Development of a Network Lab Virtualization

It is a cisco router emulater that emulates 1700, 2600, 3600, 3700, and 7200 hardware platforms, and runs standard IOS images. the creator and writer of this emulator, Christophe Fillot, states that this emulator can be used as a training platform for people to be more familiar with cisco devices. It can also be used to check configuration quickly on routers before they are deployed on real routers. This emulator, however, cannot replace real routers and instead can be used as a complementary tool for administrators who want to pass their CCNA/ CCNP/ CCIE exams. Also, the performance of Dynamips is only 1 kpps as compared to the actual 100 kpps of a real router.

Dynamips does not emulate catalyst switches.

Dynagen, a text-based front end program written in Python, uses a “Hypervisor” mode to communicate with Dynamips. This program simplifies building and working with virtual networks.

Dynagen uses a simple configuration file for specifying virtual router hardware configurations.

It also uses simple syntaxes to interconnect routers, bridges, frame-relay and ATM, and Ethernet switches. It doesn’t require any dealing with NETIOS

Dynagen can run in a client / server mode. Simply, Dynagen can run on your workstation and communicate with Dynamips on a back-end server. 

Dynagen can also control multiple Dynamips server simultaneously for distributing large virtual networks across several machines.

Dynagen and Dynamips can also be run on the same system.

Dynagen can support commands such as start router, stop router, reload router, suspend router and telnet to another router.