The Keyboard Banger Guide To EVE-NG

Eve-ng is probably the most notorious competitor of GNS3. I discovered it by accident. I am collecting below all my ramblings.

Contents hide

1. Installing EVE-NG

2. Running Kali Linux with EVE-NG

3. Running Nexus 9000 on EVE-NG

4. Running Cisco ASAv on EVE-NG

5. Error: Can’t Get Controller Info

6. Upgrading the emulator

7. How to deploy a virtual machine in VirtualBox

Installing EVE-NG

Here is what you’re going to need, in order to setup a EVE-NG home lab:

OVA file
EVE-NG client side software. I use a Windows machine so I downloaded the Windows client side.
Vmware Workstation, preferably Workstation Pro
Filezilla FTP client: will be used to transfer binary files into EVE-NG

The following resources are useful:

Link1
Linke2
and of course the EVE-NG project homepage

Running Kali Linux with EVE-NG

There are two ways to run Kali Linux on EVE-NG:

running a liveCD version
installing the full image of Kali

I’ve tried both. I thought of running a VM version of Kali, which was the most stable option in my lab.

Running Kali as a standalone VM and networking it with EVE-ng was not difficult. The VM image is already available free to download here. I added the VM as a template and connected it in Bridged mode with a “network” object in EVE.

The Kali host will be useful for Cisco security lab setups.

To change the hostname of the Kali instance, check this nice post.

Running Nexus 9000 on EVE-NG

We will use the virtual version of the Nexus 9000 OS: NXOS

we will need for this lab setup:

EVE-NG virtual machine with at least 8GB RAM and 4 CPUs
NXOS image for the Nexus 9000: nxosv-final.7.0.3.I5.2.qcow2
Filezilla FTP client
this article
this article

Running Cisco ASAv on EVE-NG

For this you’ll need to get a ASAv image, in the format of asav{xxx}.qcow2.

Here are two links to help you do that:

Link1
Link2

Note that:

in order to access the ASAv appliance through EVE-NG, you must use HTTPS and not HTTP.
the Vmware networking mode can be set to Bridged, and not necessarily to “NAT” as stated by all the videos. I used VMnet0 and have set it to “bridged”. In this case, when building a network item to connect ASAv to the host network, I chose cloud0 which corresponds to Vmnet0 card.

Error: Can’t Get Controller Info

During the time you are playing with Eve-NG -and even GNS3 you may encounter the following error message:

Error: can’t get controller info…

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|IOSv |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Use the ^ and v keys to select which entry is highlighted.
Press enter to boot the selected OS, `e' to edit the commands
before booting or `c' for a command-line. ESC to return
previous menu.
error: Can't get controller info..
Booted IOSv. Boot args: [/vios_l2-adventerprisek9-m]

Smart Init is enabled

This error is more than probably due to either a firewall rule or an antivirus behaviour.

In my home lab, I encountered this same error. It turned out to be due to my Avast Free Antivirus installation.

In fact. everything was running good, until I installed Avast.

Don’t panic, here is the solution: set Avast antivirus to Passive Mode.

Even if you disable all of Avast antivirus component, you’ll still get the same message.

So be nice to yourself and simply set Avast to Passive Mode in the following way:

Open Avast window by double-clicking on the Avast icon
go to Settings
in the Troubleshooting tab, search for “Avast Passive mode” and click on it to expand it
Enable Avast Passive Mode
Restart your computer

I did this and it worked for me immediately after I restarted my computer.

Now each time I’m off the web, I simply switch to Passive Mode and play in my lab.

