How to install Latest GNS3 on Fedora 23 and Fedora 22

This guide will show you how to install the latest version of Gns3 within few minutes and start any kind of Networking Project.

UPDATED ARTICLE: How to Install GNS3 on Fedora 29 / Fedora 28

For Ubuntu: How to Install GNS3 on Ubuntu 18.04 / Ubuntu 16.04

Previously we had talked about How to Install GNS3 on Kali Linux which works on any new version of Gns3. It’s just a matter of downloading the latest archived gns3 code. I have tested this installation procedure on my Fedora 23 and it works like charm.

If you have a fresh installation of Fedora, make sure you do a system update and Upgrade. You can use our tutorial Top things to do after Fresh Installation of Fedora 23
So let’s get started.

What is Gns3?

Gns3 is such an awesome tool which allows you to Build, Design and Test your network in a risk-free virtual environment and access the largest networking community to help you succeed. You can use Gns3 to study for almost any networking exam and to build out a state-wide telecommunications network.

GNS3 offers an easy way to design and build networks of any size without the need for hardware but rather by using an Emulator which translates to the real world environment.

Gns3 is free to use tool and uses dynamips as its hypervisor. You can even contribute to the improvement of its code and be part of an active community which works to make this world a better place.

First, before doing Gns3 installation, we need to fix some dependency requirements to make our installation smooth and working. Let’s do that first.

Downloading and installing all required dependencies.

sudo dnf -y install git gcc cmake

Install python3 dependencies

sudo dnf -y install python3-tornado python3-netifaces python3-devel python-pip python3-setuptools python3-PyQt4 python3-zmq

Install other dependencies as shown below:

sudo dnf -y install elfutils-libelf-devel libuuid-devel libpcap-devel

If you’ll be running version 1.4.x of Gns3 python3-PyQt5 package should be installed.

sudo dnf -y install python3-PyQt5

Once done, it’s time to start downloading gns3 packages.

Downloading and installing  Gns3 gui

git clone https://github.com/GNS3/gns3-gui
cd gns3-gui
sudo python3 setup.py install

Downloading and installing  Gns3 Server:

git clone https://github.com/GNS3/gns3-server
cd gns3-server
sudo python3 setup.py install

If you want to use Python pip to install both Gns3 server and Gui, Just run the commands below.

sudo pip3 install gns3-server
sudo pip3 install gns3-gui

If you would like to install the latest version of Gns3 use the link below to download  https://github.com/GNS3/gns3-gui/releases

Download and Install Dynamips Hypervisor.

git clone https://github.com/GNS3/dynamips
cd dynamips
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
sudo make install

Download and Install iouyap

git clone https://github.com/GNS3/iouyap.git
cd iouyap
bison --yacc -dv netmap_parse.y
flex netmap_scan.l
gcc -Wall -g *.c -o iouyap -liniparser -lpthread
make 
sudo make install
chmod +x iouyap
sudo cp iouyap /usr/local/bin
sudo setcap cap_net_admin,cap_net_raw=ep /usr/local/bin/iouyap

Download and install vpcs

wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/vpcs/files/0.8/vpcs_0.8b_Linux64/download
mv download vpcs
chmod +x vpcs
sudo cp vpcs /usr/local/bin/

Install IOU dependencies

sudo dnf install flex bison git
git clone http://github.com/ndevilla/iniparser.git
cd iniparser
make
sudo cp libiniparser.* /usr/lib/
sudo cp src/iniparser.h /usr/local/include
sudo cp src/dictionary.h /usr/local/include
cd ..
git clone https://github.com/GNS3/iouyap.git
cd iouyap
make
sudo make install

Up to here, we have installed everything that Gns3 needs to run. Now, we have to create a Launcher for Gnome 3.x so that we can launch Gns3 from Applications menu.

Create GNS3 Launcher

First, locate the gns3 binary using which command.

$ which gns3

Then download gns3 icon

cd ~
wget https://www.gns3.com/assets/images/logo-colour.png

Mine is located at  /home/$(USER)/logo-colour.png We’ll use this location in the icon section.

cd /usr/share/applications/
vim  gns3.desktop

Then add the following.

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Terminal=false
Keywords=Emulator;Simulator;Networking;Network Design;Gns3;
GenericName=Network Emulator
Name=Gns3 Network Emulator
Exec=/usr/bin/gns3
Icon=/home/josepy/logo-colour.png
Categories=GTK;GNOME;Development;

The gns3 application will be located under Applications >>Programming 
See screenshot below.

If you need a more direct way to create a Launcher install and use alacarte

sudo dnf -y install alacarte

Then launch it by running command alacarte on the terminal.

alacarte

Then select category you want to place gn3 in. e.g on Applications > Programming. To do this, Click on programming > New Item >
On icon area select location of the icon you downloaded.
Name: GNS3 Network Simulator
command: /usr/bin/gns3
comment: Best Network Emulator.
See screenshot below for more clarification.

That’s all. You should now be able to launch Gns3 by pressing Super Key the gns3 search.
Search tags:
How to install Gns3 on Fedora
The simplest way to get Gns3 running on Fedora 23 and Fedora 22.
How to get Gns3 Network Emulator running on Fedora
How to create Launcher for Gns3 on Fedora 22 and 23.