Release Notes
=============

**Release 26.09 (2026-09-xx)**

*** missing ***

We also decided to sunset the libvirt (Vagrant) provider. We don't plan to change anything or remove it, but we won't be adding new features or run device integration tests with the **libvirt** provider.

[More details](release-26.09), new [device features](release-26.09-device-features), and [breaking changes](release-26.09-breaking)

**Release 26.08 (2026-08-10)**

The highlights of release 26.08 include:

* Support for ArcOS by [@roc-ops](https://github.com/roc-ops), VPP (FD.io) by [@jbemmel](https://github.com/jbemmel), and SONiC containers (also by [@roc-ops](https://github.com/roc-ops))
* The [**routing** module](generic-routing) supports [IPv4/IPv6 access control lists](generic-routing-acl) (by [@DanPartelly](https://github.com/danpartelly))
* The new [**services** module](module-services) configures [DNS clients and servers](services-platform)
* GRE tunnels on Arista EOS and GRE/WireGuard tunnels on Mikrotik RouterOS7 and OpenBSD (by [@snuffy22](https://github.com/snuffy22))
* *clab* provider supports the **podman** container runtime ([details](lab-clab))

We couldn't avoid a few changes with a non-zero chance of breaking your existing setup:

* *netlab* always configures an IPv6 *containerlab* management subnet to support *vrnetlab* containers using Transparent Management feature.
* Linux nodes (and devices based on them, like BIRD) do not accept IPv6 default route from the management network (most other devices use a management VRF)
* We switched to [sudo-less *containerlab* operation](https://containerlab.dev/install/#sudo-less-operation).

[More details](release-26.08), new [device features](release-26.08-device-features), and [breaking changes](release-26.08-breaking)

**Release 26.07 (2026-07-12)**

The highlights of release 26.07 include:

* The [**multiserver** plugin](plugin-multiserver) distributes containerlab devices across multiple servers.
* The [**GRE tunnel** plugin](plugin-tunnel-gre) supports GRE tunnels on Cisco IOS, FRR, VyOS, and Junos (vSRX and vJunos-router).
* The [**WireGuard tunnel** plugin](plugin-tunnel-wireguard) supports WireGuard tunnels on FRR.
* The [**bgp.session** plugin](plugin-bgp-session) and the [OSPF module](module-ospf) support graceful restart on Arista EOS, BIRD, FortiOS, and FRR
* The [**bgp.policy** plugin](plugin-bgp-policy) supports the **bgp.role** attribute on FRR and BIRD.

We also had to make a few breaking changes:

* The VirtualBox provider has been removed.
* BIRD v3 is now the [default BIRD version](build-bird).
* Mikrotik RouterOS 7 BGP templates use the new(er) BGP configuration syntax.

[More details](release-26.07) and [breaking changes](release-26.07-breaking)

**Release 26.06 (2026-06-07)**

* Nokia SR Linux supports [SR-MPLS](module-sr-mpls) over IPv6 and [MPLS/VPN](mpls-l3vpn-supported-platforms) services.
* FortiOS supports [OSPFv3](module-ospf).
* **[netlab install](netlab-install)** scripts work on Ubuntu 26.04
* You can [build custom Linux Vagrant boxes](linux-build) and set the full box name with the **[netlab libvirt package](netlab-libvirt-package)** command.

[More details](release-26.06) and [breaking changes](release-26.06-breaking)

**Release 26.05 (2026-05-16)**

* Support for global BGP routes with SRv6 next hops on FRR and IOS XR
* Support for Juniper cSRX container
* Streamline and speed up the FortiOS initial device configuration
* Junos OSPF/IS-IS [route redistribution](routing_import), VRF [IS-IS instances](isis-platform), and OSPF [interface parameters](ospf-interface-optional-support)
* We changed the minimum supported Python version to 3.10. New _netlab_ versions will thus no longer run on Ubuntu 20.04.
* You can [define scripts](dev-cli-hooks) (for example, device license management) that are executed at various points in the `netlab up` and `netlab down` processes.

[More details](release-26.05) and [breaking changes](release-26.05-breaking)

**Release 26.04 (2026-04-12)**

* New [**bgp.advertise**](bgp-advertise-prefix) node/VRF attribute — advertise prefixes from IP routing tables into BGP on most platforms.
* The **bgp.originate** node attribute can be used to [originate IPv4 and IPv6 prefixes](bgp-advertise-prefix) in global and VRF BGP instances.
* Extreme Networks EXOS initial platform support
* Static routes on Nexus OS, Nokia SR OS, SR Linux, OpenBSD
* EVPN/VXLAN-over-IPv6 on FRRouting

[More details](release-26.04)

**Release 26.03 (2026-03-10)**

* [New Cisco IOS XR features](release-26.03-ios-xr): SR-MPLS, MPLS/VPN, MPLS 6PE, EVPN over MPLS, VRRP, full BGP routing policy support
* [Juniper cRPD](caveats-crpd) support
* [EVPN/VXLAN](module-evpn) on Juniper vPTX and vJunos-router
* OpenBSD BGP support
* [SR-MPLS support for OSPFv2](sr-mpls-platforms) on EOS, FRR, IOS XE, IOS XR

[More details](release-26.03) and [breaking changes](release-26.03-breaking)

**Release 26.02 (2026-02-11)**

* Support for [Kubernetes (KinD) clusters](plugin-kind) based on work by [@wnagele](https://github.com/wnagele)
* Layer-2 EVPN/VXLAN support on Cat8000v, IOL, IOLL2
* Containers can be [configured with Linux scripts or *containerlab* startup-config parameter](platform-config-mode) instead of with an Ansible playbook.
* **[netlab graph](netlab-graph)** command can create graphs from a subset of nodes or links

[More details](release-26.02) and [a tiny breaking change](release-26.02-breaking)

**Release 26.01.01 (2026-01-14)**

Release 26.01.01 is a bug-fix release [fixing](bug-fixes-26.01.01) the **[netlab status](netlab-status)** crash.

