Corrected Port Views*

- Remote view
- HQ View
- Branch View

Network Topology Explanation

The network topology is a basic topology with 3 routers, 4 switches and 12 host PCs. Each router is connected through a serial DCE connection which is configured with a clock rate 64000. Each router was named Branch, HQ and Remote, respectively. The Branch and Remote routers were each connected with two switches and each switch was connected to 3 host PCs. The topology had 4 subnets and the FastEthernet ports were configured with an IP address of 192.168.1.254, 192.168.2.254, 192.168.3.254, or 192.168.4.254,depending on the location of the port. The serial ports were configured with IP addresses ranging from 1.1.1.1 to 1.1.1.2 to 1.1.1.9 and finally, 1.1.1.10. The routers discovered other routes in the networks through RIP, which I configured and the results of which can be seen in the screenshots under the post "RIP Configured Routing Tables Screenshots". Each router had routes that were directly connected and found through RIP. The other blog post which features screenshots of the fully-functional topology and views of the ports of each router basically shows how many Serial and FastEthernet ports were included in the routers. Each router had 3 WIC-2T modules added to them and one WIC-Cover module. Then I added a NM-8AS module to the routers in order to give it more serial ports to facilitate the necessary Serial ports.

RIP Configured Routing Tables Screenshots

RIP Network Topology Screenshot

Packet Tracer Lab 4.7.1.3 Reflection

This experiment dealt with subnetting, documenting addressing schemes and verifying connectivity between all components of the network. This lab was as difficult as the culminating Packet Tracers in the previous chapter, however, this one took less work to complete so I decided to take a stab at it. The first thing the instructions said to do was insert 4 2621XM routers into the topology and then connect 4 switches to the routers. I first had to put the proper modules into the routers in order to meet the requirement of having 4 FastEthernet and 4 Serial ports. After that, I went into the CLI of the routers and configured the ports of each router. The activity was pretty lengthy, especially after I got to 20% complete. Afterwards, it became lengthy, however I still managed to complete it. All in all, the lab was fairly challenging, especially the subnetting part, but I feel I was able to do it after understanding the concepts and theories presented in the chapter.

Packet Tracer Lab 4.4.1.2 Reflection

In this Packet Tracer lab activity, the objective was to find a way to correct the routing loop that was existent in the network topology. The first thing the lab instructed me to do was view the configuration of routers BRANCH1 and BRANCH2 and then ping the PCs that are in the network. After seeing that the ping was not successful, I had to figure out what the deficiency was in the static routes configured in the routers that caused this routing loop. In order to fix this problem, I took the knowledge I had from the last few chapters about configuring routes and the commands needed in order to do this and I used that along with the IP information that was given in the table in the instructions and set up the proper static routes needed and then I tried the pings again and this time they were successful. This lab was a moderately challenging activity and it was good practice for using the ip route command and others needed for a task like this.

Packet Tracer Lab 3.6.1.3 Reflection

This lab was extremely difficult. First of all, since the previous three labs leading up to this one were so complicated, I knew this one would not be easier. Sadly, I was right. This lab was unnecessarily difficult because it had just the tasks but no steps as to how to complete the tasks. I knew I could not do this lab at all when I saw that the lab required us to create an addressing scheme and then finish the topology.

Packet Tracer Lab 3.5.4.2 Reflection

Honestly, this lab made me laugh when I saw it. This was because I had no idea on how I would do this lab, even though it was a bit simpler than the last one but all in all, the lab was extremely difficult. I wish Cisco had given us clear directions on how to do the first lab involving subnetting so that these labs could have been a little more approachable, however, this was not the case and I was completely clueless. However, I did look at the reflection portion of the lab and I was able to answer the question, I feel sufficiently, I said that upgrading to an IPv6 addressing scheme would have been much more efficient for the purposes of this lab.

