Download Cisco Packet Tracer 9.0 & GNS3

Download Cisco Packet Tracer 9.0.0

Packet Tracer 9.0.0 is required to complete the 26 industrial (OT) security labs included in the new Netacad Industrial Networking Essentials course. This course has been designed to teach students how to configure secure industrial networks, compliant with the Purdue security model, supporting Industrial Automation Control Systems (IACS). It is also required to attend the following Netacad courses :

• Industrial IoT and Control Systems in Energy
• Industrial IoT and Control Systems in Manufacturing
• Industrial Cybersecurity Essentials

It includes labs to simulate a Smart Grid (power disctribution network in the energy sector), simulate a factory for mixing raw materials, practice PLC programming with low code, configure an industrial DMZ, ...

How to download Cisco Packet Tracer on the new Netacad Website ?

You can download Cisco Packet Tracer 9.0.0 for FREE from the official Cisco Netacad website. The software comes with several tutorial files that allow academy students to enhance their learning experience.

Step 1 : Log in to Cisco Netacad.com learning website and select Explore > Learning Catalog > Cisco Packet Tracer in the menu to access the download page.

Step 2 : Find the "Time to use Cisco Packet Tracer v8.2.2" article and click on the article title.

Step 3 : Click on the Cisco Packet Tracer download link to access the official download page. The page provides basic guidelines to install Cisco Packet Tracer.

Packet Tracer 9.0.0 build 810 checksums 

Cisco Packet Tracer 9.0.0 build 9.0.0.0810 (october 2025 official release) can be downloaded from the Cisco Netacad Ressource Hub. Do not download Cisco Packet Tracer from any website or torrent source different than the official Cisco Netacad website. Please find below the SHA256 checksums for the official Packet Tracer packages so you can check if the software you downloaded is correct. 

Packet Tracer 9.0.0 is compatible with Microsoft Windows 10 and Windows 11. You can also download the installer for MacOS 12 or newer, or as a debian package (.deb) for Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 LTS. MacOs 10, 11 and Ubuntu 20.04 are no longer supported.

Download GNS3 v3.0 network emulator

GNS3 v3.0 new features

After several months of testing, GNS3 v3.0 has been released for download on December 20th, 2024. This version provides significant user experience enhancements. It allow GNS3 to run in the cloud, feature a new web interface and improved security.

Major new features of GNS3 v3.0 are :

• Secured API based on the latest FastAPI and Pydantic versions
• New RBAC system with resource pools support
• Image manager to upload and manage images for Dynamips, Qemu and IOU
• Templates can be automatically created after images are uploaded
• Zstandard compression for importing/exporting projects
• ...

GNS3 v3.0.5 fixes the following GNS3 GUI and GNS3 server issues of GNS3 v3.0.0 and adds the following features :

• GNS3 GUI :
  • Replace "Docker hub" by "Docker repository" because it is possible to use different repositories
  • Upgrade dependencies
  • Fix bring console in front when clicking on "Open all consoles".
  • Add -F arg to wmctrl.

• GNS 3 Server :
  • Bundle web-ui v3.0.5
  • Sync appliances
  • Use Ubuntu 24.04 LTS in Dockerfile.
  • Fix tests and require Qemu version >= 2.4
  • Fix adding pci_bridges to qemu vms
  • Resolve deprecation warnings of regex library
  • Remove OVMF_CODE_4M.secboot.fd and associated code
  • Add edk2-stable202502 UEFI firmwares and try to first use firmwares from the ovmf package if installed.
  • Prettify TPM error message
  • Fix bug in qemu_stdout message
  • Try to detect swtpm and AppArmor issue.
  • Fix Docker logs decoding.
  • Add delay after starting a Docker container and adding connections in uBridge.
  • Fix TypeError when reading Docker container logs.
  • Allow an image to be uploaded to the controller again even if it is already in the database
  • Fix controller not reporting an error if invalid options are passed to Qemu command line.
  • Replace "Docker hub" by "Docker repository" because it is possible to use different repositories
  • Fix unable to add NAT cloud after configuring “allowed_interfaces” in configuration file.
  • Fix interface information API endpoint for Cloud/NAT devices
  • Upgrade Jinja2 to v3.1.6. 
  • Fix packet capture for links connected to a cloud node. 
  • fix: check if remote-install.sh is being run as root

Download GNS3 v3.0.5 for Windows

GNS3 v3.0.5 checksums (May 14, 2025) :

Other network simulators

Cisco Modeling Labs 2.9.0

Cisco Modeling Labs is a virtualized network simulation environment offering Netacad students the chance to practice networking labs using real Cisco devices images (IOS, IOS-XE, ASA, ....). Buying expensive network devices is not required anymore for optimal CCNP Enterprise or CCIE exams preparation experience. Cisco Modeling Labs OVA can be downloaded for free on Cisco website. Five Cisco network devices images are provided for free in CML 2.9.0 reference platform ISO refplat-20250616-free-iso.zip archive.  Additional node definitions are freely available on CML community github repository.

Cisco Modeling Labs 2.9.0 Free Tier OVA: cml2_f_2.9.0-3_amd64-3.ova
SHA 512 checksum: 18f32815fc5aa32e04cc44c24b315143fc99546501f082a13644a80a458e1f2405c74295ca8a1a64286b3f2ba569722e0e83812f07a09df75c8e426bdefc7f0d

Cisco Modeling Labs 2.8.1 reference platform ISO: refplat-20241016-freetier.iso
SHA512 checksum: 0f0a4bc0a175168bb74f7b4194af173ecb283bb2c02714406b2233f756ae405e032dd0faca8a7b81e5efa2b70c286cd236a7ebec5fca730e96e8758119e48f30

Cisco NX-OSv 9000 appliance

The NX-OSv 9000 is a virtual appliance designed to simulate the control plane of a Cisco Nexus 9000 switch. The NX-OSv 9000 shares the same software image running on Cisco Nexus 9000 hardware platform. The NX-OSv 9000 software emulates line card (LC) ASICs and all interactions from the control plane to the relay switch ASICs.

NX-OSv 9000 is a modern emulator for datacenter certification training. It helps engineers to test network automation prior to production deployment. The following NX-OSv 9000 features are officially supported in Cisco Modeling Labs 2.8.1:

• CDP :  OK
• SVI (wwitch virtual interface) : OK
• Port-security : OK
• Port-channel : OK
• vPC : OK
• Spanning-tree : OK
• HSRP betweeen two N9K: OK
• Loopback interface : OK
• Routed (L3) port : OK

NX-OSv 9000 virtual appliance is compatible with GNS3, KVM, or VMware NSX virtualization environments. The most recent version of NXOSv is 10.6(1)F. This version adds the following new features :

• Support for SG-RouterID Hash
• IPv6 Support for UDP Jitter Operations
• Passwordless Authentication for gRPC via UDS
• Host Identity Based Authorization (HIBA)
• EVPN ESI Multi-Homing
• Support RPKI community when connected via eBGP
• PIM Graceful-SPT Feature to Be Default
• TACACS+ TLS 1.3 support with IEFT draft
• L2VLAN segmentation with SVI

Download NX-OSv 9000 10.6(1)F from Cisco website