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GNS3 & Packet Tracer Quick Start Guides (vs VIRL & Physical) (Udemy.com)

Learn which is best. Learn how to download and install Cisco Packet Tracer and GNS3. Quick Start for CCNA, CCENT exams!

Created by: David Bombal

Last updated January 2023

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What you will learn

  • Learn which lab platform is best for you: Packet Tracer, GNS3, VIRL or Physical Equipment
  • Learn how to download and install Cisco Packet Tracer
  • Learn how to download and install GNS3

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Overall Score : 90 / 100

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Course Description

Which is best for studying? 

- Cisco Packet Tracer

- GNS3

- VIRL

- Physical Equipment

What should you be using when you are studying for your CCNA exam? And what about for CCNP or CCIE? What lab options are available today?

In this course we will discuss the various lab options and I will also show you how to download and configure both Cisco Packet Tracer and GNS3.

Learn Cisco technologies practically using GNS3 or Packet Tracer.

GNS3 is free software that allows you to simulate Cisco, Juniper, Aruba and other networking vendor equipment on your laptop. You can build complex networks for free and learn how to configure and troubleshoot network devices. You can also capture packets using Wireshark directly from within GNS3.

Cisco Packet Tracer is a free simulator from Cisco. This allows you to easily build networks on your laptop and learn how networks work. This is simulator software rather than emulator software.

VIRL (now called CML) is Cisco's network emulation software.

David Bombal (CCIE #11023 Emeritus) passed his Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert Routing and Switching exam in January 2003 and is one of a small percentage of Cisco Engineers that pass their CCIE labs on their first attempt.

David qualified as a Cisco Certified Systems Instructor (CCSI #22787) many years ago! He has been training Cisco courses for over 15 years and has delivered instructor led courses in various countries around the world covering a wide range of Cisco topics from CCNA to CCIE.

David is very active on social media and has over 500,000 YouTube subscribers and has posted over 1,000 free videos.

I want to wish you all the best!

David

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Instructor Details

David Bombal

David Bombal (CCIE  #11023 Emeritus) passed his Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert Routing and Switching exam in January 2003 and is one of a small percentage of Cisco Engineers that pass their CCIE labs on their first attempt. 

David qualified as a  Cisco Certified Systems Instructor (CCSI #22787) many years ago! He has been training Cisco  courses for over 20 years and has delivered instructor led courses in various  countries around the world covering a wide range of Cisco topics from CCNA to  CCIE. 

David is very active on social media and has over 2 million YouTube subscribers and has posted over 1,000 free videos.

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Reviews

4.5

629 ratings on Udemy

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By Pitambar Yadav on 3/16/2026

It's not clear as expected but it's ok

By Spencer Howard on 9/19/2020

This course was a great refresher for anyone who has studied or at least tried networking on a basic or advanced level. Students need to know the best option when trying to conquer or prepare for the CCNA or network + certification from the CompTIA exam. Kudos to the instructor for pointing out the pros and cons of each option.

By 明大 沖田 on 5/4/2020

ネットワーク機器の仮想ツールはどのようなものがあるか、またそれらと物理ハードウェアにどのようなメリット・デメリットがあるかをわかりやすく解説してくれます。実際のインストールと簡単な利用方法のイメージも動画でつかめるので、Ciscoをはじめとするネットワーク機器の学習をこれから始めようと考えている方に最適です。なお、IOSイメージの入手方法(年199ドル)についても説明があります。無償で入手する方法はありません。

By Christian Kidimbu Menayame on 6/21/2019

I liked the possibility of choice of quality and speed. The program is pretty designed except that I’m experiencing trouble in downloading contents and I’m wondering if I have to attribute it to my internet providers even though I changed them often in order to fix the problem but the issue still the same.

By Aleksandre Matchavariani on 8/27/2018

Nice talking, great explanations. I would suggest David Bombal for network training especially for Cisco related and not only, got many of his courses and going to watch them all, and purchase rest of the courses that I don't have yet, this course is very informative about how to do networking practice and know about all the possible ways of doing it. 5/5

By Ricardo Garcia on 7/31/2018

I enjoy David Bombal's videos on his youtube channel. This course showed me what you can see there, however, the biggest perk over going directly to his youtube channel is that through the course he is able to give you all the videos in the correct order, without ad's or interruptions. It was clean, to the point, and very informative. He covers both packet tracer, Virl, and GNS3 and a large emphasis on GNS3. This is what got me to dig further into using GNS3 because of his explanation and information with using it for creating labs and complex topologies.

By Artur Kosakowski on 7/22/2018

Everything I wanted to know about GNS3 - was there. Now I can easily jump into other networking course and finally to start to gain my hands-on skill on cisco equipment. Well done David

By Pierre-Louis Ricardo on 1/29/2018

Making such searches required patience and knowledges. I do respect that. In plus, I have learned things that I supposed to not being important but which I think can help me to better study.

By Andrii Vereshchaka on 1/11/2018

David you've created a really useful course, it was really worth attending it . So I want to give an advice for those who want to learn GNS3 - start it from this course, you will get all the facts you need to begin working with GNS3.

By Sujay Gopalan on 10/24/2017

crisp content.. clear in communicating the content.. would like to see a GNS3 Labs series for CCNA-CCNP-CCIE .. would be fun to learn from David .. with the way he walks through the course.

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