--- title: Configuring IP Addresses Won't Make You an Expert «... description: A network engineer and netlab developer responds to common objections about using netlab for network lab automation. Key points addressed: repetitive tasks... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/configuring-ip-addresses-won-t-make-you-an-expert-ipspace-net-blog-p11t1axeg twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Configuring IP Addresses Won't Make You an Expert « ipSpace.net blog | daily.dev og:description: A network engineer and netlab developer responds to common objections about using netlab for network lab automation. Key points addressed: repetitive tasks... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/configuring-ip-addresses-won-t-make-you-an-expert-ipspace-net-blog-p11t1axeg og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/p11T1aXEg.png og:image:alt: Configuring IP Addresses Won't Make You an Expert « ipSpace.net blog og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Configuring IP Addresses Won't Make You an Expert « ipSpace.net blog **[ipSpace.net Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A network engineer and netlab developer responds to common objections about using netlab for network lab automation. Key points addressed: repetitive tasks like configuring IP addresses don't build expertise, reusing old lab topologies wastes time on troubleshooting rather than learning, container vs VM boot times depend on the device type (native containers always start faster than VMs), and netlab differs from CML by providing ready-to-run networks via infrastructure-as-code rather than requiring manual device configuration from scratch. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is the difference between netlab and CML for network labs? CML no longer includes Autonetkit, meaning device configuration must be done mostly from scratch — similar to GNS3 or EVE-NG. Netlab, by contrast, delivers a ready-to-run network automatically via infrastructure-as-code, handling IP addressing, routing protocol configuration, and topology setup so engineers can focus on testing specific scenarios rather than rebuilding foundations. _Network engineers choosing between lab tools track comparisons like this on daily.dev._ ### Do container-based network devices start faster than virtual machines in network labs? Native containers always boot faster than their corresponding virtual machines because they skip booting a full Linux OS. For example, Arista cEOS starts faster than Arista vEOS. Virtual machines inside containers (vrnetlab) take roughly the same time as standalone VMs. Boot times vary widely by vendor — lightweight devices like VyOS start in seconds, while major networking vendor VMs can take significantly longer. _Engineers building network labs keep up with tooling trade-offs like these on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Configuring Management IP Addresses to Virtual Network Devices « ipSpace.net blog](https://daily.dev/posts/configuring-management-ip-addresses-to-virtual-network-devices-ipspace-net-blog-ffffzfuyz) · ipSpace.net Blog · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#networking](https://daily.dev/tags/networking) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/configuring-ip-addresses-won-t-make-you-an-expert-ipspace-net-blog-p11t1axeg) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Configuring IP Addresses Won't Make You an Expert « ipSpace.net blog","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/configuring-ip-addresses-won-t-make-you-an-expert-ipspace-net-blog-p11t1axeg","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/configuring-ip-addresses-won-t-make-you-an-expert-ipspace-net-blog-p11t1axeg"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T08:51:59.095Z","dateModified":"2026-08-11T08:53:54.612Z","description":"A network engineer and netlab developer responds to common objections about using netlab for network lab automation. 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