VyOS
VyOS is an open source network operating system Linux distribution based on Debian. VyOS provides a free routing platform that competes directly with other commercially available solutions from well-known network providers. Because VyOS is run on standard amd64 systems, it can be used as a router and firewall platform for cloud deployments. VyOS can also be optimized to achieve routing at 100Gbps. Besides being open-source, VyOS also offers subscription-based support, which includes pre-built images for cloud and virtual environments and LTS images for the 1.3 and 1.4 series.
| VyOS | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | The VyOS Project Community |
| OS family | Linux (Unix-like) |
| Working state | Current |
| Source model | Open source |
| Initial release | 22 December 2013 |
| Latest release | 1.4.4[1] / 19 December 2025 |
| Repository | |
| Marketing target | Enterprise software |
| Available in | English |
| Supported platforms | amd64 |
| Kernel type | Monolithic (Linux) |
| License | Free software licenses (mainly GPL) |
| Official website | vyos.io |
VyOS is an open source network operating system Linux distribution based on Debian.[2]
VyOS provides a free routing platform that competes directly with other commercially available solutions from well-known network providers. Because VyOS is run on standard amd64 systems, it can be used as a router and firewall platform for cloud deployments.[3][4] VyOS can also be optimized to achieve routing at 100Gbps.[5]
Besides being open-source, VyOS also offers subscription-based support, which includes pre-built images for cloud and virtual environments and LTS images for the 1.3 and 1.4 series.
History
[edit]After Brocade Communications stopped development of Vyatta in 2013, a group of enthusiasts created an open-source fork called VyOS, based on the last community edition, Vyatta Core 6.6R1.[6]
They founded Sentrium S.L,[7] a Spanish company dedicated to providing support and development for the VyOS project. On October 9, 2024, Sentrium S.L. was renamed VyOS Networks Iberia and was acquired by VyOS Networks Corporation, becoming its subsidiary.[8]
Features
[edit]Source:[9]
- Routing and Protocols: BGP (IPv4 and IPv6), OSPF (v2 and v3), RIP and RIPng, policy-based routing, BGP-LU and enhanced route filtering. IPv4, IPv6, QoS.
- VPN and Tunneling: IPsec, VTI, VXLAN, L2TPv3, L2TP/IPsec and PPTP servers, tunnel interfaces (GRE, IPIP, SIT), OpenVPN in client, server, or site-to-site modes, WireGuard.
- Firewall and NAT: Stateful firewall based on nftables, zone-based firewall, all types of source and destination NAT (one to one, one to many, many to many), NAT64/DNS64.
- Network Services: DHCP and DHCPv6 server and relay, IPv6 RA, DNS forwarding, HTTP load balancer, web proxy, PPPoE access concentrator, NetFlow/sFlow sensor, TFTP server.
- High Availability and Load Balancing: VRRP for IPv4 and IPv6, ability to execute custom health checks and transition scripts; ECMP, stateful load balancing, failover routes.
- Management and Configuration: Junos-style CLI[10] with commands like run, set, delete, show, commit, commit-confirm, compare and versioning.[11] Rollback without reboot,[12] PKI repository
- Automation: ansible, napalm, Netmiko, Salt Stack, cloud-init, python sdk. cloud-init ready images can be built with vyos-build or packer
- Monitoring: integrations with Zabbix, FastNetMon and Prometheus/Grafana.[13]
- Platform and Image Support: VyOS images can be created using vyos-build for the following platforms: amd64, ISO, and cloud images for AWS, Azure, Edgecore, XCP-NG, Qemu/Proxmox, VMware.
