active environments launched from this blueprint reached

[andrewcode3]

Unable to launch sandbox.  Trying to run Cisco modeling lab.  Get Limit for active environments launched from this blueprint reached.  Please try later.  I have been trying for 3 days, different time of days, no luck.  Any advice? 

[Diskman]

By my personal guess, would it be a tactic of pushing all users toward CML subscription with paying USD 199 annually?

[timhendricks]

That would be an excellent guess

[timhendricks]

Has anyone been able to actually launch a CML lab since the "upgrade"?

[TexasNetworkHammer]

Yes.  Yesterday I was able to open the Cisco Modeling Labs with no problem.  I was able to setup an 8 hour session instantly.  It worked great.  With a few added bells and whistles, it was much like the old experience.  

However today I could not launch it again.  I received an error that the request was denied.  So I tried a different one and that one let me launch and asked for the duration time needed.  When I tried to request it then I got the "owner has reached the maximum number of active environments in space" message.  So I canceled out of that one.  

Then I tried the Cisco Modeling Labs again to see what the error message was and now it does a little animation with the Launch button and then comes back to the same Launch button image.  

It's been over a month, at least for this post, and the issue has still not been resolved.  

[TexasNetworkHammer]

UPDATE:  

I thought perhaps, it was account dependent.  Maybe my account really did have too many sessions concurrently open.  Maybe I did reach a perceivable limit.  So I logged out and logged back in using an old account from a previous employer and a different web browser.  I got the exact same issues I had before. 

Then I thought maybe it's the browser cookies causing an issue.  It shouldn't, since I was using a different browser.  So I tried it from my personal Surface on an AT&T hotspot.  I had some issues logging in with a browser cookie header too large error message but finally got logged in.  Cisco Modeling Labs still would not launch with "Environment Launch was Denied".  And trying the Webex Room kit I was able to launch but when the countdown got close to 0:00 I got an "Oops.  Launch failed" with no reason for the failure.  

It must have been a fluke that I was able to get in yesterday.  Pity since it was always a very useful tool to have in my network toolbelt.  

[bigevilbeard]

Hey @TexasNetworkHammer from reading other threads, the new platform which was introduced end of last year has come with some quirks which the Cisco team is working on as the new platform grows and services added. The CML sandbox has been popular since day one it was added, i mean its a free version of what would be $199 annually (although given what i spent on real hardware/running a lab in the days of my CCNP/CCIE studies, a give away price imo!).

On the older platform there was a feature to schedule your sandbox, getting the CML sandbox to reserve right away was very limited, and you had to book a slot. The team has advised that this feature will be introduced again, hence you are getting these messages about environments and limits, its basically say - all reservations are taken right now. The team could scale this to a 100 instances and it still be fully booked everyday.

There is also Cisco dCloud which has labs including CML if you have access to this from your account.

[TexasNetworkHammer]

Yeah @bigevilbeard I agree wholeheartedly.  I have always loved using the older platform and never really had a problem getting the CML sandbox to reserve a spot.  Towards the end around June or July of '23, I was having to wait 2 or 3 days for a spot but the scheduler always found me a spot to reserve.  I stopped using it when they upgraded and we couldn't use it anymore while the upgrade was finishing.  But I'm back and boy, I sure miss how easy it was to use the old platform.  

Mostly I would use it to test out some functionality we could use at work.  It even lead to purchasing a set of equipment for one of our labs here.  But I guess I'll just have to spend the $199 annual fee.  I assume the paid version works a lot better?  

Thanks!

[jokearns1]

@TexasNetworkHammer 

CML capacity increased today again and the max reservation time reduced to 3 days. This should help make more environments available. 

Joe 

[bigevilbeard]

Yes the CML-P runs locally on your machine/network so it’s all yours. 

[msanghera6]

I currently have one running right now. 
I guess I happened to be checking that blueprint just at the right time, and I was able to grab a spot.
Its unfortunate that there can only be 25 people using it at any given moment. I wish more resources could be dedicated to this free platform.
The memory usage is sitting pretty high at 70%+ usage with no nodes added to any topologies. 
I also noticed that the XRv9k node wouldn't startup at all

[jokearns1]

All, 

We hear you on the capacity issues. This has always been a challenge for a free service like ours. Our limit for CML reservations is the same as it was before our migration. I agree that the lack of a scheduler can frustrate this even further but we do have plans to up the capacity and make this less of an issue.
In response to Diskman above, it is not our intention to frustrate users and push them towards CML subscription.  CML is extremely popular with our users and we want to continue hosting it for our community. Its large footprint makes this a challenge to deliver at scale but this will improve. 
Joe 

[Derek Cooke]

Thanks for all the updates - its now been a couple of days and still getting permissioned and or bad gateway via nginx.   Please let us know when the system is stable / usable.

Thanks.

[Diskman]

Hi Derek, still have issues with another message "Environment Launch was Denied" by trying several times of clicking, and never had been getting permission as you mentioned. May please help, thanks!

[bigevilbeard]

If you use an incognito browser this resolves most issues.

[Diskman]

Hi, I did with using incognito Chrome but still got the same failure as shown, please help, thanks!