Packet Tracer Lab 3.5.3.2 Reflection

This lab was a monster. When I opened the lab, I was already blown away at just the sheer size of the network. Now, if I had no idea as to how to even approach the previous lab, I knew just by looking at this lab that I was not going to be able to complete this lab either. However, I knew the idea behind this lab was similar to the last one so I suppose I somewhat knew what to do on paper, but I had no idea for this lab. I tried many things in the CLI, however, I just could not complete this lab, sadly.

Packet Tracer Lab 3.5.2.2 Reflection

To be honest, I had no idea as to how to even approach this lab. It was the most difficult lab I have ever seen in Packet Tracer. First of all, I had no idea to how I was supposed to subnet the LANs and on top of that, I had difficulty getting the ports of the routers and switches to connect to each other especially since the no shutdown refused to work. However, I felt I had an idea of how to subnet the branches from what we learned in CCNA1 but I just did not how to implement that knowledge in Packet Tracer. Sadly, I could not finish this lab, but I am proud to say that I at least made an attempt.

Packet Tracer Lab 3.4.4.2 Reflection

This was probably the easiest lab of all so far. However, although it was simple, I think it was one of the most critical labs in the chapter because it is important to be able to understand the IP routing table and that is the objective of the lab. Basically, all I had to do in this lab was access the ISP router's CLI and then view the ip routing table. The lab taught me to use specific commands to display specific information about the routes.

Packet Tracer Lab 3.2.5.2 Reflection

This lab was about convergence. The lab was extremely lengthy but maybe it was because the directions were very detailed. In this activity, the objective was to view how a converged network operates and how to add a LAN topology to a converged network. The first thing I had to do in this lab was add a switch and host to one of the routers and then I had to configure the connections to the specified ports. After configuring all that, I had to confirm that the network was converged and in order to do that, I checked the IP routing table of router 2 and the network was converged according to it. Finally, I had to turn debugging on in both routers and to do that, I entered the "debug ip rip" command in the CLI for the routers. All in all, it was a good lab and once I got through the difficult part of the lab which was configuring everything to be converged, the lab was easy.

Packet Tracer Lab 3.2.2.2 Reflection

This lab was probably one of the most difficult labs we have done so far. I feel this is mostly because the directions were vague and did not really specify what to do in order to configure the necessary routes on the routers. Also, a lot of the questions in the lab were based on what we saw in the ip routing table of the routers. The easiest part of the lab was configuring the routers with routers to each other. I thought I had a good idea of what to do for the lab but I was confused as to what to do after I got the results of the ping and ip routing tables and commands. Hopefully, the next lab will be easier.

Packet Tracer Lab 2.2.3.3 Reflection

This lab was another fairly simple lab to complete. All that was required to do in the lab was configure the PCs with the given IP addresses, gateway addresses and subnet masks and then verify connectivity between all components of the network. The first thing I did was configure the PCs and then I had to configure the routers. I had to access the CLI and then configure the routers with IP addresses for the FastEthernet0/0 port. After saving the configuration, I had to use the arp -a command and ping command in order to verify connectivity. This lab was interesting because it allowed me to see how routers work and how packets are forwarded in topologies.

Packet Tracer Lab 2.1.3.2 Reflection

This activity was fairly simple to complete. The instructions were clear and made it easy to follow them. The lab was also made easier by the fact that labels of where the devices go and IP addresses were given. The point of this lab was to teach us how to create a network topology and I feel it was good practice. The first thing I had to do was drag 3 1841 routers to their respective spots and then I had to configure it. I had to add modules to each of the routers and that helped in teaching me how important it is to make sure that every necessary component of the router is in place. Then I had to place 2640 switches in their respective slots and then connect them to the routers and then connect PCs to the switches. All in all, it was a nice startup lab for the chapter.

Packet Tracer Lab 1.6.1.3 Reflection

This activity is the culminating lab for Chapter 1 of CCNA 2. With that being known, I could tell that the lab was going to be extremely long and it was. Basically, I had to design and address a network with hubs, switches, routers and all that good stuff. The main things I was required to know for this lab were how to create an addressing scheme, select the proper cables and devices and configure everything in the network and finally, test the actual network using PINGs. I think the reflections from the other lab really helped me in remembering how to do this kind of stuff and the lab was difficult as it went because I wasn't sure what commands to use at times. However, I was able to go back to previous labs and configure the routers properly. As a final reflection for all the labs, I think the labs got progressively difficult but fun in a way as the unit went on.

