MicroNugget: How to Use ASA and GNS3 on Mac OSX

[@KeithBarker]

Glad you got it working!

[@cbtnuggets]

Happy Hump day Nugget Fans! Are you wanting to get ASA emulation working on Mac OSX? Keith Barker discusses ASA, GNS3 and Mac OSX in his latest MicroNugget:

[@KeithBarker]

Hi Chi Chi- When I created the GNS3 series with CBT Nuggets, I had failover working, and was able to save and bring up previous projects (running GNS3 in Windows 7). When you create a new project, do you select both check boxes for the new project when it asks you for the project name (at the beginning of the project)?

[@KeithBarker]

I ran this on a MacBook Pro (2010 model) that had 8gigs of ram, and it didn't seem like the ASA was a very big impact on the system.

[@CS5n531]

pretty great that it's now available for Mac, I'm glad it's working well for you! can you comment on its stability? how much RAM would you recommend needing for a basic topologies? would be great to run this on my old Macbook, but a Macbook Pro or newer machine from Apple might be required. Thanks for the MicroNugget!

[@KeithBarker]

That was a couple of computer wipes ago, so I don't have it running at the moment, otherwise I would be happy to have sent you the files. I don't recall having/needing Macports on the Mac when I did the demo. Perhaps something installed through Macports is causing the problem you are experiencing.

[@123456iambelial]

Keith, I could not get the ASA to work (Mac 10.8.3). I have the files you Googled. Do I need to get qemu or did it come with GNS3 0.8.4. RC2? If qemu doesn't come with 0.8.4, how do you install it on Mac? Thanks

[@123456iambelial]

Keith, I have one more question. Do you have a video how to make the ASDM to work with ASA on GNS3 especially for Mac?

[@m5runner]

thank you. helped me out tremendously

[@hitenthakkar]

I am using Mountain Lion 10.8.4 and GNS3 v0.8.4 Lion DMG package, Macports 2.2.0 and Python v 2.7. I followed your method and it throws an error regarding qemuwrapper.py not able to initiate/not found. I tried all sorts of troubleshooting from Jeremy's blog and others in GNS3 forum. I cannot get it to work. May I request you for your qemuwrapper.py file and the zipped qemu folder. I will appreciate a lot.

[@georgeparaschivescu4819]

Hello, I'm having huge problems with the ASA on my macbook pro, it uses a lot of CPU, and it has no idle pc option. Is there any way to reduce the CPU utilization of the ASA ? Thanks.

[@KeithBarker]

George Paraschivescu Hi George. They should add a similar type of idle-PC function for the ASA, but they don't have it yet in GNS3. Not sure there is too much you can do to reduce the CPU utilization for that ASA on your computer.

[@samuelhla1671]

HI. Kindly, I am using GNS3 0.8.7 for this lab. I have an issue, the ethernet switch is not by passing or may be the one i don't know. I tried with the cloud and virtualbox, still the same. Please help me and suggest what I should do. Thanks

[@keithbarker4353]

I would install the free new version (currently 1.2) of GNS3, and rebuild your topology in that. The newer versions of GNS3 correct lots of issues the older versions had. You may find that a fresh install of the new version solves the problem on its own. Cheers, Keith

[@123456iambelial]

Keith, How do you make ASA GUI to work on GNS3 on Mac?

[@keithbarker4353]

I think the options would be to run ASDM (the GUI) on a VM running windows, or from an external windows computer that had IP connectivity to the virtual ASA.

[@123456iambelial]

Keith Barker Keith, I managed to install ASDM to ASA, but I got stuck at the ASA Java prompt where I have to login with username/password. At this point, when I entered my username/password, I received the spinning circle, and that was it. I could not get to ADSM at all.

[@123456iambelial]

Please disregard my previous comment, I figure it out GNS3 for OSX doesn't have qemu, so qemu is still to be installed separately.

[@eeiioom]

Here is the thing GNS3 has great features but when you try to set up a lab, for example two ASA's with fail-over configured; And you shut it down....... then all the configs are lost. At least on the fail-over firewall. If you can tell me what I am doing wrong or give me the answer to this equation I will put you on my CHRISTMAS LIST. - Thank you

[@santhosh933]

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