We build and host close replicas of our clients’ production networks. Using our automation tooling, we can ingest your live network and build a production-like replica in our lab environment — giving you a safe, realistic space to test changes, validate designs, and build confidence before touching production.
Why a Lab Changes Everything
Most network teams don’t have a lab. Changes get tested in production, fingers get crossed, and outages happen because there was nowhere safe to try things first. Even teams that do have lab environments often struggle to keep them in sync with production — the lab drifts, becomes outdated, and loses its value.
We solve that problem. Our labs aren’t static setups gathering dust — they’re living replicas of your actual network, built and maintained using the same automation tools we use for everything else.
How It Works
Ingesting your network
We use our automation tooling to collect data from your production network — device inventory, configurations, topology, routing tables, interface states. This data is normalised and used to build a structured model of your network that captures not just what’s configured, but how everything connects and interacts.
Building the replica
From that model, we automatically provision a virtualised replica of your network in our lab infrastructure. Using platforms like Containerlab, EVE-NG, or GNS3 running on our Proxmox environment, we spin up virtual instances of your routers, switches, and firewalls with configurations that mirror production. The result is a topology that behaves like your real network — same routing, same segmentation, same policies.
Because the build process is automated, it’s repeatable. When your production network changes, we can refresh the lab to match. No manual rebuilds, no drift.
Your lab, hosted by us
You don’t need to invest in lab hardware or manage the infrastructure. We host the lab environment on our Proxmox platform and provide you with secure access. Your team can connect, run tests, and validate changes as if the lab were sitting in your own data centre.
What You Can Do With It
Change planning and testing
Test configuration changes, software upgrades, and topology modifications in the lab before applying them to production. See exactly what will happen — not what you think will happen.
Automated validation
Integrate the lab into your change workflow. Run automated test suites against the lab environment to validate that changes produce the expected results and don’t break existing functionality. This is where NetDevOps practices really come into their own — changes can be tested programmatically before they’re approved for production.
Failure and disaster testing
Simulate device failures, link outages, and routing reconvergence in a controlled environment. Understand how your network responds to failure before it happens for real. This is testing you simply cannot do safely in production.
Migration planning
Planning a platform migration, a routing protocol change, or a move to SD-WAN? Build the target state in the lab alongside the current state and test the migration path step by step. Identify the risks and iron out the process before the maintenance window.
Training and upskilling
Give your team a realistic environment to learn in. New engineers can explore the network, experienced engineers can test unfamiliar technologies, and everyone can build confidence without the pressure of a live environment.
Proof of concept
Evaluating a new vendor, a new technology, or a new design approach? Build it in the lab and prove it works against a replica of your actual network, not a simplified demo topology.
Lab Capabilities
Our lab infrastructure includes:
- Virtualised network devices — Virtual routers, switches, and firewalls from Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Palo Alto, Fortinet, and others running on Containerlab, EVE-NG, and GNS3
- Proxmox hosting — Labs run on our own Proxmox clusters with dedicated compute, storage, and networking resources
- Automated provisioning — Labs are built and refreshed programmatically from your production network data
- Secure remote access — Connect to your lab environment securely from anywhere
- Integration-ready — Labs can be connected to CI/CD pipelines for automated testing as part of your change workflow
Get Started
If you want a safe place to test changes, validate designs, or train your team against a realistic replica of your network, contact us to discuss a lab engagement.