Greetings@WizIT,
I would like to provide you a way so that you can emulate Cisco switches (L2 as well as L3) and the most important, it's a 100% free solution! Just follow the following steps:
Here is the steps to follow for installing a L3 switch:
1- First you need to download this L3 switch image from the following link:
http://bit.ly/c3640-ik9o3s-mz-124-25b
2- Run the GNS3 program after downloading the L3 Switch IOS image file to your computer.
3- Click Edit / Preferences to add a Layer 3 Switch on GNS3. In the window that opens, click on Dynamips / IOS Routers.
4- Click the New button to add a Cisco Layer 3 Switch in the IOS Router Templates window.
5- Select New Image in the IOS Image window and click the Browse button to add the L3 Switch IOS image to your GNS3.
6- After adding the Cisco Layer 3 Switch IOS image, select "This is an Etherswitch Router" in the "Name and Platform" window and click the Next button.
7- Set the RAM value for the Cisco Layer 3 Switch and click on the Next button.
8- Add the NM-16ESW interface for "slot 0" in the Network Adapters window and click on the Next button.
9- You need to configure the Idle-PC value for the Layer 3 Switch to function correctly on GNS3. Perform this operation by clicking the Idle-PC Finder button in the Idle-PC window.
10- Wait while calculating the Idle-PC value for Layer 3 Switch.
11- After setting the Idle PC value, click the OK button. Now you can run and use Cisco Layer 3 Switch on GNS3!
While here is the steps for L2 switch:
1- First download the L2 Switch IOS image to your the computer from the link below.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Fhw3CGskyIZzBjUGpkaW5VRDA/view
2- Run the GNS3 program after downloading the L2 Switch IOS image (vIOS-L2.vmdk) to your computer.
3- Click Edit / Preferences to add Layer 2 Switch on GNS3. In the window that opens, click the New button on the QEMU tab.
4- In the New QEMU VM Template window, type a name for the Cisco Layer 2 Switch and click Next.
5- In the next step, if your operating system is 32 Bit or 64 Bit, select the relevant option.
6- Set the RAM value for your computer's hardware performance for the Cisco Layer 2 Switch.
7- In the Disk Image window, click the Browse button to add the L2 IOS image you downloaded to your computer. 8- After adding Layer 2 Switch to GNS3, click Finish button.
9- To configure the symbol of the Cisco Layer 2 Switch, click on the Switch in the GNS3 / Devices section and click Configure Template.
10- Select "Switches" in the Category section of the Layer2 Switch window. Click the Browse button in the Symbol area and select a symbol for the GNS3 Layer 2 Switch from the window opened and click the OK button to save the settings.
11- Finally, you can increase the number of interfaces in the Network section to configure the port number of the Layer 2 Switch on GNS3.
12- Now you can run and use a Cisco Layer 2 Switch on GNS3!
Please, try it and let me know the feedback!
Please don't forget to rate any helpful responses and mark solutions!
Bst Rgds,
Andrew Khalil
