Community#
Containerlab openness and focus on multivendor labs were key to its success and adoption. With more than a dozen Network Operating Systems spread across several networking vendors and opensource teams, it is a tool that can answer the needs of a broad network engineers community.
Chat servers#
Discord#
Growing the number of supported NOSes is a task that can't be done by a single person, and there the community role is adamant. To support and cherish the growing containerlab community and provide better feedback and discussions platform, we launched containerlab's official Discord server where maintainers and users hang out.
Everybody is welcome to join and chat with our community members about all things containerlab!
IRC#
For those who cherish IRC in their hearts, a community-led IRC channel #containerlab is available at IRC Libera server.
In The Media#
We are always happy to showcase containerlab and demonstrate its powers. Luckily, the network engineering community has lots of events worldwide, and we participated in some. Below you will find recordings of containerlab talks in different formats and on various venues listed in reverse chronological order1.
Autocon 1#
When to use and not to use Containerlab? · 2024-05-29
As with every tool, it is important to use it in the right context. It is possible to drive a nail with a screwdriver, but a hammer would be more appropriate. In this talk, Roman Dodin explains the use cases where containerlab shines and where it might not be the best fit.
Participants:
RIPE 88#
Simulating Networks at Scale with Clabernetes · 2024-05-20
Carl Montanari and Simon Peccaud introduced Clabernetes to RIPE 88 attendees.
OVHCloud was an early adopter of Clabernetes, which helped them to simulate the WAN network in a way horizontally scalable way that naturally plugged into the rest of their network automation and CI workflow.
Participants:
NFD 33#
Lab as Code with Containerlab · 2023-10-30
Three years in the making with monthly releases, containerlab has become a de-facto standard for network engineers to build and run containerized network labs. In this talk, Roman explains the motivation behind containerlab, the benefits of defining labs as code, and shows containerlab workflow in action by spinning up SR Linux Telemetry Lab.
Participants:
Telco podcast#
Networking Topology As Code · 2022-04-21
A year in the making; containerlab made lots of waves in the community threading its way to engineers hearts through simple and lightweight abstractions tailored to networking labs problem space. In this podcast Maciej and Anton from The Telco podcast interviewed Roman Dodin on containerlab' current state and many more.
Packet Pushers Tech Bytes#
Containerlab Makes Container And VM Networking Labs Easy · 2021-11-15
A short, 14 minutes long introductory talk about Containerlab. If you wanted to know what containerlab is, but all you have is 15 minutes break - go check it out.
NANOG 83#
Containerlab - running networking labs with Docker UX · 2021-11-03
Our very first NANOG appearance and we went full-steam there. This talk is the most comprehensive containerlab tutorial captured to that date. It starts with the basics and escalates to the advanced DC fabric deployment with HA telemetry cluster created. All driven by a single containerlab topology file.
Participants:
Open Networking & Edge Summit 2021#
Containerlab - a Modern way to Deploy Networking Topologies for Labs, CI, and Testing · 2021-10-11
This 30mins screencast introduces containerlab by going through a multivendor lab example consisting of Nokia SR Linux, Arista cEOS, and GoBGP containers participating in a route reflection scenario.
The talk starts with the reasoning as to why containerlab development was warranted and what features of container-based labs we wanted to have. Then we start building the lab step by step, explaining how the containerlab topology file is structured.
NLNOG 2021#
Running networking labs with Docker User Experience · 2021-09-05
The first public talk around containerlab happened in the Netherlands at an in-person (sic!) networking event NLNOG 2021.
Modem Podcast s01e10#
Containerlab: Declarative network labbing · 2021-06-06
Building large-scale network labs can be tedious and error-prone — More importantly, they can be notoriously hard to spin up automatically. Containerlab is a new tool that promises to “redefine the way you run networking labs”, and I really think it hits that target. On this episode of the Modulate Demodulate podcast, Nick and Chris C. are joined by Roman Dodin, one of the brains behind Containerlab.
