If you cannot use the Appliance method, you can manually add the switch as a "Router" acting as a switch.
While this guide focuses on GNS3, both EVE-NG Community Edition and ContainerLab have native support for the same IOL images. They often boot L2 switches more reliably. cisco 2960 switch ios download for gns3
| Feature | IOSv L2 / IOU | Real 2960 | |---------|---------------|------------| | VLANs, STP, RSTP | ✅ | ✅ | | EtherChannel (LACP) | ✅ | ✅ | | Port security | ✅ | ✅ | | CDP | ✅ | ✅ | | 802.1x | Limited | ✅ | | PoE | ❌ | ✅ (some models) | | Power-on self-test | ❌ | ✅ | If you cannot use the Appliance method, you
For learning switching protocols, these differences rarely matter. RAM Allocation: Keep the default (usually 128MB or 256MB)