Skip to content
VEX-NXDocs

Get started

Your first lab

Build a small working lab with the FRR and Alpine images that ship with VEX-NX. No vendor image needed.

First lab on the canvas
First lab on the canvas

Vendor images need importing and licence awareness. Start with the free starters instead: they prove that Start, Terminal, and the lab fabric work on day one.

Before you start

Current OVA and ISO builds include offline copies of:

  • quay.io/frrouting/frr:10.2.1
  • alpine:3.20

Confirm Docker is up under Home → Host checks. If Start says an image is missing:

bash
sudo vexnx-seed-docker
docker images | grep -E 'frr|alpine'

If the pull fails with DNS errors, set DNS under Infrastructure → Management network and seed again.

  1. Open Labs → Guided Labs and click Show if the panel is collapsed.
  2. Filter. Domain Foundations or Routing, rank Bronze.
  3. Preview the Guide, then choose Use this lab.
  4. Switch to Operate → Start all, then open Terminal on a node.
  5. On an FRR node, run vtysh and then show version.

Option B: two FRR routers from scratch

  1. Create the lab. Labs → Create blank lab, named frr-pair.
  2. Add nodes. In Design, add two frrouting nodes and connect their data ports.
  3. Optional internet access. Connect each to a NAT cloud.
  4. Start and connect. Operate → Start, then Terminal on each node and run vtysh.
text
show version
configure
router ospf
 exit
end

Option C: two Alpine hosts

Drag two alpine nodes onto the canvas, connect them, Start, open Terminal, and ping the peer. Addressing depends on your lab IP plan.

What good looks like

  • Nodes reach running without a registry pull.
  • vtysh or the shell responds.
  • Home → Launch Budget shows capacity in use.

Where to go next