13 replies to this topic

[occamware]

Hi, I am running GNS3 on a laptop with Core 2 Duo 1.83 ghz and 3 GB of RAM with windows XP on it. After adding 3 routers and a virtual switch the CPU utilization is going 100%. I tried starting each router and adjusting the idle pc for each one..For the first two CPU % stays below 10 % after several tweakings but with 3rd one being added CPU usage is reaching 100% and adjusting idle PC is not having any good results.

Can any one suggest if I can run at least 5 routers with the above configuration? and if so any suggestions on how to improve the performance. Unfortunately I can't add the linux on this machine and thats not an option for me.

The time I am spending on adjusting these idle Pc values is way beyond my preparation..-

[raaki_88]

Hi, I am running GNS3 on a laptop with Core 2 Duo 1.83 ghz and 3 GB of RAM with windows XP on it. After adding 3 routers and a virtual switch the CPU utilization is going 100%. I tried starting each router and adjusting the idle pc for each one..For the first two CPU % stays below 10 % after several tweakings but with 3rd one being added CPU usage is reaching 100% and adjusting idle PC is not having any good results.

Can any one suggest if I can run at least 5 routers with the above configuration? and if so any suggestions on how to improve the performance. Unfortunately I can't add the linux on this machine and thats not an option for me.

The time I am spending on adjusting these idle Pc values is way beyond my preparation..-

with 3gb ram you should be fine running 7 routers and a max of 9 routers ... well try changing the ios image for me image of 3725 works great .. i dont remember the name but the size is huge around 92 mb .. any ways .. also try this

edit ---> ios and hyper --> click on the ios image ---> on the bottom you should see and 'edit' button ---> hit edit and save it .. you should see a drop in the idlepc ..

any problems let us know

regards
raaki

[martinlo]

CPU usage is an issue with GNS3. besides idle-pc, you should try BES to control CPU usage. it is free at mion.faireal.net/BES/
works great on my xp, especially for PIX on GNS3 because there is no idle-pc for PIX.

[occamware]

Hi Raaki..

"edit ---> ios and hyper --> click on the ios image ---> on the bottom you should see and 'edit' button ---> hit edit and save it"

Did the above step but there is no use..I am also using the 3725 image..CPU still stays at 100%%

[occamware]

mion.faireal.net/BES/

Used the above link and selected the Dynamips to limit the CPU %.. It did reduce utilization to 30 %..Are there any issues that would trigger with this application?

[occamware]

Hum...Although CPU utilization reduced ..Now the processing of commands on the routers are terribly slow..For writing the running Config to mem it is taking forever, Is there any reason??

[martinlo]

Keep trying different values of idle-pc until u find one value that works the best.

start with one router, do idle-pc, save, add second router and do idle-pc for him.
try different images.
I can only run GNS3 with 3 routers due to CPU usage. I do not think u can run 7 routers on laptop!

[raaki_88]

bes although reduces proc utilisation .. it is not recommended as it slows down the gns3 power ... ok .. try changing different ios ... let us say try with 3660 and 3640 and let me know if this worked

[chikkis]

Hi, I am running GNS3 on a laptop with Core 2 Duo 1.83 ghz and 3 GB of RAM with windows XP on it. After adding 3 routers and a virtual switch the CPU utilization is going 100%. I tried starting each router and adjusting the idle pc for each one..For the first two CPU % stays below 10 % after several tweakings but with 3rd one being added CPU usage is reaching 100% and adjusting idle PC is not having any good results.

Can any one suggest if I can run at least 5 routers with the above configuration? and if so any suggestions on how to improve the performance. Unfortunately I can't add the linux on this machine and thats not an option for me.

The time I am spending on adjusting these idle Pc values is way beyond my preparation..-

what i suggesting may not most liked one, but it will slove your "performance issue".

solution 1.
Install linux and on top of it run the gns3. cause linux handels hypervisor app in very good way, and the reason for that is the hypervisor is navtive application for linux.

solution 2.
Install Dynamips and use that on xp machine (this may full not solve your problem)

[dawitassefa]

Hi Guys,
I'm using a laptop with a single processor, 3GB RAM and 1.7Ghz speed with windows XP. I could run more than 10 routers with a CPU utilization of 80% - 90%. i am using now the cisco 3640 IOS. what i did was before i run the gns3, i edit the configuration file for my CCIE topology and used the best Idle_pc value which is idlepc = 0x6048beac. So if any body encounter any kind of problem, feel free to contact me through my e-mail address---dawita3@gmail.com

10Q!

[occamware]

Hey.. Thats good to hear..For the last one week I am pretty much spending most of my time in optimizing my laptop to run GNS3 Stable..I removed Oracle and several other applications to make sure no other processes are eating up memory..

Currently running only GNS 3 on that laptop with 3 routers with 3725 image..I managed to keep CPU process below 50 % by selecting idlepc values every time after adding commands or process to routers..

But still lap top is getting over heat and shutting down automatically every 30 minutes which is quite frustrating...

[occamware]

From GNS3 Documentaion

"Idle-PC values are particular to an IOS image. They will be different for different IOS
versions, and even for different feature sets of the same IOS version. However Idle-PC
values are not particular to your host PC, operating system, or to the version of
dynamips."

Can any one comment about this?? If it is not particular to a PC can't we get a idle value for each image with different slots added.

[sdk_sdk]

From GNS3 Documentaion

"Idle-PC values are particular to an IOS image. They will be different for different IOS
versions, and even for different feature sets of the same IOS version. However Idle-PC
values are not particular to your host PC, operating system, or to the version of
dynamips."

Can any one comment about this?? If it is not particular to a PC can't we get a idle value for each image with different slots added.

i am agree with you

[JetX]

Hi, I am running GNS3 on a laptop with Core 2 Duo 1.83 ghz and 3 GB of RAM with windows XP on it. After adding 3 routers and a virtual switch the CPU utilization is going 100%. I tried starting each router and adjusting the idle pc for each one..For the first two CPU % stays below 10 % after several tweakings but with 3rd one being added CPU usage is reaching 100% and adjusting idle PC is not having any good results.

Can any one suggest if I can run at least 5 routers with the above configuration? and if so any suggestions on how to improve the performance. Unfortunately I can't add the linux on this machine and thats not an option for me.

The time I am spending on adjusting these idle Pc values is way beyond my preparation..-

I'm using IBM X61 laptop w/ 2.5GB RAM, works fine so far.
Did you choose the one with "*" for idle PC?