Cisco Modeling Labs (CML) has lengthy been the go-to platform for community engineers, college students, and builders to design, simulate, and check community topologies in a digital surroundings. With the discharge of Cisco Modeling Labs model 2.9, we’re excited to introduce some new options that improve its capabilities, providing flexibility, scalability, and ease of use.
Containers: A game-changer for community simulation
Probably the most compelling new options in CML 2.9 is the power to combine Docker containers. Beforehand, CML was restricted to digital machines (VMs), corresponding to IOS-XE and Catalyst 9000. Now you possibly can add light-weight, optimized node varieties that eat fewer sources, so you possibly can construct bigger and extra various labs.
CML 2.9 ships with 10 pre-built container pictures, together with:
- Browsers: Chrome and Firefox for in-lab internet entry.
- Routing: Free-Vary Routing (FRR), a light-weight, open-source routing machine supporting OSPF and different protocols.
- Community Companies: Dnsmasq, Syslog, Netflow, Nginx, Radius, and TACACS+ for important community features.
- Utilities: Web-tools (filled with 20+ community instruments like T-shark and Nmap) and a ThousandEyes agent for monitoring.
This opens up a complete new world of prospects, permitting you to simulate complicated situations with specialised instruments and providers immediately inside your CML topology. As a result of containers are light-weight and resource-efficient, you possibly can run extra providers and not using a heavy influence on system efficiency. Plus, you’ve the flexibleness to create and combine your individual customized container pictures from DockerHub or different sources.
Containers in CML combine seamlessly with VM nodes, permitting you to attach them inside the similar community topology and allow full bidirectional communication. As a result of containers use considerably much less CPU, reminiscence, and disk than VMs, they begin sooner and allow you to run extra nodes on the identical {hardware}. For giant CML labs, use containers and clustering for optimum efficiency. Containers are light-weight, making it potential to scale labs effectively by operating providers or routing features that don’t require a full VM.
How can I share labs with different customers?
For groups and academic environments, CML 2.9 introduces a extra fine-grained permission system. As a lab proprietor or system admin, now you can share labs with different customers, giving collaborators entry to work on shared initiatives or studying actions. This characteristic enables you to transfer past the fundamental learn/write entry accessible in earlier variations. The brand new permission ranges embody:
- View: Permits customers to see the lab however prevents any state modifications or edits
- Exec: Grants permission to view and work together with the lab; as an illustration, you can begin and cease nodes
- Edit: Permits customers to switch the lab, corresponding to transferring, including, or deleting nodes and altering configurations
- Admin: Offers you full entry to the lab, in addition to lets you share the lab with different customers
This enhanced management streamlines collaboration, guaranteeing customers have precisely the fitting degree of entry for his or her duties.
→ See product documentation for particulars on setup and use.
How does node disk picture cloning work?
Uninterested in repeatedly configuring customized nodes in your labs? Node disk picture cloning in CML 2.9 resolves this challenge. When you’ve custom-made a node’s configuration or made particular edits, now you can clone that node’s disk picture and reserve it as a brand new picture kind. This implies sooner lab setup for regularly used units and configurations, saving you priceless time.
Node disk picture cloning is great for saving time in lab setup whenever you’ve modified a node, corresponding to Ubuntu, so as to add extra instruments and need to create a brand new node kind that has those self same instruments put in.
How do I handle labs utilizing the exterior labs repository and Git integration?
CML 2.9 introduces Git integration, permitting you to immediately tie your CML occasion to an exterior Git repository. This characteristic modifications the way you entry and handle pattern labs. As an alternative of manually downloading and importing particular person lab information, now you can present a repository URL, and CML will sync the content material, making it accessible beneath the Pattern Labs menu.
Cisco offers a group of pattern labs on the CML Group GitHub on the Cisco DevNet website, together with certification-aligned labs (corresponding to CCNA), which might be imported with a single click on.
This characteristic additionally lets you add Git repositories (corresponding to GitLab and Bitbucket), empowering you to handle your individual lab content material seamlessly.
CML helps any Git-based repo, however authentication for personal repos just isn’t supported. We’ve added some CCNA labs, and we’re working to combine extra superior certification content material, corresponding to CCNP, into the pattern labs repositories. Offline customers will get a pre-synced snapshot at set up.
What are different new CML 2.9 enhancements?
Past the numerous new options, CML 2.9 consists of these enhancements:
- Elevated scalability: The restrict of concurrently operating nodes has risen from 320 to 520.
- Net framework alternative (FastAPI): The product now makes use of FastAPI as its new API internet framework, leading to improved supportability, sooner API efficiency, enhanced documentation, and improved validation.
- API help for bulk operations: Simplify your automation efforts with new API capabilities that permit for bulk operations, corresponding to fence-selecting and deleting teams of nodes with a single API name.
- Allow all node definitions by default: This quality-of-life enchancment lets you import all labs by default, no matter whether or not a selected node and picture definition can be found in your system.
- Customized font for terminal home windows: Now you can configure customized fonts in your console terminal home windows to match your most popular CLI expertise.
- IP deal with visibility: Now you can view the assigned IP addresses for interfaces linked to an exterior NAT connector.
Discover the ability of CML 2.9
CML 2.9 underscores our dedication to delivering a state-of-the-art community simulation platform. As we increase its capabilities and discover additional container orchestration, superior lab automation, and new API developments, we encourage our neighborhood to contribute to the rising library of pattern labs on our DevNet GitHub repository. And we’re working to make including new node varieties even simpler sooner or later.
Able to discover the ability of CML 2.9? Obtain it now to check out these new options at this time.
Depart a remark under and tell us what you suppose!
📣 Cisco Modeling Labs 2.9 is now accessible!
Stand up to hurry on the most recent modifications: https://t.co/kW2gpvVmaP#CML
— Cisco Modeling Labs (@CiscoVIRL) July 21, 2025
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