Hello,
I am following up on the post to the AutoNetkit discussion group:
http://groups.google.com/group/autonetk ... 6db3459daeI have since installed GNS3, and am quite impressed - nice work! :)
We currently generate configurations for the Netkit platform (Quagga in User-Mode Linux). However the core of AutoNetkit is in the allocation - IP addressing, Naming and DNS. That is applicable to all deployment platforms.
We use a template based approach, so it's relatively easy to generate to other platforms.
As a first attempt, I've created the lab file, and respective configs for small networks for GNS3.
It looks promising for the future - I think there is a lot of potential in us working together, especially as we are both using Python :)
What kind of things did you have in mind? What would be your dream requirements?
I think if GNS3 wrapped around an AutoNetkit package, it would work best. We are aiming for high-level generation of networks, from a minimum of inputs. Our aim is for the user to only describe the bits they care about, and we generate the rest to make it work. A good example is IP addresses - most people don't care the subnet used on a point-to-point link, only that the link works.
One thing we need to consider is the hardware constraints. Even though the hardware is virtual, we are restricted by interfaces. For instance we can't create a router with 12 ethernet ports simply. We also need to look at link speeds - connecting Ethernet to FastEthernet interfaces for example.
Looking forward to hearing back.
Cheers
Simon