QEMU is a hosted virtual machine monitor that performs hardware virtualization. Within EVE-NG, QEMU images act as the "software DNA" of physical devices. Whether it is a Cisco router, a Palo Alto firewall, or a Linux server, the QEMU image contains the necessary operating system and configuration files to mimic the behavior of physical hardware. This allows users to run actual vendor software—not just simulations—providing a high-fidelity experience that reflects real-world performance and syntax. The Importance of Sourcing Images
Use an SCP client (like WinSCP or FileZilla) to upload your image folder to /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/ on your EVE-NG server. eve-ng qemu images download
The most standard method is purchasing a Cisco Modeling Labs (CML) subscription. This provides access to a "refplat" ISO containing verified QEMU images for IOSv, IOSvL2, ASAv, and more. QEMU is a hosted virtual machine monitor that