Releases
[edit]VyOS version 1.0.0 (Hydrogen) was released on December 22, 2013.[14][15] On October 9, 2014, version 1.1.0 (Helium) was released.[16] All versions released thus far have been based on Debian 6.0 (Squeeze), and are available as 32-bit images and 64-bit images for both physical and virtual machines.[15]
On January 28, 2019, version 1.2.0 (Crux) was released.[17] Version 1.2.0 is based on Debian 8 (Jessie). While version 1.0 and 1.1 were named after elements, a new naming scheme based on constellations is used from version 1.2.[18]
VyOS 1.3.0 (Equuleus) is based on Debian 10 (Buster)[19] and was released on December 21, 2021. Equuleus brought many long-desired features, most notably an SSTP VPN server, an IPoE server, an OpenConnect VPN server, and a serial console server. It also included reworked support for WWAN interfaces, support for GENEVE and MACSec interfaces, VRF, IS-IS routing, preliminary support for MPLS and LDP, among many other features.[6]
Currently, VyOS 1.4.0 (Sagitta) in GA (General Access) stage, with the latest version being VyOS 1.4.0 GA LTS.[12] This version was developed based on Debian 12 (Bookworm).[20]
Release History
[edit]| Release | Version | Date | Base Debian system |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hydrogen | 1.0.0 | December 22, 2013 | Debian 6 (Squeeze) |
| 1.0.1 | January 17, 2014 | ||
| 1.0.2 | February 3, 2014 | ||
| 1.0.3 | May 9, 2014 | ||
| 1.0.4 | June 16, 2014 | ||
| 1.0.5 | September 26, 2014 | ||
| Helium | 1.1.0 | October 9, 2014 | |
| 1.1.1 | December 8, 2014 | ||
| 1.1.2 | January 22, 2015 | ||
| 1.1.3 | January 28, 2015 | ||
| 1.1.4 | March 9, 2015 | ||
| 1.1.5 | March 25, 2015 | ||
| 1.1.6 | August 17, 2015 | ||
| 1.1.7 | February 17, 2016 | ||
| 1.1.8 | November 13, 2017 | ||
| Crux | 1.2.0 | January 28, 2019 | Debian 8 (Jessie) |
| 1.2.1 | April 16, 2019 | ||
| 1.2.2 | July 15, 2019 | ||
| 1.2.3 | September 5, 2019 | ||
| 1.2.4 | January 1, 2020 | ||
| 1.2.5 | April 14, 2020 | ||
| 1.2.6 | September 18, 2020 | ||
| 1.2.6-S1 | September 28, 2020 | ||
| 1.2.7 | March 25, 2021 | ||
| 1.2.8 | July 6, 2021 | ||
| 1.2.9 | December 2, 2022 | ||
| 1.2.9-S1 | March 22, 2023 | ||
| Equuleus | 1.3.0 | December 21, 2021 | Debian 10 (Buster) |
| 1.3.1 | March 21, 2022 | ||
| 1.3.1-S1 | March 30, 2022 | ||
| 1.3.2 | September 7, 2022 | ||
| 1.3.3 | June 22, 2023 | ||
| 1.3.4 | October 17, 2023 | ||
| 1.3.5 | December 15, 2023 | ||
| 1.3.6 | February 14, 2024 | ||
| 1.3.7 | May 13, 2024 | ||
| 1.3.8 | June 24, 2024 | ||
| Sagitta | 1.4.0 | February 22, 2024 | Debian 12 (Bookworm) |
| 1.4.1 | December 20, 2024 | ||
| 1.4.2 | April 3, 2025 | ||
| 1.4.3 | July 17, 2025 | ||
| 1.4.4 | December 19, 2025 |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "VyOS 1.4.4 released". December 19, 2025. Retrieved January 13, 2026.
- ^ "VyOS home page". Retrieved November 9, 2014.
- ^ "VyOS on DistroWatch.com". Retrieved November 9, 2014.
- ^ Yegulalp, Serdar (February 1, 2018). "Review: 6 slick open source routers". InfoWorld. Archived from the original on June 4, 2018. Retrieved September 5, 2025.
- ^ "How to reach 100Gbit routing on VyOS – part 1". Archived from the original on August 23, 2024. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
- ^ a b "History — VyOS 1.3.x (equuleus) documentation". docs.vyos.io. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
- ^ Andamasov, Yuriy. "Sentrium? What Sentrium?". blog.vyos.io. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
- ^ Andamasov, Yuriy. "VyOS Networks Announces Strategic Acquisition and Integration of Sentrium SL as VyOS Networks Iberia". www.prnewswire.co.uk. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
- ^ "Products – VyOS". Retrieved April 11, 2021.
- ^ "Command Line Interface — VyOS 1.5.x (circinus) documentation". docs.vyos.io. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
- ^ Baturin, Daniil. "Configuration versioning and archiving in VyOS". blog.vyos.io. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
- ^ a b Baturin, Daniil. "VyOS 1.4.0 GA release". blog.vyos.io. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
- ^ "Monitoring VyOS with Prometheus/Grafana". VyOS Forums. June 6, 2024. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
- ^ "Hydrogen". Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
- ^ a b "VyOS - 1.0.0 release". December 22, 2013. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
- ^ "VyOS - 1.1.0 release". October 9, 2014. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
- ^ "VyOS 1.2 (Crux) released". January 28, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
- ^ "VyOS development news in August and September". September 16, 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
- ^ Baturin, Daniil. "VyOS 1.3.0-epa1 release". blog.vyos.io. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
- ^ Baturin, Daniil. "VyOS 1.4.0-rc1 release candidate". blog.vyos.io. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
