Packet Tracer User Guide What is Packet Tracer

Packet Tracer is a program used to illustrate at a basic level how networks work. This presentation will demonstrate how to get around in Packet Tracer. It is copied more or less word for word from the packet Tracer Help files.

Organization of Packet Tracer

Packet Tracer has two different views 1- Logical Workspace 2- Physical Workspace Packet Tracer also has two modes of operation 1- Realtime Mode 2- Simulation Mode At startup, you are in the Logical Workspace in Real Time Mode. You can build your network and see it run in real time in this configuration. You can switch to the Simulation Mode to run controlled networking scenarios. You can also switch to the Physical Workspace to arrange the physical aspects, such as location, of your devices. You cannot run your network while you are in the Physical Workspace. You should return to the Logical Workspace after you are done in the Physical Workspace.

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CN_ Packet tracer user guide

1 2 4

7 8 9 10 Figure 1

Interface
The areas show on the screenshot in figure 1 are: Menu Bar 1 This bar provides the File, Options, and Help menus. You will find basic commands such as Open, Save, Print, and Preferences in these menus. You will also be able to access the Activity Wizard from the File menu. Main Tool Bar - 2 This bar provides shortcut icons to the File menu commands, including the Activity Wizard. On the right, you will also find the Network Information button, which you can use to enter a description for the current network or any text you wish to include. Common Tools Bar 3 This bar provides access to these commonly used workspace tools:
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Select Move Layout Place Note Delete Inspect

CN_ Packet tracer user guide 2

Add Simple PDU Add Complex PDU

Workspace Type Bar 4 You can toggle between the Physical Workspace and the Logical Workspace with the tabs on this bar Workspace 5 This area is where you will create your network, watch simulations, and view many kinds of information and statistics. Realtime or Simulation Bar - 6 You can toggle between Realtime Mode and Simulation Mode with the tabs on this bar. Network Component Box 7 This box is where you choose devices and connections to put onto the workspace. It contains the Device-Type, Selection Box, and the Device-Specific Selection Box. Device Type Selection Box 8 This box contains the type of devices and connections available in Packet Tracer 5.1. The Device-Specific Selection Box will change depending on which type of devices you clicked Device Selection Box 9 This box is where you choose specifically which devices you want to put in your network and which connections to make. Created Packet Window -10 This window manages the packets you put in the network during simulation scenarios

Sample Network Simulation

We will try to create a sample network to see how Packet Tracer simulates a network. Start creating your network by loading a background grid using the Set Tiled Background button as shown in figure 2. Select the Grid_25x25.png

For this example

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CN_ Packet tracer user guide

Click here

Select

Figure 2 Select the Generic PC under End Devices and drag it as the first PC onto the workspace as illustrated in figure 3.

Figure 3 Always remember to close windows after you're done viewing them, otherwise, they will clutter the workspace. Open the PC's configuration window and change its settings by going to the Config tab. Double click on the PC and select config tab as shown in figure 4.

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CN_ Packet tracer user guide

Figure 4 Change the PC's name to London. Under Interface, click on FastEthernet and set the IP address as 192.168.1.1, as showns in figure 5.

Figure 5
It will assume other settings for you. Make sure that the Port Status is on. Note for future reference that you could modify other Ethernet interface settings, such as bandwidth, duplex, MAC address, and subnet mask in this window

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CN_ Packet tracer user guide

Drag another PC to the workspace, name it Berlin and set its IP address as 192.168.1.2 as shown in figure 6. Make sure that the Port Status is on. Under Connections, select the Copper Straight-through cable, the solid black line, and make a connection between the devices with it The red points on the link indicate that the connection is not working. The point is the simulator will do what you tell it, whether that is right or wrong.

Figure 6 Now, using the Delete tool, remove the Copper Straight-through cable, and use a Copper Cross-over cable instead as shown in figure 7. The lights should turn green at this point, and if you mouse over or hover over either PC, you'll see the link status indicated as up.Your network should look as follow:

Delete tab

Figure 7 Reposition your network devices by dragging them.

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Add an overall network description by using the i button on the upper right corner of Packet Tracer 5.1. Then add some text labels on the logical workspace by using the Place Note tool. Single click on the London PC. Turn the PC on and off and on again, while paying attention to the link lights. Do the same step for the Berlin PC. Turning devices off will result in red link lights meaning that the link is down. Save your work by using the File -> Save As option. Start with your original saved file open. Notice you are in Realtime Mode Use the Add Simple PDU tool to send a simple 1-time ping message called an echo request, to the other PC, which responds with an echo reply because you have properly configured their IP address settings as shown in figure 8.

Figure 8 To use the Add Simple PDU tool Click on it Click on the first PC Click on the second PC

Then look down in the bottom right corner to see if the ping was successful. Scroll around in the User Created Packet Window to see the different aspects of this ping message, including an indication that the ping was successful Alternatively, toggle the PDU List Window to see a larger display of this message as shown in figure 9.

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CN_ Packet tracer user guide

Figure 9 You can save one or more of these messages as a scenario. When you start, you are in Scenario 0. Label this first scenario with an i note. Different scenarios allow you to use the same topology for experiments with different groupings of user created packets. Click on New to create a new scenario

Dr. S. Shareef

CN_ Packet tracer user guide