Network Hacking / VM's

[digitalvampire]

Hey guys,

I know of several great VM's for System and Web application hacking, but I was curious if there were any emulators or VM's that had Network based challenges?  I have GNS3, and I've used it from time to time.. but it loves to act up, and I would prefer something I could explore more

As always, thanks for your help

-DV

[ajohnson]

GNS3 is a front-end GUI for dynamips/dynagen, so if the problem is GNS3 itself, you may be able to get around that by working directly with the command line/text configurations. That's the closet thing I know of, unfortunately.

Your best will be snagging some used gear on eBay or somewhere else. You can get a lot of functionality for fairly low prices.

[digitalvampire]

I didn't know that about GNS3.. that actually sounds fun

Also in regards to the VM's.. I remember reading/hearing about a VM scenario that was an emulated network in a box.. but I can't remember what it was!

Thanks for your reply!

[BillV]

This site has some pretty decent prices for network equipment:
http://www.certificationkits.com/

[Andrew Waite]

If you've already got a virtual environment for your server/app lab set-up take a look at Vyatta's open source edition.

They've got some fairly powerful network kit available as virtual images. I've got one running as a router handling the core of my lab environment without issue.

If you've got some experience with other network kit (Cisco et al) it should be fairly intuitive to pick up.

[digitalvampire]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all the replies - I have been looking into them all.

@Andrew I actually downloaded Vyatta a while back, and started setting it up. I had to stop because I was working on another project at the time - but I think it's time to revist that. 

I don't have a budget unfortunately for purchasing equipment, so everything would have to be Virtualized.

Thanks again for all the great responses! =)

-DV