We have the vMX image vmx-bundle-21.2R1.10.tgz whic is KVM vMX version. Therefore, we must create two QEMU VMs in Gns3 and connect them together. As for other GNS3 settings, a single vCPU and 1024MB RAM is fine for our vMX 14.1R4.8 instance.įigure 4 - FPC PIC Status and Gigabit InterfacesĪs already mentioned, since vMX 14.1R5, vMX has been divided into two VMs the virtual control-plane (vCP), and the virtual forwarding-plane (vFP). Note: Again, we need to choose virtio-net-pci for NIC type, otherwise FPC keeps being offline and the interfaces ge-0/0/* do not appear. Root% echo 'vm_local_rpio='1'' > /boot/nf The change need reboot to take effect.Įnter the command below right after the boot of vMX before entering the cli command: To change this default behaviour and use local PFE, we need to add a new line vm_local_rpio='1' to /boot/nf and save the file.

Since 14.1R4, Juniper vMX will try to connect to a remote PFE, which means a different virtual machine as PFE. Here is the reason (Figure 3):Įth1 = internal interface (unusable to us)įigure 3 - Gigabit Ethernet Interfaces Presented on vMX 14.1R1.10 The Flexible PIC Concentrator (FPC) is presented and it contains 10x 1GB interfaces (Figure 2).įigure 2 - vMX 14.1R1.10 with FPC and 10 PICsįor the network settings, we have assigned it 12 adapters. The Figure 1 shows the configured settings.įigure 1 - GNS3 Settings for vMX 14.1R1.10 Based on my experience, it is important to change the NIC type otherwise FPC is not presented. Change the NIC type to from the default Intel Gigabit Ethernet (e1000) to virtio-net-pci and configure 12 network interfaces. Enter the name for Qemu VM and allocate 1024MB for RAM. Navigate to Edit-> Preferences-> Qemu VMs and click New button. So far I have tested the following vMX single VM images: All cli configurations are done on the VCP, but porting and connections will be on VFP. Routing Engine (VCP) and Forwarding Plane (VFP) are running separately on two VMs that are connected but they act like a single node. The Juniper vMX 14.1R5 and later are images that are are based on dual nodes setup. They require only one vCPU and 1024 MB of RAM so they also save machine resources. Single node vMX images are therefore easy to deploy and are useful for testing features that are also available in legacy vMXs. Using this local PFE, we avoid running an another virtual machine for resource-consumed PFE.

14.1.R1.10) or can be activated (with 14.1R4) on Routing Engine itself. The vMX image prior 14.1R5 contains a local Packet Forwarding Engine which is already activated (e.g. On the other hand, a vMX instances that use dual node images consists of two VMs - vCP and vFP. Therefore, only one image is attached to vMX instance.

Simply put, single node vMX images include both a virtual control-plane (vCP), and a virtual forwarding-plane (vFP) in a single image. Now, let us say few words about differences between single and dual node vMX images. The goal of the tutorial is to provide detailed instructions for deployment of Juniper vMX into GNS3. The virtual Juniper products ease us to deploy it on lab or simulator, even on the production environment, which is run on the hypervisor. Those products include vMX (router), vSRX (firewall / security), vQFX (switch), and so on. Juniper Network has several products tha can be run on virtualization (hypervisor), such as KVM and ESXi.

Juniper router image for gns3