAM finally come in on aug29, I placed them into the PC and whoo, it booted up with a total of 6 gig. It was kinda pain in the ass to get the single channel (fully buffered DDR2) instead of the dual channel DDR2. I had to order the 4 gig online. If the damn PC would use the dual channel DDR2, I could have pick up the DDR2 at the local Frys store.
3. The 4 gig RAM of single channel DDR2 cost me as much as 8 gig of dual channel DDR2
4. Finally the performance of the PC is decent enough now
5. Before with the default 2 gig ram, whenver CUCM and unity were running concurrently, the PC would slow to a crawl. Now with 6 gig ram in place, performance is kinda decent

Late on Saturday night , august 29 2009, I tallied my PC inventory and had the following working:

1. CUCM version 7.1.2 running under vmware server 1.0.9
2. Unity connection version 7.1.2 running (also under vmware)
3. GNS3 and dynamips working. I had 2 routers up and running and they were able to ping each other
4. I still need to set up an external switch and connect some IP phone to the switch or use another PC which run IP communicator to emulate IP phone.

Regardless, my basic setup is done and I am ready to tackle the voice CCIE lab

Pass the CCIE written test on Aug28 2009

Took the day off from work, went to Pearson Vue office in Fremont for Voice CCIE written test.
At first, I was pretty nervous, but as the questions rolled off from the testing terminal, I became more and more confident.
I finished the 100 questions test under 1 hours and 15 minutes with a passing grade of 89% :-))
All those study sessions really really paid off.
It took me about 4 weeks of studying , usually 1/2 hour per day to reach this far.

August 30 2009. Made up my mind to create the CCIE voice lab at home using GNS3 and vmware