Happy labbin’

Upgrading the emulator

In the following section post I am explaining the quick method to avoid issues when upgrading your EVE-NG software to the latest version.
My own copy of EVE-NG is 2.0.3-59
Connect with SSH to the EVE-NG VM. Check the current version.

root@eve-ng:~# dpkg -l eve-ng
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name           Version      Architecture Description
+++-==============-============-============-=================================
ii  eve-ng         2.0.3-59     amd64        A new generation software for net
root@eve-ng:~#

do this command

/opt/unetlab/wrappers/unl_wrapper -a stopall

Check available free space on the boot partition

root@eve-ng:~# df -h
Filesystem                    Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev                          1.8G     0  1.8G   0% /dev
tmpfs                         369M   11M  358M   3% /run
/dev/mapper/eve--ng--vg-root   33G   15G   17G  46% /
tmpfs                         1.8G     0  1.8G   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                         5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
tmpfs                         1.8G     0  1.8G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sda1                     472M  372M  100M  78% /boot

You will see a lot of old files.

root@eve-ng:/boot# ls -l
total 462003
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1249214 Nov 10 22:41 abi-4.4.0-101-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1244118 Jan 18  2017 abi-4.4.0-62-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1246311 May 18  2017 abi-4.4.0-79-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1246311 Jun 14 15:24 abi-4.4.0-81-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1246511 Jun 26 22:45 abi-4.4.0-83-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1246670 Jul 18 18:00 abi-4.4.0-87-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1246835 Aug  1 01:25 abi-4.4.0-89-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1246835 Aug  8 16:58 abi-4.4.0-91-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1246835 Aug 10 14:02 abi-4.4.0-92-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1247269 Aug 12 02:40 abi-4.4.0-93-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1249161 Sep 12 20:59 abi-4.4.0-96-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1249112 Sep 19 23:29 abi-4.4.0-97-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1249237 Oct 10 19:19 abi-4.4.0-98-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   190489 Nov 10 22:41 config-4.4.0-101-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   190047 Jan 18  2017 config-4.4.0-62-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   190356 May 18  2017 config-4.4.0-79-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   190356 Jun 14 15:24 config-4.4.0-81-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   190356 Jun 26 22:45 config-4.4.0-83-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   190356 Jul 18 18:00 config-4.4.0-87-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   190356 Aug  1 01:25 config-4.4.0-89-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   190356 Aug  8 16:58 config-4.4.0-91-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   190356 Aug 10 14:02 config-4.4.0-92-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   190356 Aug 12 02:40 config-4.4.0-93-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   190517 Sep 12 20:59 config-4.4.0-96-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   190517 Sep 19 23:29 config-4.4.0-97-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   190517 Oct 10 19:19 config-4.4.0-98-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   188144 Dec 20  2016 config-4.4.14-eve-ng-ukms+
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   201279 Sep 15 02:58 config-4.9.40-eve-ng-ukms-2+
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root     1024 Nov 25 20:13 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19896419 Nov 25 18:49 initrd.img-4.4.0-101-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 18194247 Apr 12  2017 initrd.img-4.4.0-62-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 18624391 Jun 12 19:28 initrd.img-4.4.0-79-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19891453 Jun 20 06:30 initrd.img-4.4.0-81-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19889697 Jun 28 23:26 initrd.img-4.4.0-83-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19887938 Jul 24 20:05 initrd.img-4.4.0-87-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19894643 Aug  4 01:23 initrd.img-4.4.0-89-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19894188 Aug 12 12:40 initrd.img-4.4.0-91-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19893705 Aug 15 12:46 initrd.img-4.4.0-92-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19894580 Aug 28 18:47 initrd.img-4.4.0-93-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19896946 Sep 23 16:40 initrd.img-4.4.0-96-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19897213 Oct 15 15:56 initrd.img-4.4.0-97-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19898024 Nov  4 22:59 initrd.img-4.4.0-98-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 31940341 Jun 12 20:05 initrd.img-4.4.14-eve-ng-ukms+
drwx------ 2 root root    12288 Apr 11  2017 lost+found
-rw------- 1 root root  3887614 Nov 10 22:41 System.map-4.4.0-101-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  3875553 Jan 18  2017 System.map-4.4.0-62-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  3883279 May 18  2017 System.map-4.4.0-79-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  3883391 Jun 14 15:24 System.map-4.4.0-81-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  3883887 Jun 26 22:45 System.map-4.4.0-83-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  3884173 Jul 18 18:00 System.map-4.4.0-87-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  3884798 Aug  1 01:25 System.map-4.4.0-89-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  3884798 Aug  8 16:58 System.map-4.4.0-91-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  3884798 Aug 10 14:02 System.map-4.4.0-92-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  3885811 Aug 12 02:40 System.map-4.4.0-93-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  3886723 Sep 12 20:59 System.map-4.4.0-96-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  3886693 Sep 19 23:29 System.map-4.4.0-97-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  3887471 Oct 10 19:19 System.map-4.4.0-98-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  3819327 Dec 20  2016 System.map-4.4.14-eve-ng-ukms+
-rw------- 1 root root  3640420 Sep 15 03:43 System.map-4.9.40-eve-ng-ukms-2+
-rw------- 1 root root  7104240 Nov 10 22:41 vmlinuz-4.4.0-101-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  7070992 Jan 18  2017 vmlinuz-4.4.0-62-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  7091696 May 18  2017 vmlinuz-4.4.0-79-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  7092784 Jun 14 15:24 vmlinuz-4.4.0-81-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  7092720 Jun 26 22:45 vmlinuz-4.4.0-83-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  7095888 Jul 18 18:00 vmlinuz-4.4.0-87-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  7098096 Aug  1 01:25 vmlinuz-4.4.0-89-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  7097936 Aug  8 16:58 vmlinuz-4.4.0-91-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  7098032 Aug 10 14:02 vmlinuz-4.4.0-92-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  7097296 Aug 12 02:40 vmlinuz-4.4.0-93-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  7101968 Sep 12 20:59 vmlinuz-4.4.0-96-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  7102864 Sep 19 23:29 vmlinuz-4.4.0-97-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  7103856 Oct 10 19:19 vmlinuz-4.4.0-98-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  6979952 Dec 20  2016 vmlinuz-4.4.14-eve-ng-ukms+
-rw------- 1 root root  7264000 Sep 15 03:43 vmlinuz-4.9.40-eve-ng-ukms-2+
root@eve-ng:/boot#

