Introduction to

CISCO
PACKET TRACER

BY CHETAN CHOUDHARY
INTRODUCTION

Packet Tracer is a medium fidelity, network-capable, simulation-based

learning environment for networking novices to design, configure, and
troubleshoot computer networks at a CCNA-level of complexity. Packet
Tracer is an integrated simulation, visualization, collaboration, and
assessment environment. Packet Tracer supports student and instructor
creation of simulations, visualizations, and animations of networking
phenomena. Like any simulation, Packet Tracer relies on a simplified
model of networking devices and protocols. Real computer networks,
experienced both in-person/hands-on and remotely, remain the
benchmark for understanding network behavior and developing
networking skills. Packet Tracer was created to help address the Digital
Divide in networking education, where many students and teachers lack
access to equipment, bandwidth, and interactive modes of learning
networking.
Packet Tracer is a simulation, visualization, collaboration, and
assessment tool for teaching networking. Packet Tracer allows students
to construct their own model or virtual networks, obtain access to
important graphical representations of those networks, animate those
networks by adding their own data packets, ask questions about those
networks, and finally annotate and save their creations. The term "packet
tracing" describes an animated movie mode where the learner can step
through simulated networking events, one at a time, to investigate the
microgenesis of complex networking phenomena normally occurring at
rates in the thousands and millions of events per second.
Item Description
Protocols LAN: Ethernet (including CSMA/CD*), 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless*, PPPOE
Switching: VLANs, 802.1q, trunking, VTP, DTP, STP*, RSTP*, multilayer switching*,
Ether channel, LACP, PAgP, IP CEF
TCP/IP: HTTP, HTTPS, DHCP, DHCPv6, Telnet, SSH, TFTP, DNS, TCP*, UDP, IPv4*, IPv6*,
ICMP, ICMPv6, ARP, IPv6 ND, FTP, SMTP, POP3, VOIP(H.323)
Routing: static, default, RIPv1, RIPv2, EIGRP, single-area OSPF, multi-area OSPF, BGP, inter-
VLAN routing, redistribution
Other: ACLs (standard, extended, and named), CDP, NAT (static, dynamic, inside/outside, and
overload), NATv6, Net flow
WAN: HDLC, SLARP, PPP*, and Frame Relay*
Security: IPsec, GRE, ISAKMP, NTP, AAA, RADIUS, TACACS, SNMP, SSH, SYSLOG, CBAC,
Zone-based policy firewall, IPS
QoS: Layer 2 QoS, Layer 3 Diffserv QoS, FIFO Hardware queues, Priority Queuing, Custom
Queuing, Weighted Fair Queuing, MQC, NBAR*
* indicates substantial modelling limitations imposed
Logical Network topology creation
Workspace Devices: generic, real, and modular with customizable images
Routers, switches, hosts (Server, Desktop and Laptop), hubs, bridges, wireless access
points, wireless routers, clouds, ASA, and DSL/cable modems
Device interconnection through a variety of networking media
Multiuser remote networks
Physical Network topology creation
Workspace Hierarchy of device, wiring closet, building, city, and intercity views
Structured cabling: create Bend Points and Group Points in cables and colour code cables
Ethernet cable length display and length limitation connectivity enforcement
Images for devices now customizable and scalable
Loading and scaling of user-created graphics
Wireless association management
Realtime Realtime protocol updates
Mode Medium-fidelity Cisco IOS CLI configuration of routers and switches
Menu based configuration of DHCP, DNS, HTTP, TFTP, Syslog, AAA, and NTP servers
Simulation Packet animation
Mode Global event list (packet sniffer)
OSI Model, Detailed PDU, and Device Table Views
User-defined multiple packet scenarios
Local Extensive file-saving options
Authoring Multi-level Activity Wizard for authoring automatically scored practice activities and formative
and Assessment Challenge Mode allowing users to make device algorithm decisions on packets
Sharing Easily translated GUI
Extensive textual and graphical annotation features
External Applications (Ex Apps) through Inter-Process Communication (IPC)
 Interface Overview
When you open Packet Tracer, by default you will be presented with the following
interface:

