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Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise OmniSwitch vAOS#

ALE OmniSwitch virtual AOS (vAOS) 8.x is identified with the ale_vaos kind in the topology file. It is built using the vrnetlab project and essentially is a QEMU VM packaged in a docker container format.

Getting the image#

To get the vAOS image, contact your ALE representative or ask for it on the Spacewalkers community.

Managing ale_vaos nodes#

Note

Containers with vAOS inside take about 3 minutes to boot and apply their configuration. You can monitor the progress with docker logs -f <container-name>. The node becomes healthy once the bootstrap is done.

ssh admin@<container-name> Password: Switch@123

telnet <container-name> 5000

Interface naming#

Container interface vAOS port
eth1 to eth10 1/1/1 to 1/1/10
eth11 1/1/29A
eth12 1/1/30A

In the topology, ports 1/1/1 to 1/1/10 can be used directly, for example os1:1/1/1. Ports 1/1/29A and 1/1/30A are addressed as eth11 and eth12.

The management interface is the EMP port. With CLAB_MGMT_PASSTHROUGH: "true" the EMP port gets the node management address and is bridged to the containerlab management network.

Features and options#

Node configuration#

Once the switch has booted, the vrnetlab launcher logs in on the serial console, sets the system name and prompt to the node name, configures the EMP address and saves the configuration.

Startup configuration#

The startup-config file is pushed line by line on the serial console after the EMP address is configured, then saved with write memory flash-synchro. Use the AOS CLI format of vcboot.cfg or show configuration snapshot: one command per line, lines starting with ! are skipped.

topology:
  nodes:
    os1:
      kind: ale_vaos
      image: vrnetlab/ale_vaos:8.11.162.R01
      startup-config: os1.cfg

Environment variables#

Variable Description
EMP_ROUTES Static routes on EMP, prefix=gateway separated by commas. A default route (0.0.0.0/0) is not allowed on EMP and is skipped.
VAOS_EXTRA_CMDS Extra CLI commands, separated by ;
VAOS_SAVE false skips write memory flash-synchro
VAOS_BOOTSTRAP false skips the console bootstrap

Saving the configuration#

containerlab save runs write memory flash-synchro on each vAOS node and stores the output of show configuration snapshot in clab-<lab_name>/<node_name>/config/startup-config.cfg.

Known issues and limitations#

  • The node credentials must match an account of the vAOS image (default admin / Switch@123): they are used by the launcher to log in on the console.
  • containerlab save uses the serial console: close any open console session on the node before saving.