HS1011 Data Communication and Networks
Tutorial/Lab Activity Week 03
Network Hardware Essentials
PART I:
Hands-On Project 1: Recognize basic functionality of network hardware
Objective: understanding network hardware using a simulated network
Required Tools/Equipment: Packet Tracer and Lab2.pkt
Description: Identify and label network hardware and understand their role in a simple network. Use of Trace Route program (tracert.exe) to lists each router your packets must travel through between your computer and the destination.
1. Download Lab2.pkt from Blackboard and open it using packet tracer.
Figure 1: Sample network to identify hardware devices
2. Label all network hardware using appropriate name and write two functionalities for each.
3. Double click on PC1, find out and write down the IP address of it. Then double click on PC2 and open command prompt of it and type tracert IP address of PC1. You will see a screenshot similar to Figure 2. It shows how many routers the packet passes through before it reaches to PC 1.
4. Now double click on the only router of the network diagram and open CLI tab to execute commands below. Router>en
Router#sh run
By seeing the output, can you identify the number of interfaces (port) the router has?
5. Furthermore, can you identify the IP addresses used in the router interfaces?
Write down your findings for submission.
Hands-On Project 2: Trace Route program to see the travel path of routers packets
Objective: Use the Trace Route program to see the routers packets must travel through to get from your computer to a destination on the Internet.
Required Tools/Equipment: Your classroom computer, Internet access, and a valid DNS server; no other tools or equipment are required
Description: The importance of routers is made clear when you need to access servers on the Internet. The Trace Route program (tracert.exe) lists each router your packets must travel through between your computer and an Internet server.
1. Click Start, type cmd, and press Enter to open a command prompt window.
2. Type tracert www.yahoo.com and press Enter. You should see output that’s similar to Figure 1, but the details will vary, depending on your location and systems restriction. In this output, there are five columns of information. The first column is just a count of how many routers the packet traversed. The second, third, and fourth columns show the amount of time in milliseconds (ms) the router took to respond. Three packets are sent, so three times are listed. The last column is the router’s IP address or name and IP address.
Figure 1: Output of the Trace Route program
3. You can garner some information about the geography of the path your packet took by looking at the router’s name. For example, in Figure 1, the domain name of the third router is yc.edu, which is a router at Yavapai College in Prescott, Arizona, where this book has been written. The fourth and fifth routers have the domain name qwest.net, and the router’s name begins with phn, which tells you that the router is on Qwest’s network in Phoenix. You get the idea. However, looking up router names can sometimes make the trace run slowly. To do the same trace without looking up names, type tracert -d www.yahoo.com and press Enter. This time, you should see only the IP address of each router.
4. Try using Trace Route to determine the path packets take to other destinations.
Try books.tomsho.com , and for a destination on the East Coast, try www.course.com . For a destination in Germany, try www.kontron.de . If the trace repeatedly times out (indicated by an asterisk, *, in the output), press Ctrl+C to stop the trace.
5. Close the command prompt window.
6. You can also find tools that show you the route on a map. Start your Web browser, and go to www.yougetsignal.com/tools/visual – tracert . In the Remote Address text box, type any of the destinations in Step 4 or any other address you like. This online tool attempts to map out the path your packets take to get to their destination. Try to trace your current IP by clicking Use Current IP > Host Trace. A screenshot I shown in Figure 2 to help you.
Figure 2: A screen of the tool of trace route map
7. Exit your Web browser.
