One of my readers sent me this remark (probably while trying to work on the EBGP Sessions over the IPv6 LLA Interfaces lab):

I did attempt some of your labs, like IPv6 link-local-only BGP with FRR hosts, but FRR seemed not to play ball, or I was just doing it wrong.

As he was already using netlab, I could send him a cheat code:

netlab supports interface EBGP sessions, and we tested them with FRR, so we know they work. Create the corresponding topology, start the lab, and explore ;)

Let’s unpack this:

• How could I know if I could use netlab to try something new? Check the supported platforms, supported technologies, and whether the feature you want to test is supported on the platform you’re interested in. For example, the BGP configuration module implements interface EBGP sessions, and they seem to be supported on FRR.

• What topology could I use? The netlab-examples repository includes a BGP Unnumbered topology – precisely what we need.
• How do I start the lab? As we’re discussing FRR, you could open the netlab-examples repository in GitHub codespaces, change the working directory, and start the lab.

But wait, it gets better: you can generate the configurations for any device supported by netlab without having the virtualization environment or the device images installed:

• Create the desired topology.
• Transform the topology with netlab create
• Create the initial device configurations with netlab initial -o

As before, you don’t have to install netlab (or any software) to get that done; use GitHub codespaces or start the prebuilt netlab container.