Packet Tracer is a wonderful development program put out by Cisco: a leader in computer networking hardware. Creating a basic network can be tough going, but it’s necessary in learning in order to qualify for the CCNA certification exam.
Two computers that are connected through a router are actually on separate networks if properly configured. Having a computer communicate another on a different network is a complex process, but Packet Tracer makes it easy to setup the design and configuration.In about 10-15 minutes, the most basic of all networks can be constructed and working.
Make certain that you are using a crossover cable when connecting the desktop to the Ethernet port of the router. Computers and routers are both “like” devices, so you wouldn’t want to use a straight-through cable to connect them. Also make sure that you have a console cable if you plan on configuring the router on a real network, as you will not be able to access the running configuration otherwise.
The IP addresses you assign will be the logic of the operation. It’s up to you which network numbers and addresses you use, but they must follow a certain convention in order to work. You will be using at least four IP addresses total, counting your two desktop machines and two Ethernet ports on the router. Assign each Ethernet port and IP address that corresponds to a certain network. If you assign both to the same network, you will quickly see the configuration won’t work.
Even with all of the IP address information in place, and the Ethernet ports configured, there is still something missing. We haven’t installed a gateway address on the desktop machines. Without a gateway address, the computer won’t be able to send and receive information over the network. It’s simple to assign: the gateway address is going to be the IP address of the Ethernet interface that is connected to the desktop in question.
We can confirm that the network was set up properly by pinging a computer from another. As long as you did everything correctly, you should get a success message when using the command line interface. If you get an error regarding a time out, odds are you have input the wrong IP address information or forgot to open the Ethernet ports of the router. Troubleshooting is a valuable skill to have, so try to fix the problem yourself before asking for help if you get stuck on a problem.
Closing Comments
Packet Tracer makes the process of designing a network so easy, that it’s hard to imagine what computer network operators had to endure in the past. More tutorials and information can be downloaded from the Internet if you feel that you would like to learn more about setting up small networks.
Learn more about packet tracer and packet tracer router.