--- title: Creating VRF Lite Labs With netlab « ipSpace.net blog description: A walkthrough of using the netlab VRF configuration module to quickly spin up VRF Lite labs without manual IPAM, RD/RT assignment, or per-device configuration.... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/creating-vrf-lite-labs-with-netlab-ipspace-net-blog-yhzhz56pk twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Creating VRF Lite Labs With netlab « ipSpace.net blog | daily.dev og:description: A walkthrough of using the netlab VRF configuration module to quickly spin up VRF Lite labs without manual IPAM, RD/RT assignment, or per-device configuration.... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/creating-vrf-lite-labs-with-netlab-ipspace-net-blog-yhzhz56pk og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/yHzHZ56pk.png og:image:alt: Creating VRF Lite Labs With netlab « 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. # Creating VRF Lite Labs With netlab « ipSpace.net blog **[ipSpace.net Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace)** · 7 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A walkthrough of using the netlab VRF configuration module to quickly spin up VRF Lite labs without manual IPAM, RD/RT assignment, or per-device configuration. Covers two scenarios: a single PE router with two isolated VRFs (red and blue), and an overlapping VPN topology with VRF route leaking using import/export route targets. Includes side-by-side comparison of generated configurations for Arista EOS and Cisco IOS, highlighting key syntax differences such as where route targets are defined and how address families are configured. ## 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 VRF route leaking configuration on Arista EOS vs Cisco IOS? On Cisco IOS, import/export route targets are defined inside the `vrf definition` block, and address families must be explicitly configured there too. On Arista EOS, route targets are defined within the `vrf` section of `router bgp`, and `ip routing vrf ` must be configured per VRF. Both use BGP internally to implement route leaking on a single PE router. _Network engineers comparing EOS and IOS VRF configs track these differences on daily.dev._ ### How does netlab automatically assign RD and RT values for VRFs? netlab uses a 2-byte-AS RT/RD format. When BGP is not configured in the lab, the AS number defaults to the `vrf.as` global parameter, which defaults to 65000. VRFs are numbered sequentially, so the first VRF (e.g., red) gets RD/RT 65000:1, the second (blue) gets 65000:2, and so on. You reference VRFs by name in topology files rather than specifying raw RT/RD values. _Engineers automating network labs find netlab tooling and updates on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [MPLS/VPN with SR-MPLS Core « ipSpace.net blog](https://daily.dev/posts/mpls-vpn-with-sr-mpls-core-ipspace-net-blog-nw3uwiphe) · ipSpace.net Blog · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [EVPN with SR-MPLS Core « ipSpace.net blog](https://daily.dev/posts/evpn-with-sr-mpls-core-ipspace-net-blog-taobtibzc) · ipSpace.net Blog · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Multivendor SR-MPLS « ipSpace.net blog](https://daily.dev/posts/multivendor-sr-mpls-ipspace-net-blog-qekokwduk) · ipSpace.net Blog · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#networking](https://daily.dev/tags/networking) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/creating-vrf-lite-labs-with-netlab-ipspace-net-blog-yhzhz56pk) ```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":"Creating VRF Lite Labs With netlab « ipSpace.net blog","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/creating-vrf-lite-labs-with-netlab-ipspace-net-blog-yhzhz56pk","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/creating-vrf-lite-labs-with-netlab-ipspace-net-blog-yhzhz56pk"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T08:53:40.211Z","dateModified":"2026-08-11T08:59:09.148Z","description":"A walkthrough of using the netlab VRF configuration module to quickly spin up VRF Lite labs without manual IPAM, RD/RT assignment, or per-device configuration....","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--CxzD6vbw--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2005","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--CxzD6vbw--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2005","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"ipSpace.net Blog","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ipSpace.net Blog","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--xS7E82MT--/f_auto,q_auto/v1786438303/logos/ipspace?_a=BAMAMicg0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/creating-vrf-lite-labs-with-netlab-ipspace-net-blog-yhzhz56pk","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"networking","timeRequired":"PT7M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ipSpace.net Blog","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Creating VRF Lite Labs With netlab « ipSpace.net blog"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/creating-vrf-lite-labs-with-netlab-ipspace-net-blog-yhzhz56pk#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the difference between VRF route leaking configuration on Arista EOS vs Cisco IOS?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"On Cisco IOS, import/export route targets are defined inside the `vrf definition` block, and address families must be explicitly configured there too. On Arista EOS, route targets are defined within the `vrf` section of `router bgp`, and `ip routing vrf ` must be configured per VRF. Both use BGP internally to implement route leaking on a single PE router. Network engineers comparing EOS and IOS VRF configs track these differences on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How does netlab automatically assign RD and RT values for VRFs?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"netlab uses a 2-byte-AS RT/RD format. When BGP is not configured in the lab, the AS number defaults to the `vrf.as` global parameter, which defaults to 65000. VRFs are numbered sequentially, so the first VRF (e.g., red) gets RD/RT 65000:1, the second (blue) gets 65000:2, and so on. You reference VRFs by name in topology files rather than specifying raw RT/RD values. Engineers automating network labs find netlab tooling and updates on daily.dev."}}]} ```