If you’re a network engineer or like to play around with networks, you’ve used GNS3 (or something similar, like VIRL) to simulate networks to prepare for live configuration changes, preparing for certifications, and maybe keep a demo lab. Part of the demo lab I maintain for vRealize Network Insight, is collecting from a GNS3 network.
Sometimes, you need to restart all, or just some of the nodes. In my case, periodic node restarts are to simulate router crashes, and sometimes the storage underneath GNS3 would error and some of the nodes have kernel panics. All reasons to restart the nodes, which can get tedious in the UI. Luckily, GNS3 has a REST API.
PowerGNS3
To solve the automation need, I created a small module called PowerGNS3. It’s focused on node management so far, and you’re able to read out projects, nodes in those projects and start or stop the nodes. You can find it on GitHub, here: https://github.com/smitmartijn/PowerGNS3
Usage
Here are a few examples of how to use PowerGNS3.
Connect to GNS3 API
PS PowerGNS3> Import-Module ./PowerGNS3.psm1 PS PowerGNS3> Connect-GNS3Server -Server 10.196.164.186 -Port 3080 PowerShell credential request GNS3 Authentication User: admin Password for user admin: ******** Server GNS3Version Credentials ------ ----------- ----------- 10.196.164.186:3080 2.2.7 System.Management.Automation.PSCredential
List Projects
PS PowerGNS3> Get-GNS3Project auto_close : False auto_open : False auto_start : False filename : DEMO.gns3 name : DEMO path : /opt/gns3/projects/a1af8eaf-3dc4-47e6-88af-decdf07a9c30 project_id : a1af8eaf-3dc4-47e6-88af-decdf07a9c30 status : opened ..snip..
List Nodes in a Project
PS PowerGNS3> $project = (Get-GNS3Project | where {$_.name -eq "DEMO"})
PS PowerGNS3> Get-GNS3ProjectNodes -Project $project
command_line : /usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 -name bb-ny-2 -m 4096M -smp cpus=1 -enable-kvm -machine smm=off -boot order=c -drive file=/opt/gns3/projects/a1af8eaf-3dc4-47e6-88af-decdf07a9c30/project-files/qemu/5978b9de-fc5e-4418-9ec7-11bcc265d1c9/hda_disk.qcow2,if=ide,index=0,media=disk,id=drive0 -drive file=/opt/gns3/projects/a1af8eaf-3dc4-47e6-88af-decdf07a9c30/project-files/qemu/5978b9de-fc5e-4418-9ec7-11bcc265d1c9/hdb_disk.qcow2,if=ide,index=1,media=disk,id=drive1 -uuid 5978b9de-fc5e-4418-9ec7-11bcc265d1c9 -serial telnet:127.0.0.1:5000,server,nowait -monitor tcp:127.0.0.1:41261,server,nowait -net none -device virtio-net-pci,mac=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:00,netdev=gns3-0 -netdev socket,id=gns3-0,udp=127.0.0.1:20275,localaddr=127.0.0.1:20274 -device virtio-net-pci,mac=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:01,netdev=gns3-1 -netdev socket,id=gns3-1,udp=127.0.0.1:20277,localaddr=127.0.0.1:20276 -device virtio-net-pci,mac=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:02,netdev=gns3-2 -netdev socket,id=gns3-2,udp=127.0.0.1:20279,localaddr=127.0.0.1:20278 -device virtio-net-pci,mac=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:03,netdev=gns3-3 -netdev socket,id=gns3-3,udp=127.0.0.1:20281,localaddr=127.0.0.1:20280 -device virtio-net-pci,mac=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:04,netdev=gns3-4 -netdev socket,id=gns3-4,udp=127.0.0.1:20283,localaddr=127.0.0.1:20282 -device virtio-net-pci,mac=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:05,netdev=gns3-5 -netdev socket,id=gns3-5,udp=127.0.0.1:20285,localaddr=127.0.0.1:20284 -device virtio-net-pci,mac=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:06,netdev=gns3-6 -netdev socket,id=gns3-6,udp=127.0.0.1:20287,localaddr=127.0.0.1:20286 -device virtio-net-pci,mac=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:07,netdev=gns3-7 -netdev socket,id=gns3-7,udp=127.0.0.1:20289,localaddr=127.0.0.1:20288 -device virtio-net-pci,mac=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:08,netdev=gns3-8 -netdev socket,id=gns3-8,udp=127.0.0.1:20291,localaddr=127.0.0.1:20290 -device virtio-net-pci,mac=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:09,netdev=gns3-9 -netdev socket,id=gns3-9,udp=127.0.0.1:20293,localaddr=127.0.0.1:20292 -device virtio-net-pci,mac=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:0a,netdev=gns3-10 -netdev socket,id=gns3-10,udp=127.0.0.1:20295,localaddr=127.0.0.1:20294 -device virtio-net-pci,mac=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:0b,netdev=gns3-11 -netdev socket,id=gns3-11,udp=127.0.0.1:20297,localaddr=127.0.0.1:20296 -device virtio-net-pci,mac=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:0c,netdev=gns3-12 -netdev socket,id=gns3-12,udp=127.0.0.1:20299,localaddr=127.0.0.1:20298 -display none
