Cisco Modeling Labs: Labbing Made Easy

Hello, and thanks for tuning in to the first of what we hope is many in a series of blogs about Cisco Modeling Labs (CML). We’re going to cover some of the things you can do with CML and provide a companion video to walk through certain features and showcase some lesser-known capabilities.

If you stumbled upon this blog and have no idea what Cisco Modeling Labs is, then you’re in for a treat. But if you have heard of CML, you likely know it’s been around for a while. So, why start this blog series now? Well, we recently released Cisco Modeling Labs Version 2.4, which is a huge milestone release.

What is Cisco Modeling Labs (CML)?

Cisco Modeling Labs (CML) is a tool that lets you create virtual networks for learning, testing, playing, and hacking in a snap.

You can use CML to build an entire network of IOS-XE, NX-OS, IOS-XR, ASA, and Linux nodes (to name a few) — and you don’t need to purchase, power, and cool a bunch of physical gear. 

Cisco Modeling Labs gives you a safe environment to learn, test, and troubleshoot.

• Explore how technologies such as Segment Routing or model-driven telemetry work.
• See what happens when you change the routing metrics on certain links or optimize an ACL. Does the network achieve the goals you expect?
• Find out how OSPF behaves on the wire with different area types.

All these things are possible with just a few clicks (or lines of Python) in CML. 

Cisco Modeling Labs Version 2.4 

Cisco Modeling Labs Version 2.4 for Enterprise and Education introduces multiple CML servers that can be clustered together to provide a means to scale large labs horizontally, as well as run more labs concurrently.

CML Version 2.4 is a huge deal for Enterprise users who have large networks to lab up and for educational users who want to have big classes of students all using CML at once. 

But what if you’re a CML Personal or Personal Plus user? What features does CML 2.4 have for you?

In addition to clustering, CML 2.4 provides an easier way to do bidirectional link failure testing, provides a richer means to filter and search for items in tabular displays, and provides some improvements to overall stability. 

Cisco Modeling Labs is also a powerful tool for Cisco certification candidates preparing for Expert, Professional, or Associate certification exams.

Learn more about CML-Personal and CML-Personal Plus, available from the Cisco Learning Network Store. Learn more.

 

Access articles, tips and tricks, participate in discussions, and more.

Join the Cisco Modeling Labs – Personal Community today.

The CML v2.4 release represents the first phase of this cluster solution. While we’re extremely proud of the initial work and the capabilities it brings to our users, we also know we have more to do. Since CML is agile, we have a plan to get there, too. In addition to regular maintenance releases, we are planning to do at least two major releases each year, where new features are added. These features include future cluster enhancements, such as static virtual device placement and device migration across cluster nodes. 

If you’re looking to start labbing the easy way, CML 2.4 is a great place to start. Stay tuned for the next blog on Cisco Modeling Labs to discover even more about CML v2.4’s new clustering capabilities, as we will dig deep into the value and function of the CML cluster. 

Watch this video for a brief walk-through of CML 2.4’s new features:

Thanks for reading! What are your thoughts on CML 2.4? Leave a comment below to share your feedback.

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