Student edition is free. No credit card, no expiry.
Build multi-vendor topologies in your browser, recreate networks from their configs, and see what happens on the wire. All on your own VMware host or server.
Everything a network lab needs, in one place, instead of five tools stitched together.
Design
Drag routers, switches, firewalls, and Linux hosts onto one canvas, connect their ports, and group big designs into nested maps.
Build
Mix vendors in one lab and start everything with a single click. Consoles open right in the browser.
Validate
Watch traffic flow across your topology, capture packets on any link, and test how designs hold up when links go bad.
Automate
Push configs to many nodes at once, run playbooks on a schedule, or let an AI agent drive the lab through the API.
Generate Lab
Drop in running configs from Cisco, Arista, Juniper, or FRR. VEX-NX places every device, wires up links from shared subnets, and loads each config at first boot. Then break it, fix it, and learn how your network really behaves.
Always review a generated lab, and redact secrets before pasting real configs.
hostname leaf1 ! interface Ethernet1 ip address 10.0.1.1/31 interface Ethernet2 ip address 10.0.2.1/31 ! router bgp 65101 neighbor 10.0.1.0 remote-as 65000 neighbor 10.0.2.0 remote-as 65000 ---- hostname spine1 ...
Nodes can be up while the path is bad. Add delay and loss to a link, watch traffic shift across the canvas, and capture the proof.
Delay, jitter, and loss in two clicks. Nothing to rebuild.
Traffic Lens paints how busy every link is, live.
Grab a PCAP from the same link and open it in Wireshark.
Short tutorials from install to troubleshooting, each with a written guide to follow along.
Get started · Beginner
Import the OVA into VMware Workstation or ESXi, check the disks and network adapters, and sign in for the first time.
Build labs · Intermediate
Paste show run output into Generate Lab, pick Remap, Map, or Redesign, and boot a working copy of your design.
Troubleshoot · Intermediate
Add delay and loss to a link, watch Traffic Lens react, and capture the evidence as a PCAP.
Same software in both editions. Install it once, upgrade with a licence file.
Free
Forever. No licence file.
Unlimited
For classrooms and teams.
“I created VEX-NX because I believe the best way to learn networking is to build it, break it, understand it, and fix it, and everyone deserves access to the tools that make that possible.”
K G PramodCreator and Principal Architect, CCIE #49662
No. You download VEX-NX and install it on your own VMware host or physical server. Your labs run there, on hardware you control.
Yes. Student is free, never expires, and needs no licence file. It runs up to 5 labs at once with up to 100 nodes per lab for one user.
VMware Workstation 14+ or ESXi 6.5+ for the OVA, or an amd64 server with VT-x or AMD-V for the bare-metal ISO. The minimum is 4 vCPU and 8 GB RAM; 8–16 vCPU and 16–32 GB is recommended.
FRRouting and Alpine ship with the appliance. Import your own QEMU, Docker, Dynamips, or IOL images from your vendors. VEX-NX does not include vendor images.
Licences are offline signed files with no licence server. Assist is optional: when an administrator configures it, the prompts and configs you give Assist are sent from your appliance to OpenRouter.
Request a licence from the Administration → Licence page on your appliance, or contact us. Enterprise removes the Student caps and adds classroom and directory features.
Pick the installer for your hardware. Same software either way.
Checksums and release notes on the Downloads page. VEX-NX runs entirely on your infrastructure.