Packet Tracer Lab 1.5.3.2 Reflection

This lab was just a continuation of the previous lab except it was just a little tougher, hence the name "Challenge Router Configuration". So, in this activity, I had to do the same thing I did before but this time I also had to subnet an address space according to guidelines and assign appropriate addresses to the interfaces. The lab did not provide any other instructions and so I had a very difficult time getting past the "challenge" part of it but I was able to use the skills I learned in the last lab. All in all, it was a very difficult lab.

Packet Tracer Lab 1.5.2.2 Reflection

This lab is a basic introduction to the skills we will need in the future Packet Tracer labs. The main focus of the activity is to show us the basics to configuring routers on networks. The first thing I had to do was establish connections between all the devices on the network and I also learned from a mistake I made in this lab. The thing I learned is that before establishing a connection, you should always make sure all the ports are turned on because it could result in you thinking that you made a grave mistake. The next thing I had to do was erase and reload the routers. The lab had a lot of steps to it and was very time consuming but to keep it short, I had to basically just configure all the routers according to the instructions.

Packet Tracer Lab 1.5.1.2 Reflection

This lab focuses on actually properly cabling a network and configuring routers on the network. I felt the activity was a review of the things we've learned in the curriculum so far. Along with reviewing the things learned in the unit, I also felt the lab was really helpful in learning the basic IOS CLI, router configuration and how to verify that every component of the network is working. The connections were all done for me already so I had to just follow the rest of the instructions. The lab was very long, but I think the directions were relatively simple and easy to follow and instead of taking you through step-by-step, I will sum it up. Basically, I just had to configure the routers in the network and then I had to configure the IP addressing on the PCs and finally use PING and Traceroute in order to confirm the network is working.

Packet Tracer Lab 1.4.3.2 Reflection

In 1.4.3, the curriculum talks about Equal Cost Load balancing. So, from that, we can assume that this lab will be about what it is and how it works. Equal cost load balancing is performed when a router has multiple paths to a network and the paths all have the same metric. In the activity, I got to see how equal cost load balancing actually works. The first thing I had to do was access the CLI of R1 and then see the ip route. After following the steps given, I viewed the equal cost load balancing in Simulation mode.

Packet Tracer Lab 1.4.2.2 Reflection

The name of this Packet Tracer Exploration is "Determine Best Path using Routing Tables". From this, we can infer that the lab is going to be about how routers determine the most efficient path using the information available in their routing tables. In this lab, the goal of the activity is to explain the purpose of the routing metrics in deciding which path is best. The activity was very simple and basically all we had to was answer a few questions regarding the use of routing metrics in determining the best path. The first thing I was told to do in the instructions was access the CLI on R2 and then see the routing table. Using the routing table, I was able to answer the questions posed in the lab.

Packet racer Lab 1.3.5.2 Reflection

This activity demonstrates how a router using the routing table. Furthermore, the activity also focuses on some key principles of routing tables and routing in general. From reading the instructions for this lab, I learned three key principles of routing:

• Routers make their decisions based on whatever information is made available to them in their routing tables.
• Second, just because one router has a complete routing table, that does not necessarily mean that every other router in the network has the same information.
• Finally, having the routing information about a path from one network to another does not necessitate that there is information for the route back.

In this lab, the first thing I had to do was troubleshoot why PC1 could not successfully ping PC3. So what I did is ping PC1 from PC3 and then when the ping came up unsuccessful, I followed the instructions on how to fix the issue and then finally, viewed the ping from PC1 to PC3 in Simulation mode. Then, I had to resolve the routing issue on R3 which was causing problems with pings. I basically repeated the steps again according to the directions to fix this issue.