The "classic" IOS XRv is a 32-bit virtualized version of the IOS XR operating system used on Cisco carrier-grade hardware like the ASR 9000.

Cisco usually distributes the same software in OVA format ( iosxrv-k9-demo-6.1.3.ova ) for VMware. Import this OVA file directly into ESXi or Workstation (File → Deploy OVF Template).

The qemu-img command (part of the qemu-utils package) is the universal tool for virtual disk conversion:

At least 3GB (3072 MB) per node, though 4GB is recommended for stability. CPU: Multiple cores recommended for better performance. 2. GNS3 Deployment Steps

At its core, is a virtual machine disk image file that contains a demo version of Cisco IOS XR (the “K9” designation indicates encryption and advanced security features). The “demo” tag signals that this image is intended for evaluation, learning, and proof‑of‑concept deployments rather than production environments. The number “613” likely refers to a specific build or iteration, while “qcow2” stands for “QEMU Copy-On-Write version 2” – a highly efficient, sparse file format used by the QEMU emulator and KVM hypervisor.

Ensure the appliance settings use KVM and have sufficient RAM. 3. EVE-NG Deployment Steps

This is the most common method for deploying this QCOW2 image in an emulation environment.

Look for output like:

| Component | Minimum | Recommended | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | 2 vCPUs (with SSE4.2 flag) | 4+ vCPUs | | RAM | 8 GB | 16–32 GB | | Storage | 45 GB free space | 64 GB+ SSD | | Virtualization | KVM/QEMU, VMware ESXi, VirtualBox | KVM with hardware acceleration |

Download the iosxrvk9-demo-6.1.3.qcow2 file from an authorized Cisco resource. 2. EVE-NG Installation Steps

Designed to provide traditional Provider Edge (PE) services and Route Reflector (RR) capabilities in a virtualized environment.

: If starting with an .ova or .vmdk file, it can be converted to .qcow2 for use in KVM-based hypervisors.

Network engineers use it for: