Running #gns3 (version 3.0.4 )on #AppleSilicon works in approx. 15 minutes. Tested with #mikrotik chr-7.18.2.img
* howto: https://marcstech.blog/archives/gns3-apple-silicon/
* client: https://github.com/gns3/gns3-gui/releases
Marc's Tech Blog · GNS3 with macOS on Apple SiliconBefore we work our way through the steps, I will start by pointing out GNS3 server has the following constraints when running on Apple Silicon:
Lack of Linux KVM for x86_64 virtualized guests Slight performance penalty with emulated x86_64 Linux binaries (Rosetta ) The following are my results after testing a number of different Cisco device types:
Device Working? Information IOL ✅ - IOL L2 ✅ - IOSv ✅ - IOSv L2 ✅ - ASAv ❌ Requires SSSE3 CPU instructions for cryptographic operations Catalyst 8000V ❌ Requires vmx or svm CPU flag for Linux KVM Nexus 9000v ❌ Requires vmx or svm CPU flag for Linux KVM As you can see, we’re primarily limited to Cisco (IOL , IOSv , Dynamips ) images, VPCS, and Docker containers. The upside is that we’re rarely CPU-bound running labs on Apple Silicon. The amount of system memory in the Mac is usually the limiting factor. And let’s face it: connecting to a dedicated x86_64 GNS3 compute server with ample CPU cores and RAM is the ideal solution for running large labs.
