Basic GNS3 / Packet Tracer Exercises

[deanwebb]

What are some very, very basic exercises for people that have just gotten started with networking? We can assume that they have either GNS3 or Packet Tracer set up. Here's my first exercise:

1. Set up 3 routers. You will configure 2 interfaces on each router: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2
2. Each IP address will use a 24-bit subnet mask. The IP addresses should be assigned as follows: A1 - 10.1.1.1; A2 - 10.1.2.1; B1 - 10.2.1.1; B2 - 10.2.2.1; C1 - 10.3.1.1; C2 - 10.3.2.1
3. Ensure that static routes exist for connecting A2 to B1 and B2 to C1.
4. Create static routes on router A so that A1 can ping B2, C1, and C2. Create static routes on B so that B1 can ping A1, C1, and C2. Create static routes on router C so that C2 can ping B1, A2, and A1.

QUESTIONS:
What is an interface?
What is a subnet mask?
If an 8-bit subnet mask was used, would this lab be possible? Why or why not?
What is a static route?
Why would using static routes for a large environment be difficult to support?

Doing this exercise should involve some research on the wikipedia and other websites with relevant information.

[dlots]

It's not really a exercise but I think drawing a packet would be a great experience for them, yeah the book covers it, but I find very very few people actually understand the packet, and knowing it's basic Layer 2/3/4 info is super important to truly understanding what a network is/does.

Also packet captures of everything, that way you can see what's going on, I run into alot of people who don't really get what the packet flow looks like. (Stretch has a a nice pile of them over at http://packetlife.net/captures/ already to go for people)

Ex 1
3 routers in a row
ACL in the middle that blocks ICMP
Add and remove the ACL and see what that does to a ping stream

Ex2
get EIGPR neighbors
show/no shut a loopback and see the routing table change