Blogs#
The power of the community is in its members. We are delighted to have containerlab users who share their experience working with the tool, unveiling new use cases, and providing a personal touch to the workflows.
This section logs the most notable blogs, streams, and and demos delivered by containerlab users worldwide.
Want to share your experience?
Do you have a blog around containerlab that you want to share with the community? Please let us know by mentioning it in the Comments section at the bottom of this page.
Extending the Kubernetes (host) network with EVPN tunnels#
Blog by Federico Paolinelli · 2024-06-14
It is refreshing to see how people find new ways to use containerlab. In this blog post, Federico Paolinelli explains how he used containerlab to create a lab environment to test a solution to extend the Kubernetes host network with EVPN tunnels and FRR.
Containerlab helped to build the lab environment where a KinD-based k8s cluster is connected to an EVPN emulated fabric. Thanks to the native KinD support in containerlab it was all a single lab package to deploy and test the solution.
Using Containerlab and Google Cloud Platform to lab Aruba CX#
Crispy shares his experience with switching from EVE-NG to Containerlab to lab Aruba CX switches. The blog post is a step-by-step guide on how to create a lab environment in GCP with containerlab and run Aruba CX switches in it.
From Containerlab team
Note, that while GCP is a nice way to run containerlab labs, it is not the only one. You may also try Codespaces as a "free" alternative.
Building a home lab with containerlab#
It is rare to see a blog post series that starts from, literally, bare metal and builds up to an in-depth explanation of how to use containerlab to build a network lab. In this blog post series, rarovar shares his Containerlab journey in 4 acts:
- Part 1: Preparing your Server
- Part 2: Creating your Containerlab VM
- Part 3: Installing Containerlab on your VM
- Part 4: Creating your first lab
You will find links to all parts here.
It was especially interesting to read how rarovar built the lab environment based on NUC hardware in Part1. But do check other parts as well!
Containerlab for Kubernetes Networking Experimentation#
Blog by Dave Davis · 2024-03-25
Dave' opening paragraph sets the stage for the blog post:
Recently, my focus has shifted towards Kubernetes, where I've been assisting customers in designing resilient and scalable clusters. I'm on the lookout for a tool that can quickly set up test Kubernetes clusters with diverse network topologies. Ideally the solution would offer version control, rapid deployments, Kubernetes support, and ease of sharing.
As you can see, containerlab fits this bill quite nicely. Dave goes on to explain how he used containerlab to create a lab environment to test Kubernetes networking solutions.
Powering up your Netbox labs with Containerlab#
Blog by Rich Bibby · 2024-03-20
Our friends at NetboxLabs have authored a nice blog post - Network Configuration Assurance With NetBox and Ansible - and they have used containerlab to create a lab environment to present their solution.
It is always great to see containerlab being used to augment other tools and solutions, providing the glue between the applications and the network devices all within a tiny declarative packaging and a lightweight CLI to make it all work.
Containerlab - Creating Network Labs Can't Be Any Easier#
Blog by Suresh Vina · 2024-03-15
Suresh, a Networking enthusiast based in the lovely city of London, shares his experience with Containerlab after being married to traditional lab emulation tools for a long time. He explains Containerlab's core concepts using a lab with cEOS and Palo Alto nodes, showcasing the ease of use and flexibility of the tool in a multivendor setting.
Rapid deployment of Cilium BGP environments using Containerlab + Kind#
A clever use of KinD and containerlab to deploy a k8s cluster with a network underlay to test Cilium's BGP capabilities.
Cilium BGP tested with Containerlab#
screencast by Nico Vibert · 2022-07-20
In this video, Senior Technical Marketing Engineer Nico Vibert walks through BGP enhancements in Cilium 1.12, with the integration with GoBGP. Nico uses a spicey mix of kind and containerlab to stand up a lab that simulates a datacenter POD with Cilium-powered k8s nodes talking TOR switches and interconnected via the core layer.