compute_id : 0fab9ff8-1cc4-4933-aead-825fd60d9a4f
console : 5004
console_auto_start : False
console_host : 10.196.164.187
console_type : telnet
custom_adapters : {}
first_port_name : Management1
height : 60
label : @{rotation=0; style=font-family: TypeWriter;font-size: 10.0;font-weight: bold;fill: #000000;fill-opacity: 1.0;; text=bb-ny-2; x=0; y=-25}
locked : False
name : bb-ny-2
node_directory : /opt/gns3/projects/a1af8eaf-3dc4-47e6-88af-decdf07a9c30/project-files/qemu/5978b9de-fc5e-4418-9ec7-11bcc265d1c9
node_id : 5978b9de-fc5e-4418-9ec7-11bcc265d1c9
node_type : qemu
port_name_format : Ethernet{port1}
port_segment_size : 0
ports : {@{adapter_number=0; adapter_type=virtio-net-pci; data_link_types=; link_type=ethernet; mac_address=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:00; name=Management1; port_number=0; short_name=Management1}, @{adapter_number=1; adapter_type=virtio-net-pci; data_link_types=; link_type=ethernet; mac_addre
ss=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:01; name=Ethernet1; port_number=0; short_name=Ethernet1}, @{adapter_number=2; adapter_type=virtio-net-pci; data_link_types=; link_type=ethernet; mac_address=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:02; name=Ethernet2; port_number=0; short_name=Ethernet2}, @{adapter_number=3; adapt
er_type=virtio-net-pci; data_link_types=; link_type=ethernet; mac_address=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:03; name=Ethernet3; port_number=0; short_name=Ethernet3}…}
project_id : a1af8eaf-3dc4-47e6-88af-decdf07a9c30
properties : @{adapter_type=virtio-net-pci; adapters=13; bios_image=; bios_image_md5sum=; boot_priority=c; cdrom_image=; cdrom_image_md5sum=; cpu_throttling=0; cpus=1; hda_disk_image=Aboot-veos-serial-8.0.0.iso; hda_disk_image_md5sum=187ef8e0f95bec69c5974417515ad13c; hda_disk_interface
=ide; hdb_disk_image=vEOS-lab-4.23.0.1F.vmdk; hdb_disk_image_md5sum=932d24ac812744ab1bc9ce2c3a915949; hdb_disk_interface=ide; hdc_disk_image=; hdc_disk_image_md5sum=; hdc_disk_interface=ide; hdd_disk_image=; hdd_disk_image_md5sum=; hdd_disk_interface=ide; initrd=; initrd_m
d5sum=; kernel_command_line=; kernel_image=; kernel_image_md5sum=; legacy_networking=False; linked_clone=True; mac_address=0c:9c:30:d1:c9:00; on_close=power_off; options=; platform=x86_64; process_priority=normal; qemu_path=/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64; ram=4096; usage=The
login is admin, with no password by default}
status : started
symbol : :/symbols/affinity/circle/blue/switch_multilayer.svg
template_id : a40870cc-9dd9-48d7-a83a-5a0b2c57f82b
width : 60
x : -228
y : -142
z : 1
command_line : /usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 -name bb-prdc-2 -m 4096M -smp cpus=1 -enable-kvm -machine smm=off -boot order=c -drive file=/opt/gns3/projects/a1af8eaf-3dc4-47e6-88af-decdf07a9c30/project-files/qemu/e31e6fda-c439-4d21-b627-ee9135189f2d/hda_disk.qcow2,if=ide,index=0,media=disk,
id=drive0 -drive file=/opt/gns3/projects/a1af8eaf-3dc4-47e6-88af-decdf07a9c30/project-files/qemu/e31e6fda-c439-4d21-b627-ee9135189f2d/hdb_disk.qcow2,if=ide,index=1,media=disk,id=drive1 -uuid e31e6fda-c439-4d21-b627-ee9135189f2d -serial telnet:127.0.0.1:5001,server,nowait -
monitor tcp:127.0.0.
..snip..
Stop Node
PS PowerGNS3> Get-GNS3Project | where {$_.name -eq "DEMO"} | Get-GNS3ProjectNodes | where {$_.name -eq "bb-ny-2"} | Stop-GNS3ProjectNode
..snip..
name : bb-ny-2
status : stopped
..snip..
Start Node
PS PowerGNS3> Get-GNS3Project | where {$_.name -eq "DEMO"} | Get-GNS3ProjectNodes | where {$_.name -eq "bb-ny-2"} | Start-GNS3ProjectNode
..snip..
name : bb-ny-2
status : stopped
..snip..
Summary
The GNS3 API has a ton of additional APIs for project management; from adding nodes to modeling the interface canvas. PowerGNS3 is focused on node management for now, but pull requests are always accepted for more coverage of the API. 🙂
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