tkdebnath/cisco_iol repository overview

This repository hosts Dockerized Cisco IOL images optimized for containerlab. Since IOL is a native Linux application rather than a full virtual machine, it offers significantly higher density and faster boot times compared to traditional VM-based images.

Containerlab Integration To use these images, define them in your .clab.yml using the cisco_iol kind.

Image Variants & Tags Based on the repository tags, the image supports both Layer 3 (Routing) and Layer 2 (Switching) functionality:

Tag Function iol L3 (Router) iol-l2 L2 (Switch)

Note: For L2 images, you must specify type: L2 in your containerlab node configuration to ensure the correct startup logic is applied.

Key Technical Specifications Resource Efficiency: Requires only ~768MB RAM and minimal CPU per node.

Interface Mapping: * eth0 is reserved for Management (mapped to Ethernet0/0 in IOS).

eth1 and above map to Ethernet0/1, Ethernet0/2, etc.

Credentials: Default login is admin / admin.

Management: Automatically configures a Management VRF on Ethernet0/0 for out-of-band access.

Accessing the CLI You can interact with the IOL nodes using:

SSH: ssh admin@

Docker Exec: docker exec -it cli

Official documentation: https://containerlab.dev/manual/kinds/cisco_vios/⁠