How To: Submit Labs

Perhaps you have some cool labs that you would like to share with us all. That would be great!

There are however some guidelines about creating labs and writing layout so the quality of all our labs and the site will maintain high.

You need to send me an e-mail because I need to upgrade your account to an "author" account so you can post articles. Letting me know on the forum will also work.

Just pick any lab on the website and you will see they are all created with the same layout and style. Use the default font size, the headings I use are "heading 1" for Lab title and "Heading 2" for the other ones. Let's check out how I write labs:
 

1. Lab title:

   The title of the lab should describe what the lab is about. For example: "Multicast PIM Accept RP". There should be no confusion what kind of lab this is about, if it's a combined lab try to name the protocols or features. Just don't call it something like "Awesome Extreme ISP Lab by Rene Molenaar" or something...that doesn't say anything ;)

2. Scenario:

   The scenario is just a little introduction to the lab, I try to think up a little story...just for fun, makes the lab more entertaining I hope :) Try to include "why are you trying to achieve this". For example: The multicast sparse-mode lab describes that you want to implement it, to reduce unnecessary  flooding compared to "dense" mode, which might be an advantage.

3. Goal:

   I'm using bullet points to state all the needed points. For example:
   • Configure all IP addresses as specified in the topology picture (that's what it normally begins with).
   • Configure this & that.
   • You need to achieve this or that. (eg: full connectivity)
   • Test this by pinging x.x.x.x
   • etc.
   
   Using bullet points gives you an overview, I try to make sure you can work from top to bottom...so you don't have to start over because the last bullet point wants you to change something you did in the beginning.

4. IOS:

   So far i've been using IOS Image "c3640-jk9s-mz.124-16.bin". It doesn't consume a lot of memory and it has all the features I need, make sure to specify the IOS version if you are using something else.

5. Topology:

   The first line I add is always:
   
   You need to register to download the GNS3 Topology File. (Registration is Free!)
   
   And then I place the topology picture below, there's a few guidelines:
   • Don't forget to add the router hostnames.
   • Don't forget to add the network address and subnet mask, I try to use the color "blue" for this.
   • Don't forget to add the IP address at the router.
   • Please add the GNS3Vault logo in the bottom left, in case someone downloads a PDF and spreads it around, it'll at least have the site logo and url on it :)
      
   
   
   
   This is the picture I use in the bottom left corner:
   
   
    

6. GNS3 Config file:

   Last thing to do, is to add a GNS3 configuration file. Please compress them (ZIP) and add them to the article. REALLY IMPORTANT: DO NOT ADD IOS IMAGES!
   
   GNS3 is free software and it's awesome, but spreading Cisco IOS Images is illegal!
    
7. Have fun! I realize I wrote down plenty of guidelines but this will assure the quality of the site and labs will be high, and that's what we all want right? Your registered name will automatically pop-up with the site, so who knows...perhaps you become famous with your lab! ;)
   
   Thanks for reading, if you have any questions or comments please let me know!