1 Menu Bar This bar provides the File, Edit, Options, View, Tools, Extensions,
Window and Help menus. You will find basic commands such as Open,
Save, Save as Pkz, Print, and Settings and Preferences in these menus.
You will also be able to access the Activity Wizard from the Extensions
menu. Window menu allows to enter/exit full screen mode, lists all top level
windows open by Packet Tracer and allows to activate them.
2 Main Tool Bar This bar provides shortcut icons to most commonly used menu commands.
3 Common This bar provides access to these commonly used workspace tools: Select,
Tools Bar Inspect, Delete, Resize Shape, Place Note, Drawing Palette, Add
Simple PDU, and Add Complex PDU. See "Workspace Basics" for more
information.
4 Logical/Physi You can toggle between the Physical Workspace and the Logical Workspace
cal with the tabs on this bar. In Logical Workspace, this bar also allows you to
Workspace go back to a previous level in a cluster, create a New Cluster, Move Object,
and Set Tiled Background, and Viewport. In Physical Workspace, this bar
Navigation allows you to navigate through physical locations, create a New City,
Bar create a New Building, create a New Closet, Move Object, apply a Grid to
the background, Set Background, and go to the Working Closet.
5 Workspace This area is where you will create your network, watch simulations, and view
many kinds of information and statistics.
6 Realtime/Sim You can toggle between Realtime Mode and Simulation Mode with the tabs
ulation Bar on this bar. This bar also provides buttons to Power Cycle Devices and
Fast Forward Time as well as the Play Control buttons and the Event List
toggle button in Simulation Mode. Also, it contains a clock that displays the
relative Time in Realtime Mode and Simulation Mode.
7 Network This box is where you choose devices and connections to put into the
Component workspace. It contains the Device-Type Selection Box and the
Box Device-Specific Selection Box. There's a searchable field that allows you
to enter a device name to look for that specific device quickly. Device name
shows when you mouse over the device icon in the Device-Specific Box.
8 Device-Type This box contains the type of devices and connections available in Packet
Selection Box Tracer. The Device-Specific Selection Box will change depending on which
type of device you choose.
9 Device- This box is where you choose specifically which devices you want to put in
Specific your network and which connections to make. In this box, you'll find devices
Selection Box that may have already been obsolete. You have an option to hide legacy
equipment in the Preferences window under Options.
10 User Created This window manages the packets you put in the network during simulation
Packet scenarios. See the "Simulation Mode" section for more details.
Window*

The Logical and Physical Workspaces

Packet Tracer uses two representation schemes for your network: the Logical
Workspace and the Physical Workspace. The Logical Workspace allows you to build
a logical network topology, without regard to its physical scale and arrangement. The
Physical Workspace also allows you to build a topology and at the same time, allows
you to arrange devices physically in cities, buildings, and wiring closets. Distances and
other physical measures will affect network performance and other characteristics if
wireless connections are used.

The Logical Workspace

The Logical Workspace is where you will spend the majority of your time building and
configuring your network. In conjunction with Realtime Mode, you can use this
workspace to complete many of the labs you encounter in your CCNA coursework.
First, you will want to create devices. This is done by choosing devices from
the Network Component box. Then, you can do any of the following:

• Add modules to your devices to install additional interfaces. Note that you
must turn off a device (by clicking its power button) before you can add a
module.
 • Connect your devices by choosing the appropriate cables (also found in
the Network Component box).
• Configure device parameters (such as the device name and IP address)
through graphical dialogue boxes or the Cisco IOS (in the case of routers
and switches).
• Make advanced configurations and view network information from the CLI
interface on a router or switch.

Making Connections
To make a connection between two devices, first click the Connections icon from
the Device-Type Selection box to bring up the list of available connections. Then
click the appropriate cable type. The mouse pointer will change into a "connection"
cursor. Click on the first device and choose an appropriate interface to which to
connect. Then click on the second device and do the same. A connection cable will
appear between the two devices, along with link lights showing the link status on
each end (for interfaces that have link lights). If you made a mistake by connecting to
an incorrect interface or you want to change the connection to a different interface,
click on the link light near the device to unplug the connection from the device. Click
on the device again and select the desired interface to reconnect the device. For a
full list of connections supported in Packet Tracer, please read the Connections /
Links help page.
The Physical Workspace
The purpose of the Physical Workspace is to give a physical dimension to your
logical network topology. It gives you a sense of scale and placement (how your
network might look in a real environment).
The Physical Workspace is divided into four main containers to reflect the physical
scale of four environments: Intercity, City, Building, and Wiring Closet. The Intercity
is the largest environment. It can contain many cities. Each city can contain many
buildings. Finally, each building can contain many wiring closets. The wiring closet
provides a view that is different from the other three views. This is where you actually
see the devices that were created in the Logical Workspace; positioned in
networking racks and on tables. The three other containers provide thumbnail views
of their layouts as the next level icons. This is the default arrangement in the
Physical Workspace. The devices in the wiring closet can be moved to any of the
containers. When the devices are moved to another container, they revert to the
icons used in Logical Workspace, although those can be customized (covered
under Customization) to any graphic you would like to use.
In addition to the above mentioned main physical containers, users can create
Generic Containers. These can contain any other containers provided they fit inside
one another based on their volume. Other restrictions on why one container may not
be possible to move into another is based on container type. For instance, a City can
not be moved inside a Building regardless of the relative volumes of the two.
When you first enter the Physical Workspace, the default is the Intercity view (or
"map").

