Installing GNS3 v0.8.2 on Ubuntu 12.04

Below are the basic steps for installing GNS3 0.8.2 on Ubuntu 12.04 and get it started. Video tutorials on  gns3 website .

(check out the three step installation for GNS3 v0.8.6 Installing GNS3 v0.8.6 on Linux)

Step 1: Update and Install dependencies

 sudo apt-get update  
 sudo apt-get install python  
 sudo apt-get install qt4-dev-tools  
 sudo apt-get install pyqt4-dev-tools  

Step 2 : Install GNS3

 cd /opt  
 sudo wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/gns-3/GNS3/0.8.2/GNS3-0.8.2-src.tar.bz2   
 sudo tar -xjvf GNS3-0.8.2-src.tar.bz2  
 sudo mv GNS3-0.8.2-src /opt/GNS3   
 sudo rm GNS3-0.8.2-src.tar.bz2  

Step 3 : Create folders

 cd /opt/GNS3   
 sudo mkdir Dynamip   
 sudo mkdir Images   
 sudo mkdir Project  
 sudo mkdir tmp  
 sudo chmod o+rw -R ./Project  

Step 4 : Install Dynamips

Create a folder under GNS3 and download the latest Dynamips version and then make it executable.

 cd Dynamips  
 sudo wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/gns-3/Dynamips/0.2.8-RC3-community/dynamips-0.2.8-RC3-community-x86.bin   
 sudo chmod +x ./dynamips-0.2.8-RC3-community-x86.bin  

Step 5 :  Create the shortcut icon and run the application

If you don't like Unity then install the gnome panel, logout and login selecting "Gnome Classic"

 sudo apt-get install gnome-panel  

 Create the Launcher on the Desktop by using the old GUI dialog.

 gnome-desktop-item-edit --create-new ~/Desktop  

 use gksu (if use GNOME in Linux) or kdesu (for KDE)

command : gksu python "/opt/GNS3/gns3"

if you run it only using  python "/opt/GNS3/gns3"  you may get any of the Dynamips error message  below (depending on the operating system you use):

206-unable to create UDP NIO

206-unable to create generic ethernet NIO
206-unable to create Linux raw  Ethernet NIO

Step 6 : Edit Parameters in GNS3

start GNS3 . Goto Edit

Getting Started Step1 - Dynamips

Executable path to Dynamips: /opt/GNS3/Dynamips/dynamips-0.2.8-RC3-community-x86.bin
Working directory for Dynamips : /opt/GNS3/tmp

Getting Started Step2 - General 
General settingsPathsProject directory : /opt/GNS3/ProjectImage Directory :/opt/GNS3/Images

terminal settings Preconfigured Terminal commands
select "Gnome Terminal (Linux/BSD) " then click on "Use"

Getting Started Step3 - IOS Images
Here add your preferable IOS

Edit | preferences | Capture |
working directory for capture files : /opt/GNS3/Project

Step 7 : Fine Tuning

Uncompressed Cisco IOS 

To get rid of a slow Cisco router IOS self decompressing image sequence, uncompress the image and then use the uncompressed image.

unzip -p c3660-jk9o3s-mz.124-17.bin > c3660-jk9o3s-mz.124-17.image  
 warning [c3660-jk9o3s-mz.124-17.bin]: 101960 extra bytes at beginning or within zipfile  
  (attempting to process anyway)   

Then set GNS3 to load the .image IOS

Delay between device start and Autosave

If you have many devices, while starting all at same time , it will choke you CPU.

Add delays between each device start.

Edit | preferences |General | General Settings
Delay between each device start when starting all devices: 5 secondsAutosave: 300 seconds

Use Konsole instead of Gnome Terminal

start GNS3 and goto

Edit|preferences |General |terminal settings Preconfigured Terminal commands

 select "Kosnole (Linux KDE) " then click on "Use"

Preconfigured Terminal commands :

 /usr/bin/konsole --new-tab -p tabtitle=%d -e telnet %h %p >/dev/null 2>&1 &