Virtualization Providers

netlab uses third-party orchestration and virtualization tools to create, start, stop, and destroy virtual labs. It supports the following virtualization providers:

• libvirt – libvirt virtualization abstraction layer (tested on top of KVM/QEMU on Ubuntu) orchestrated with Vagrant using vagrant-libvirt Vagrant plugin.

• clab – Docker containers (tested on Ubuntu) orchestrated with containerlab.

• virtualbox – VirtualBox virtualization orchestrated with Vagrant using built-in VirtualBox plugin.

• external – meta-provider you can use to configure hardware devices.

Note

Use ‌netlab show providers command to display the available virtualization providers.

You can also combine multiple virtualization providers within the same lab topology (some restrictions apply).

More Information on Virtualization Providers

• Using libvirt/KVM with Vagrant
• Using Containerlab with netlab
• Virtualbox-Based Lab on Windows or MacOS
• External Provider
• Combining Virtualization Providers