By default, the Intercity contains one city object called "Home City." You can click
and drag the City icon to move it around in the intercity map. You can also simply
click on the City icon to change focus to the map of that city.
The Home City also contains one default building object called "Corporate Office."
This building, like the Home City object in Intercity view, can be moved anywhere
around the city. Click on the Building icon to change focus to the interior selected
building. All buildings are limited to one floor. From the City view, you can also return
to the Intercity environment by clicking on the Back button twice in the Physical
Workspace Bar.

Creating a First Network

1. Start creating a network by first selecting the End Devices. Add a Generic PC
and a Generic Server to the workspace.
2. Under Connections, select the Copper Straight-through cable (solid black line)
and connect the devices with it. The red lights on the link indicate that the
connection is not working. Now, use the Delete tool to remove the Copper
Straight-through cable, and use a Copper Cross-over cable (dashed line)
instead. The lights should turn green at this point. If the mouse pointer is held
over either devices, the link status will be shown as “Up.” The network should
look similar to this:

3. Click on the PC. While paying attention to the link lights, turn the power off (as
shown in the graphic below), and on again. Follow the same steps for the
server. The link lights turn red when the device is off. This means that the link
 is down or is not working. The link lights turn green when the device is turned
back on.
4. Try all three ways to learn about the devices. First, mouse over the devices to
see basic configuration information about them. Second, click on each device
with the Select tool to show the device configuration window, which provides
several ways to configure the device. Third, use the Inspect tool to view the
tables the network device will build as it learns about the network around it. In
this example, open the ARP table. Since the devices have not been
configured yet, the ARP tables are empty. Always remember to close the
windows after viewing them or they will clutter the workspace.
5. Open the PC configuration window and change the settings using the Config
tab. Change the display name to Client and set the DNS server to
192.168.0.105. Under Interface, click FastEthernet0 and set the IP address as
192.168.0.110. Packet Tracer automatically calculates other parameters.
Make sure that the Port Status box is checked. For future reference, note that
other Ethernet interface settings, such as bandwidth, duplex, MAC address,
and subnet mask can be modified using this window.
6. Go to the Desktop Tab and click on IP Configuration. Notice that the IP
address, subnet mask and DNS server can be changed here as well.
7. Open the Server configuration window and go to the Config tab. Change the
display name to Web Server. Click FastEthernet0 and set the IP address as
192.168.0.105. Make sure that the Port Status is also on. Click on the
Services Tab, then on the DNS selection and set the domain name as
www.firstlab.com. Set the IP address as 192.168.0.105 and click Add. Finally,
check to make sure that the service for DNS is on.
8. Reposition the network devices by dragging them to a new location. Add a
network description by using the “i” button on the upper right corner. Then add
some text labels within the Logical Workspace by using the Place Note tool.
9. Save your work using the File > Save As option and create a meaningful
filename.

Simulation Mode
In Simulation Mode, you can watch your network run at a slower pace, observing the
paths that packets take and inspecting them in detail.
When you switch to Simulation Mode, the Simulation Panel will appear. You can
graphically create PDUs to send between devices using the Add Simple PDU button
and then pressing the Auto Capture / Play button to start the simulation scenario.
The Event List window records (or "captures") what happens as your PDU
propagates through the network. You can control the speed of the simulation by
using the Play Speed Slider. Pressing the Auto Capture / Play toggle button again
will pause the simulation. If you need greater control of the simulation, use Capture /
Forward button to manually run the simulation forward one step in time. You can
use the Back button to revisit a previous timeframe and view the events that
occurred then.
You can clear and restart the scenario with the Reset Simulation button, which
clears all entries in the Event List.
 Note that while a simulation is playing, you may see packets that you did not create
yourself. That is because some devices can generate their own packets (such as
EIGRP packets) as the network runs. You may also see a QoS Stamp on packets
as well, which is described in detail in the "QoS Stamp" section below. You can see
what types of packets are being propagated in the network by looking at
the Type field in the Event List. You can choose to hide these packets from view by
clicking on the Edit Filters button and unchecking the appropriate filter from the
menu that appears. To show all types of packets, simply click on the Show
All button to re-enable them all. You can also create your own ACL Filter by clicking
on the Edit ACL Filters button in the Edit Filters menu. In the ACL Filters dialog,
you can create a New ACL Filter, Delete an ACL Filter, and Submit extended ACL
statements to an ACL Filter.

