--- title: Use Existing (DMVPN) Device Configurations in netlab «... description: Anne Baretta shares a workflow for using netlab to bootstrap a DMVPN lab topology that netlab doesn't natively support. The approach uses netlab to bring up... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/use-existing-dmvpn-device-configurations-in-netlab-ipspace-net-blog-laorgw7co twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Use Existing (DMVPN) Device Configurations in netlab « ipSpace.net blog | daily.dev og:description: Anne Baretta shares a workflow for using netlab to bootstrap a DMVPN lab topology that netlab doesn't natively support. The approach uses netlab to bring up... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/use-existing-dmvpn-device-configurations-in-netlab-ipspace-net-blog-laorgw7co og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/laORGW7co.png og:image:alt: Use Existing (DMVPN) Device Configurations in 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. # Use Existing (DMVPN) Device Configurations in netlab « ipSpace.net blog **[ipSpace.net Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Anne Baretta shares a workflow for using netlab to bootstrap a DMVPN lab topology that netlab doesn't natively support. The approach uses netlab to bring up the topology and apply initial configuration, then merges existing device configuration files using the `netlab config` command or per-node `config` parameters. A Bash loop automates pushing collected configs to each device. The post also covers gotchas like missing config files on first run (solved with `netlab up --no-config` and `netlab initial -i -m`) and the need to clean up collected configs after topology changes. A cleaner alternative is using netlab's node-name-based template discovery introduced in release 1.5.2. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I apply existing device configuration files to nodes in netlab when the feature isn't natively supported? Use the `netlab config -l ` command to push a full configuration file to a specific node, or set a per-node `config` parameter in the topology file pointing to the config file path. A Bash loop can automate this across all nodes. Node-name-based template discovery, introduced in netlab release 1.5.2, provides a cleaner alternative. _Network engineers pushing unsupported configs into netlab labs track patterns like this on daily.dev._ ### How do I start a netlab lab without applying custom configuration templates on first run? Run `netlab up --no-config` to start the lab without any configuration, then follow with `netlab initial -i -m` to apply initial configuration and module settings while skipping custom configuration templates. This avoids crashes caused by missing config files that don't exist yet on the first lab bring-up. _Engineers iterating on netlab topologies find workarounds like this faster 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 - [Compress netlab Lab Topologies with Dot Notation « ipSpace.net blog](https://daily.dev/posts/compress-netlab-lab-topologies-with-dot-notation-ipspace-net-blog-johomwxka) · ipSpace.net Blog · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#networking](https://daily.dev/tags/networking) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/use-existing-dmvpn-device-configurations-in-netlab-ipspace-net-blog-laorgw7co) ```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":"Use Existing (DMVPN) Device Configurations in netlab « ipSpace.net blog","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/use-existing-dmvpn-device-configurations-in-netlab-ipspace-net-blog-laorgw7co","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/use-existing-dmvpn-device-configurations-in-netlab-ipspace-net-blog-laorgw7co"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T08:56:09.340Z","dateModified":"2026-08-11T09:36:19.256Z","description":"Anne Baretta shares a workflow for using netlab to bootstrap a DMVPN lab topology that netlab doesn't natively support. 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