Hi,

I have been a long time fan and user of GNS3. I can't put into words how useful it has been for studying and learning to be able to quickly drag and drop a couple routers, connect them together and test L3 concepts to my hearts content.

However, GNS3 has been woefully lacking in regards to deeply studying L2 concepts. I would love a way to simply drag a couple 2950 or 2960 and connect them together and test all sorts of advanced L2 concepts (beyond what software like Packet Tracer can provide).

I recently came across vIRL (http://virl.cisco.com/) and UNetLabs (www.unetlab.com) as potentials, but I have not had a chance to play with them personally. I'm wondering if there are other options out there.

So my question is, have you used UNetLab or vIRL? If so, how is the L2 experience with them? If not, what do you use to virtualize, train, and prove L2 concepts to yourself?

Assume we're discussing L2 concepts beyond CCNA level, and specifically Cisco switching. But if you have a super star solution for other vendors, I'm sure it would be helpful to hear about.