GNS3 - Configuring ASA on GNS3

I generally use GNS3 to emulate routers but recently I have been using it to do some ASA labs. So here is how I emulate ASAs on GNS3.

First thing to take care of is acquiring the ASA images needed to emulate an ASA. Files needed can be downloaded here.

Once you've downloaded the files it is time to configure GNS3 to run the ASA. Follow the screenshots.

Qemu Options: -vnc none -vga none -m 1024 -icount auto -hdachs 980,16,32
Kernel cmd line: -append ide_generic.probe_mask=0x01 ide_core.chs=0.0:980,16,32 auto nousb console=ttyS0,9600 bigphysarea=65536

Now click "SAVE" and "OK".

Drag and drop an ASA and hit run. You should now be able to console into your ASA.

The enable password is blank and no it is not the word blank :) Some features such as the failover are disabled by default and if you want to activate all of the features then type these 2 commands.

activation-key 0x4a3ec071 0x0d86fbf6 0x7cb1bc48 0x8b48b8b0 0xf317c0b5
activation-key 0xb23bcf4a 0x1c713b4f 0x7d53bcbc 0xc4f8d09c 0x0e24c6b6

Please note that it will take about 15 minutes to complete the license setup. Once the key is verified you can use all the features such as failover.

If you wanted to run multiple ASAs then edit this line accordingly on the ASAs

Qemu Options: -vnc :2 none -vga none -m 1024 -icount auto -hdachs 980,16,32

When you reboot/boot your ASA it does take a while to boot and it may appear as though it is stuck but just give it a few mins (5-10).

Many more articles to come so stay tuned.

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