AOS-CX Switch Simulator

Create
Set up your simulation environment on the simulation platform you prefer:

• EVE-NG:
  • EVE-NG is becoming the most popular platform for network simulation. It offers a web-based user interface to orchestrate topologies, access device consoles and connect to external networks.
  • It can be deployed on different virtualization platforms like VMware Workstation, Fusion, Player, and ESXI.
• GNS3 / GNS3-VM
  • This platform is a combination of the GNS3-VM where the simulated devices run and the GNS3 app that provides an intuitive user interface, to orchestrate topologies, access device consoles and connect to external networks.
  • The GNS3-VM can be deployed on different virtualization platforms like VMware Workstation, Fusion, and ESXI.
• GNS3 / VirtualBox
  • In this case the GNS3 app provides the user interface while VirtualBox runs the virtual devices in the background.
  • The main limitation of this option is that VirtualBox limits the number of ports on virtual devices to 8.
  • Its main advantage, on the other hand, is that it can run directly on a Windows or MAC workstation.

Connect
Deploy the AOS-CX simulated switches you need and connect the to create virtual networks. Depending on the virtualization platform this process can be more or less dynamic. For example, GNS3 and EVE-NG allow you to quickly and easily create projects and labs, with different devices and topologies, and saving them, while vSphere allows you to create fast, fixed, stable topologies, with many options for external connections to other VMs and physical networks and 3rd Party devices and services.
Connect your CX Simulators to form a campus 2-tier or 3-tier switching infrastructure, or a datacenter spine and leaf network.

Configure

The AOS-CX Switch Simulator offers the exact same command line interface (CLI) and Web User Interfaces (WebUI) experience as all CX switches. You can configure most CX features on the virtual switch, save and export multiple configurations by creating and managing CX configuration checkpoint files.
You can create VLANs, link aggregation groups, VSX multi-chassis redundant nodes, configure advanced OSPF and BGP features, deploy VXLAN and EVPN, and much more.

Manage, Monitor and Automate
Aruba's NetEdit can be integrated into the solution to discover, monitor, configure and visualize the virtual network.

NetEdit offers a multi-device editor and a set of solution deployment wizards to configure multiple switches at once, including multiple levels of validation: syntax, semantics, change, policy conformance and configuration consistency.

As the AOS-CX Switch Simulator runs the AOS-CX operating system, it offers the embedded Network Analytics Engine (NAE). NAE agents are small, specialized, Python scripts that can be installed directly on the AOS-CX operating system of a switch and run in a protected environment, monitoring, verifying conditions and taking action when necessary.

The AOS-CX Switch Simulator offers the same REST interface as all the CX products and allows you to test your own automation programs and learn how to use common automation tools and applications like Ansible.

Where do I go from here?

You may find these posts useful:
- Find how to download the CX Simulator and read some relevant information: Downloading the Aruba AOS-CX Switch Simulator

- Get deployment guides for different network virtualization environments: Creating your Simulation Environment

- Find many interesting labs you can run using the CX simulator: Using the AOS-CX Switch Simulator - Lab Guides

- Find out how to get assistance, provide feedback, make suggestions and more: Getting Help

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