Connections / Links
Packet Tracer supports a wide range of network connections. Each cable type can
only be connected to certain interface types.

Cable Type Description

Console connections can be made between PCs and routers or switches.
Console Certain conditions must be met for the console session from the PC to work:
the speed on both sides of the connection must be the same, the data bits
must be 7 for both or 8 for both, the parity must be the same, the stop bits
must be 1 or 2 (but they do not have to be the same), and the flow control
can be anything for either side.
This cable type is the standard Ethernet media for connecting between devices
Copper that operate at different OSI layers (such as hub to router, switch to PC, and
Straight-through router to hub). It can be connected to the following port types: 10 Mbps
Copper (Ethernet), 100 Mbps Copper (Fast Ethernet), and 1000 Mbps Copper
(Gigabit Ethernet).
This cable type is the Ethernet media for connecting between devices that
Copper operate at the same OSI layer (such as hub to hub, PC to PC, PC to printer).
Cross-over It can be connected to the following port types: 10 Mbps Copper (Ethernet),
100 Mbps Copper (Fast Ethernet), and 1000 Mbps Copper (Gigabit Ethernet).
Fiber media is used to make connections between fiber ports (100 Mbps or
Fiber 1000 Mbps).
Phone line connections can only be made between devices with modem ports.
Phone The standard application for modem connections is an end device (such as a
PC) dialing into a network cloud.
Coaxial media is used to make connections between coaxial ports such as a
Coaxial cable modem connected to a Packet Tracer Cloud.
Serial connections, often used for WAN links, must be connected between
Serial serial ports. Note that you must enable clocking on the DCE side to bring up
DCE and DTE the line protocol. The DTE clocking is optional. You can tell which end of the
connection is the DCE side by the small “clock” icon next to the port. If you
choose the Serial
 DCE connection type and then connect two devices, the first device will be the
DCE side and the second device will be automatically set to the DTE side. The
reverse is true if you choose the Serial DTE connection type.
The 8-port asynchronous cable provides the high-density connector on one
Octal end and eight RJ-45 plugs on the other.

A cable for connecting Things, components, microcontrollers (MCU-PT), and

IoE Custom single board computers (SBC-PT). The cable bundles the ground, power, and
Cable data wires.
USB cable used for connecting Things, components, microcontrollers
USB (MCU-PT), and single board computers (SBC-PT) as a data connection.

Wireless Links
You can establish wireless links between access points and end devices (PCs,
servers, and printers). To establish a link, simply remove the existing module on an
end device, insert a wireless module, and turn on the device. The device will
automatically try to associate itself with an access point. Typically, this means it will
associate (physically) with the nearest access point. See the Wireless Devices page
under the Physical Workspace section for more information regarding distances.
However, if two or more access points are in the same closet, the distance from any
access point to any end device is essentially the same. In this case, an end device
will associate with the access point that was created first. Recall that the logical
topology does not reflect physical distances, and everything that is created in the
Logical Workspace is initially placed in the same wiring closet in the Physical
Workspace. The process for establishing wireless links between WRT300N routers
and end devices with WRT300N network modules is similar, but described
elsewhere.
Devices and Modules
Packet Tracer supports a wide array of modules for networking devices. To change a
module in any device, you must first turn off the power for that device. There is a
power switch available on the Physical page of any device that can change modules.
If the module slot is filled you must drag the existing module out of the device and
over to the modules list and then release it. If you are not in the correct place the
module will return to the slot. After removing the original module select and drag the
new module from the list of modules to directly over the open slot. When the module
appears in the open slot, turn the power back on. Note, when you turn off switches or
routers and then turn them back on, they will load their startup configuration files. If
you do not save the running configuration, it will be lost.