**Release 26.01 (2026-01-12)**

Release 26.01 introduces a major rewrite of the device configuration file generation process, making it fully independent of Ansible. Ansible is used solely for configuration deployment.

Other new features include:

* EVPN for VXLAN-over-IPv6
* The 'skip_config' [node attribute](node-attributes) can be used to deploy partially-provisioned labs
* Lightweight [netlab API HTTP server](netlab-api)

[More details](release-26.01) and [breaking changes](release-26.01-breaking)

**Release 25.12.03 (2025-12-13)**

Release 25.12.03 changes the **ansible_host** inventory parameter from hostname to IPv4 address for containers with SSH servers to address a change in *ansible-pylibssh* version 1.3.0 that prevented underscores in SSH hostnames.

[Bug fixes in release 25.12.03](bug-fixes-25.12.03)

**Release 25.12.01/02 (2025-12-05)**

Release 25.12.01 fixes [a stupid bug](bug-fixes-25.12.01) that crashed **netlab install**. Release 25.12.02 fixes the target containerlab release version (it wasn't one of my best days).

**Release 25.12 (2025-12-05)**

* Large BGP community lists, implemented on Arista EOS, FRR, and Junos. You can use standard- or large community lists in [routing policies](generic-routing-policies)
* Support Cisco ASAv in *vrnetlab* containers
* [Reread validation tests](netlab-validate-dev) from the lab topology file (if it was modified since the lab was started) every time you run the **[netlab validate](netlab-validate)** command
* The **shutdown** [link/interface attribute](link-attributes) can be used to start labs with interfaces turned off
* The **bgp.rr_mesh** parameter [controls IBGP sessions between BGP route reflectors](bgp-ibgp-sessions)

[More details](release-25.12) and [breaking changes](release-25.12-breaking)

**Release 25.11.01 (2025-11-18)**

Release 25.11.01 fixes [two bugs](bug-fixes-25.11.01) that could prevent the use of SR-OS/SR-SIM or some external tools.

**Release 25.11 (2025-11-12)**

* SRv6 support on Cisco IOS/XE
* RIPv2/RIPng support on OpenBSD thanks to Remi Locherer
* The **[netlab graph](netlab-graph)** command can generate PNG/SVG/JPEG/PDF graphs if you have D2 or Graphviz installed
* You can generate [reports](netlab-report) and [graphs](netlab-graph), or inspect transformed topology data without starting a lab
* You can use device-based groups (for example, **eos** or **frr** groups) to set node attributes.

[More details](release-25.11) and [breaking changes](release-25.11-breaking)

**Release 25.10 (2025-10-08)**

* You can use [wildcards or regular expressions](groups-members) to specify group- or **[as_list](bgp-aslist)** ASN/RR members.
* New device: container version of Cisco 8000v emulator (running IOS XR)
* [Graphing improvements](release-25.10-graph)
* Support for vJunosEVO release 24/25
* OSPFv2/v3 on OpenBSD
* OSPFv2/v3 interface parameters on IOS XR

[More details...](release-25.10)

**Release 25.09-post1 (2025-09-14)**

[Release 25.09-post1](release-25.09-post1) fixes the _netlab_ templating crash caused by breaking changes in Ansible core release 12.9.

**Release 25.09 (2025-09-07)**

* Link impairment (implemented with Linux *netem* queuing discipline) can be defined in [lab topology](links-netem) or configured/controlled with the **[netlab tc](netlab-tc)** command
* Configurable [IPv6 Router Advertisement](links-ra) parameters
* The [**files** plugin](plugin-files) allows you to store the content of short files (including custom configuration templates) directly in the lab topology
* New device: Nokia SR-SIM
* [Graphing](release-25.09-graph), [reporting](release-25.09-reports), and [performance/scalability](release-25.09-performance) improvements

[More details...](release-25.09)

**Release 25.07 (2025-07-14)**

* The [ospf.areas plugin](plugin-ospf-areas) supports OSPFv2 and OSPFv3 stub areas, NSSA areas, and area ranges.
* The [BGP routing policies](plugin-bgp-policy) plugin supports aggregate BGP routes
* The [BGP configuration module](module-bgp) supports BGP confederations
* The [evpn.multihoming](plugin-evpn-multihoming) plugin implements EVPN Ethernet Segment Identifiers and EVPN-based MLAG/multihoming
* Baseline OpenBSD support

[More details...](release-25.07)

**Release 25.06 (2025-06-11)**

* Discard [static routes](generic-routing-static)
* [Redistribution](routing_import) of [static routes](generic-routing-static) into OSPF, IS-IS, RIPv2, RIPng, and BGP
* Numerous new Nokia SR-OS [features](release-25.06-sros-features) and [bug fixes](release-25.06-sros-bug-fixes).
* LAG on Junos

[More details...](release-25.06)

For older releases, check the [release notes archive](release-archive.md).

```eval_rst
.. toctree::
   :caption: Individual release notes
   :maxdepth: 1

   release/26.08.md
   release/26.07.md
   release/26.06.md
   release/26.05.md
   release/26.04.md
   release/26.03.md
   release/26.02.md
   release/26.01.md
   release/25.12.md
   release/25.11.md
   release/25.10.md
   release/25.09.md
   release/25.07.md
   release/25.06.md
   release-archive.md
```