Containerlab vs IMUNES

Containerlab is a command-line tool for orchestrating container-based networking labs. Users describe nodes, links and lab settings in topology files, then use lifecycle commands to deploy, destroy, save, inspect or graph a lab. Supported nodes include containerized and virtual-machine network operating systems from Nokia, Cisco, Juniper, Arista and other vendors and projects. The project lists platforms such as Nokia SR Linux and SR OS, Cisco XRd and Nexus 9000v, Juniper cRPD and vMX, Arista, SONiC, Cumulus VX, VyOS, FRR, VPP, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, OpenWRT, Linux containers and generic VMs. It can launch VM routers through vrnetlab or boxen, and Clabernetes can run Containerlab-style topologies on Kubernetes. Optional interfaces include a VS Code extension, desktop app and web app; desktop and web connect to a reachable clab-api-server on a Linux host. Its single binary and topology definitions can start labs in CI systems such as GitLab CI and GitHub Actions. Containerlab is free and open source. Documented prerequisites include a Linux server or VM, Docker and sudo privileges for some operations.

IMUNES is a free multiprotocol emulator and simulator for general-purpose IP network experiments on FreeBSD and Linux. The project says a single physical machine can run hundreds to thousands of virtual nodes. Its GUI helps create and configure nodes and links, and each node has its own IPv4, IPv6, IPsec, socket and firewall configuration and address space. Link controls can introduce delay, bit errors, duplication and bandwidth limits. Standard UNIX APIs are preserved, so BSD and Linux binaries can run unmodified. On Linux it uses Docker for virtual nodes; on FreeBSD it uses jails and netgraph. The project says experiments can be instantiated in seconds and use hardware resources efficiently. Downloads include public source repositories, examples, security scenarios, manuals and VMware and VirtualBox images. Linux use requires kernel version 3.10 or newer and the Docker daemon; the README also instructs users to run experiments as root. The listed latest image is IMUNES-FreeBSD-14.3-RELEASE (BETA), a 4GB amd64 OVA. The project describes JSON configuration and live changes to nodes, interfaces and links during a running experiment.