Clever use of containerlab with a focus on the workload capabilities and integration with kind clusters.
Containerlab with Inmanta#
screencast by Inmanta · 2022-03-20
Inmanta is a network orchestration and automation platform. In these YouTube series, Inmanta's engineer explains how this platform can help you manage network infrastructure provided by Containerlab. Make sure to check subsequent videos in their channel where multiple angles of containerlab are shown.
Containerlab-based DDOS testbed#
Blog by Peter Phaal · 2022-03-16
Real-time telemetry from a 5 stage Clos fabric describes lightweight emulation of realistic data center switch topologies using Containerlab. This article extends the testbed to experiment with distributed denial of service (DDoS) detection and mitigation techniques described in Real-time DDoS mitigation using BGP RTBH and FlowSpec.
Multi-vendor EVPN VXLAN setup with Containerlab#
Blog by @aninchat · 2022-03-12
In this post, we deploy a multivendor EVPN L2 overlay fabric, with BGP in the underlay as well. The entire fabric deployment is automated with Ansible, and Containerlab is used to define and deploy the actual topology.
Network Simulation Tools and Containerlab#
Blog by @JulioPDX · 2022-02-13
I’ve been progressing through a series of technical books, some of which I’ve shared on other blogs. A few of them focus on BGP. BGP being so broad, I decided to create a challenge lab. Creating the challenge/troubleshooting labs has really made more concepts stick. I’m trying to use the principle of teaching someone to make the learning last. These have been incredibly fun to create and the community interaction has been amazing. One brave soul(Jeroen van Bemmel) shared his solution. I was fascinated on his solution and how he created his topology with Containerlab and net-sim tools.
Juniper vQFX and containerlab#
Blog by @aninchat · 2022-02-06
In this post, we look at how Containerlab can be used to quickly spin up vQFX topologies for network validation and testing. We’ll walk through the entire process - how to build docker images from vQFX images, what happens behind the scenes when bringing these containers up and how to build/verify your topology.
Multipoint Redistribution and SR Linux#
Blog by @JulioPDX · 2022-01-22
I’ve been working my way through Optimal Routing Design by Russ White, Don Slice, and Alvaro Retana. It has been a great read so far and I highly recommend it. When I work through a book I usually try and lab up any concept I can, this helps me make it stick as much as possible. Early on in the book the authors mention redistribution and possible issues that can come with doing it at more than one point in the network. So here we are reading this post. I hope you enjoy and possibly learn something along the way.
Real-time telemetry from a 5 stage Clos fabric#
Blog by Peter Phaal · 2022-02-21
As Peter wrote, sFlow is a companion to the Streaming Telemetry applications. It's UDP based transport claims to be more suitable for situations where networks are congested. In this blog Peter explains how containerlab can deploy a Clos topolgy with sFlow collector and endpoints generating traffic to see the whole machinery in action.
My Journey and Experience with Containerlab#
Blog by @JulioPDX · 2021-12-10
In this blog Julio took containerlab for a spin and shares his experience with it. His lab consists of a few Arista cEOS nodes which he then provisions with Nornir, using Ansible inventory generated by containerlab.
Building Your Own Data Center Fabric with Containerlab#
Blog and a screencast by Alperen Akpinar · 2021-08-24
Alperen did a great job explaining how to build a DC fabric topology using containerlab. This was the first post in the series, making it an excellent intro to containerlab, especially when you follow the screencast and watch the topology buildup live.
In a subsequent post, Alperen explains how to configure the SR Linux fabric he just built.
How to consistently run a temporary VM on AWS to run Containerlab#
Create and then destroy a cloud environment ready to Containerlab with pre-loaded topology files, which just work if you use FRR and SR Linux. If you need to run Arista's cEOS, see: Getting cEOS image.
This post describes the benefits of running any temporary workload in the cloud to then focus on Containerlab, so skip to the “Network testing challenges” section if you want to get to the meat of it. More details on the labs included at Network Labs.
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most recent talks appear first. ↩