Ubuntu Server Installation

On a Linux system, netlab uses KVM to run virtual machines and Docker to run containers. Virtual machines in KVM environment and the associated Linux bridges are created with Vagrant using libvirt API. Ansible is used to configure the network devices.

The simplest way to install netlab and the whole low-level toolchain on an existing Ubuntu server (bare-metal or VM) is to use the netlab install command (see below). You could also do manual software installation.

• If needed, install Python3 and pip3 with sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y python3-pip

• Install Python package with sudo python3 -m pip install networklab or your preferred Python package installation procedure.

Tip

• Installing Python packages as root is not the recommended best practice (but gets around the potential PATH problems). Please use your regular Python package installation process if you’re not setting up a throwaway VM/server.

• Ubuntu 22.04 wants you to install Python packages in a virtual environment. If you’re working on a throwaway VM/server, stop ‌pip complaints with the --break-system-packages option.

• Install additional software with netlab install ubuntu ansible libvirt containerlab command (more details).

Next Steps

• Using libvirt/KVM with Vagrant
• Using Containerlab with netlab