delete the old files only, for example the files that age months ago. Here is an example:

rm vmlinuz-4.4.0-83-generic vmlinuz-4.4.0-89-generic

do so until you leave only a couple of recent files.
Then do the following sequence of commands:

sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get install -f
 sudo apt-get autoremove
 sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

You will notice a lot of space has been freed up.

root@eve-ng:~# df -h
Filesystem                    Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev                          1.8G     0  1.8G   0% /dev
tmpfs                         369M   11M  358M   3% /run
/dev/mapper/eve--ng--vg-root   33G   15G   17G  46% /
tmpfs                         1.8G     0  1.8G   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                         5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
tmpfs                         1.8G     0  1.8G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sda1                     472M  124M  324M  28% /boot

Now continue the normal upgrade procedure.

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

My EVE-NG machine was successfully upgraded.

root@eve-ng:~# dpkg -l eve-ng
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name           Version      Architecture Description
+++-==============-============-============-=================================
ii  eve-ng         2.0.3-86     amd64        A new generation software for net
root@eve-ng:~#

Aside from the emulator itself, we are going to need some Windows machines running virtual. For that I chose to use Virtualbox.

How to deploy a virtual machine in VirtualBox

This section demonstrates how you can quickly build a Windows XP virtual machine in VirtualBox. You may use this machine to test old Windows features or for Cisco labs.

Download the Windows XP image from this link. This is an official release meant for developers and Internet Explorer testers.

Download and install Oracle VM VirtualBox software. This is a free virtualization software that is very similar to Vmware. You can download VirtualBox here.

After you install Oracle VM VirtualBox, we need to import the XP virtual machine into it.