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I don't have extensive experience to computer networks and I would like to practice using a Linux distribution and virtual machines like virtualbox or vmware.

I imagine a host Ubuntu/Linux PC and a number of virtual machines installed on this running Linux too. I would like to connect the VMs using a virtual TCP/IP network and to experiment on this using routers, DNS servers, switches etc.

a) Are all these possible?

b) What are the constraints?

c) What is the best virtual machine for these purposes?

Thank you!

funk
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    http://superuser.com/questions/119732/how-to-do-networking-between-virtual-machines-in-virtualbox?rq=1 ... Tell me if this explains you enough. I recommend using VirtualBox. And yes it is possible :) – Peter Nov 22 '13 at 14:55
  • Thank you for the response! Your reference seems to be a good point to start my TCP/IP investigations. At the moment I'm searching information related to GNU netkit, any comment on this? – funk Nov 25 '13 at 14:34
  • Absolutely possible although I'd recommend a) A close reading of the Virtualbox manual (thank you Oracle for a CHM manual) and b) A small Linux distro, command line if you can bear it. My 12.04 Ubuntu says it's using 800MB at the moment which is high. Each VM takes the full assigned memory on start. 1GB * 4 VMs = 4GB used. If you can do 256MB, then 4 of those would be 1GB. You get the idea. – carveone Nov 27 '13 at 12:26
  • @carveone I 'm going to use the Debian distribution without GUI or the Ubuntu server distribution (without GUI too) in the VMs. As host OS I will use the Xubuntu 13.04 distibution. How many VMs may be needed in order to be organized a realistic virtual/experimental TCP/IP network? – funk Nov 27 '13 at 14:13
  • @funk Good question. I can't really answer that but if one is being a router, then you'd need another two to test it. VirtualBox allows you to clone a VM so it's not as if you have to install Debian 3 or more times. By the way, if you want to experiment with physical routers, servers, switches, then I don't think a VM would really help. Cheap/free PCs or RasbPis might be more realistic. – carveone Nov 27 '13 at 14:27
  • Actually, I plan to design a network lab of two stages:

    a) A virtual stage based on VMs like VirtualBox using a lightweight Linux distro that I will use it to setup an experimental computer network. At this stage, the work will be done in the virtual environment in my PC.

    b) A realistic stage based on tiny computers like RasbPI that I will use it to load all the simulated configuration from the virtual stage.

    Of course,I expect various technical problems during the first movement from the virtual stage to the realistic stage. But we don't have to forget that all this has to be educational.

     – funk Dec 03 '13 at 08:03

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