Start Virtual Lab¶
netlab up is a high-level command that:
Uses netlab create to create virtualization provider configuration file, transformed topology snapshot, and network automation configuration files (Ansible inventory). You can skip this step with the
--snapshot
flag;Checks the virtualization provider installation;
Create the required virtual infrastructure (see below)
Starts the virtual lab using the selected virtualization provider;
Performs provider-specific initialization (see below)
Deploys device configurations with netlab initial command unless it was started with the
--no-config
flag
After the lab has been configured with netlab initial, netlab up displays the help message defined in the lab topology.
You can use netlab up
to create configuration files and start the lab, or use netlab up --snapshot
to start a previously created lab using the transformed lab topology stored in netlab.snapshot.yml
snapshot file.
Usage¶
usage: netlab up [-h] [--log] [-q] [-v] [--debug] [--defaults DEFAULTS] [-d DEVICE]
[-p PROVIDER] [-s SETTINGS] [--no-config] [--fast-config]
[topology]
Create configuration files, start a virtual lab, and configure it
positional arguments:
topology Topology file (default: topology.yml)
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--log Enable basic logging
-q, --quiet Report only major errors
-v, --verbose Verbose logging
--debug Debugging (might not execute external commands)
--defaults DEFAULTS Local topology defaults file
-d DEVICE, --device DEVICE
Default device type
-p PROVIDER, --provider PROVIDER
Override virtualization provider
-s SETTINGS, --set SETTINGS
Additional parameters added to topology file
--no-config Do not configure lab devices
--fast-config Use fast device configuration (Ansible strategy = free)
--snapshot [SNAPSHOT]
Use netlab snapshot file created by a previous lab run
Warning
Do not use the --fast-config
option with custom configuration templates that must be executed in specific order. See netlab initial documentation for more details.
Provider-Specific Initialization¶
netlab up can execute provider-specific tasks before invoking the orchestration tool (Vagrant or containerlab) or after the virtual lab has been created
Tasks executed before the lab is started¶
When used with clab provider, netlab up creates Open vSwitch bridges or standard Linux bridges needed to implement multi-access networks.
When used with libvirt provider, netlab up creates the vagrant-libvirt management network
Tasks executed after the lab creation is completed¶
When used with libvirt provider, netlab up sets the
group_fwd_mask
for all Vagrant-created Linux bridges to enable LLDP passthrough.