While this is an L3 image, people often use it for switching labs due to the lack of good L2 IOU images.
Here’s useful technical content regarding the Cisco IOS image file: I86bi-linux-l3-adventerprisek9-ms.155-2.t.bin
| Image Name | Platform | Layer | Feature Set | Resource Usage | Best Use Case | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | i86bi-linux-l3-adventerprisek9-ms.155-2.t.bin | IOL | L3 | | Very Low | General routing labs for CCNA/CCNP | | x86_64_crb_linux-adventerprisek9-ms.bin (IOL XE) | IOL XE | L3 | adventerprisek9 | Low | Testing modern IOS XE features (17.x) | | i86bi-linux-l2-adventerprisek9-15.1a.bin | IOL | L2 | adventerprisek9 | Very Low | Switching labs (VLANs, STP, EtherChannel) | | c3725-adventerprisek9-mz.124-15.T14.image | Dynamips | L3 | adventerprisek9 | High | Legacy router hardware emulation (3725) | While this is an L3 image, people often
The I86bi... image offers exceptional resource efficiency but trades this for poor stability and a lack of modern features. The image is more stable but slower, while the CSR 1000v is a production-grade router with full features. The containerlab IOL version provides stability by running inside a Docker container. The image is more stable but slower, while
